Drywall, cabbage juice, mouthwash and cedar planks -these physical materials are the extensions of my memory, intention and pleasure. From warm memories of bathhouses to managing illness at home, my artwork distills a lived experience into material reality. I affect sculptural surfaces with moist organics as a means to tell corporeal narratives about queer sexuality, the healing process and the rigors of self-beautification. They exhibit a lifecycle addressing the alluring, yet abject, dimensions of bodily function and the emotional toll of its fragility.
For each body of work, I draw upon literature or naturalist writing to enrich the form of my work. My references range from floral metaphors found in Jean Genet’s homoerotic memoirs to scientific writings about the bodies of sperm whales. The written accounts of cabbage blooming from the body of Genet’s dead lover or the study of whale vomit as a source of perfume, become scaffolding for my own narrative. I sources these substances to interject their sentiment into my story and enrich my forms. Though the organic references are not directly decipherable, I intent the work to perform in a primal manner similar to Genet’s exclamation, "I shit out my guts in his presence" where "wilted flowers would grow.”
CV available upon request
rondinellijason@yahoo.com
instagram.com/jason_rondinelli
