John S. Boskovich (December 8, 1956 – September 24, 2006) was an artist, writer, filmmaker, and teacher. He is most known for his found art and installation work, his most notable piece bein
''Electric Fan (Feel It Motherfuckers): Only Unclaimed Item from the Stephan Earabino Estate''
Early life
Boskovich was the only child of John Boskovich Sr. and Marcella Boskovich (née Montagna). Boskovich is the grandson of Stephan Boskovich, founder of
Boskovich Farms. Boskovich was raised in the
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...
and attended
Notre Dame High School.
Boskovich received an undergraduate degree from
USC
USC most often refers to:
* University of South Carolina, a public research university
** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses
**South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program
* University of ...
, and went on to earn an MFA from the
California Institute of the Arts. At CalArts, he was a student of
John Baldessari, a conceptual artist who became his mentor. While attending CalArts, Boskovich simultaneously earned a law degree at
Loyola Law School, although he never practiced law.
Career
In the late 1980s Boskovich co-wrote and directed ''Without You I'm Nothing'', a one-woman off-Broadway show starring actress and comedian
Sandra Bernhard
Sandra Bernhard (born June 6, 1955) is an American actress, singer, comedian and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy, where she often critiqued celebrity culture and political figures.
She is perhaps b ...
. He also directed the subsequent 1990
film version
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...
. He later went on to direct ''North'', a 2001 film which featured artist and writer
Gary Indiana
Gary Indiana (b. 1950 as Gary Hoisington in Derry, New Hampshire) is an American writer, actor, artist, and cultural critic. He served as the art critic for the ''Village Voice'' weekly newspaper from 1985 to 1988. Indiana is best known for his ...
reading from
Louis-Ferdinand Céline's novel of the same name.
As an artist, Boskovich was indebted to the
Dadaists, and used found objects, photography, handwritten and typeset texts, as well as audio sources to create witty, sharp-edged, social commentary. From 1988 to 1999, Boskovich exhibited at the
Rosamund Felsen Gallery, now in Bergamot Station in
Santa Monica, CA
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...
.
A 1994 show entitled "Rude Awakening" was inspired by his friendship and work with the band Rude Awakening, which included one of his friends, bassist Robert Calkin (a.k.a. Robert Ryder). The band's logo was included in many of his works. He also did the photography for their ''Headbutter'' E.P. using a technique he originated that incorporated video, television, and Polaroid cameras. He continued to use this photographic technique, with the addition of textual elements, in his mid-1990s "It" series.
A later project involved the transformation of his living space into an environmental artwork, often through architectural interventions or the incorporation of his older pieces into the space. In the mid-1990s, Boskovich taught at
Otis College of Art and Design in
Los Angeles. He curated several shows of his students' works at
Rosamund Felsen.
Boskovich died at his home on September 24, 2006, aged 49, from undisclosed causes.
Boskovich's estate is represented by the
David Lewis Gallery
David Lewis is a contemporary art gallery in New York founded by art historian David Lewis in 2013. The gallery is known for representation and championing prominent international artists such as Barbara Bloom and the estates of Thornton Dial, ...
in New York. Two solo exhibitions have been exhibited at the gallery, ''John Boskovich'' from March 6, 2020—April 19, 2020 which reassembled his former West Hollywood home, “a highly fetishized design concept,” and ''John Boskovich: Mirrors'' from March 4, 2022—April 16, 2022.
References
External links
*
Find ArticlesSloughtSpence
* https://soundcloud.com/conversations-on-the-arts/rebecca-matalon-interview-with-irit-krygier-re-tongues-untied
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boskovich, John S.
1956 births
2006 deaths
American art curators
People from the San Fernando Valley
Film directors from Los Angeles