Movement, cinema, and mechanics are a common thread found in my work, spanning various mediums – from kinetic machines and animations to carved wooden reliefs. The work contains literal structures; built from wood or metal, and also figurative structures; compositions reacting to the idea of gravity, air resistance, or centripetal force. Ultimately the metaphorical idea of constructing is an attempt to try to understand the designing force of nature and evolution through time.
About the Artist
Ohio-based artist J. C. Fontanive (b. 1977) was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and received a BA from Syracuse University, and an MA from The Royal College of Art, London. His work has been shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, The Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Jerwood Gallery, London, The Contemporary Art Society, London, The Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, The Gulbenkian Foundation, The Tyler Museum of Art, Museum Meermanno Huis van het Boek, The Hague, The Nassau Museum of Art, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Ireland, Monash University Museum of Art, The Oliver Ranch Foundation, Columbus Metropolitan Library, and The Center for Book Arts, among others. J.C. won the 2018 Brooke and Hap Stein Emerging Artist Prize from MOCA Jacksonville, and The Desmond Preston Drawing Prize from The Royal College of Art, and has also been awarded a residency at The Marble House Project, VT.
Exhibited at the Gibbes Museum, 2023
Difference City, solo exhibition at Carol Corey Gallery, 2022
Featured in Revolve: Spotlight on the Permanent Collection at the Cummer Museum, 2022