oh albo

i'm finally finishing up the knitting and networks paper for the conference at york. i had to find a way to bring everything together, and albo jeavons, philadelphia anarchist and art school dropout, did it nicely. the elusive overlaps between bodies, networks, corporations and textiles come together in his newest work/sculptures that interrogate the 1886 passing of a law by the United States Supreme Court giving corporations rights as persons. imagining the "corporate body" as a many-headed, network of stuffed-shirts (pun intended), jeavons wonders: "how does the corporate person eat, shit, and fuck?"





jeavons writes: "I’ve been fascinated with business suits for years; with their bizarre blending of the militaristic and the foppish, and with the symbolic role they play in the colonization and subjugation of individuals and the world. The generally ignored outlandishness of the suit: the skirted jacket, the strangely-shaped lapels, the belted pants, the buttons (always on the right side for men; women’s buttons go on the left), and of course that incredible, hilarious, centerpiece; the necktie. Thrusting upwards, so huge and virile that his pants can’t contain it, rearing up, framed by the lapels and silhouetted against the pale torso of the button-down shirt; a bare display of phallic power, so blatant and yet so rarely acknowledged as such. Looked at this way it’s hard not to laugh, walking down the street surrounded by all of these “upright” men with big symbolic cocks sticking up out of their pants."





his work, shown in galleries, but also occasionally "left" outside outlets of the Gap and Banana Republic are, i think, a potent reminder that sometimes the simplest of artistic statements can be the most powerful. jeavons is also behind the virtual MoCow museum ... but i'll save that for another post...