Jeremy Kennedy
artist biography:
Beginning:
Born January 1, 1980, in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Artistic activities began at the age of 13 years in the form of audio performance and recordings. Kennedy performed with various groups during his career as a high school student. He also designed and built a lo-fi recording studio in which to capture the sounds. Under the influence of jazz, free improvised music, punk rock, and experimental noise music; these first musical notions were not well received in his small Midwestern hometown.
Kennedy, in the company of several other collaborators of the same age, separated themselves from the prevailing culture of Owensboro, and began working on projects in a closed environment. One without the sway of the local rock n roll set, or anything to do with Owensboro all together.
Recording at the above mentioned studio continued. However, instead of attempting to gain the interest of the hometown community, Kennedy and company shipped the products to more open and likeminded individuals in points abroad. This action gained the attention of a number of fans, artists, and press of the more off beat genres.
Performances in his hometown did not cease entirely, but transformed into more sporatic and violent outings, which Kennedy considered performance art. After a short period of shocking and destructive noise performances, Kennedy and his cohorts were left without a local venue.
Around this time (1996), Kennedy and his closest collaborative partner, Crab Jackson, birthed an art project in the guise of an underground organization. The project was titled "the KWOP organization". It was a literary endeavor, with the main purpose of producing nearly incomprehensible "threat letters on a typewriter. The letters were then photocopied and mailed out to corporations and organizations that they felt were abusing certain social and business ethics.
Kennedy and Jackson put their visual art talents to use and completed the organization model by producing motivational and inspired posters and collages to adorn the "typing room where the letters were always created. The KWOP organization ceased activity in 1999, but reformed as an audio interpretation of the original work in 2006.
The Move To Bloomington, Indiana:
In 1998, with limited options left in Kentucky, Kennedy and several friends and collaborators moved to the city of Bloomington, Indiana. Being a college town, Bloomington seemed to offer more acceptance and far more opportunities.
The beliefs of the group proved to be true. His friends and he soon found themselves immersed in a community of creative bodies and open offers. Performances became more creative and recordings were received with excitement.
During this period of time (1998), Kennedy began a more immediate and concentrated attempt in the realm of visual arts. In collaborative effort with new found friend and local pop artist Christopher Resnick, he had his first official public showing of his paintings.
Kennedy’s ideas on visual art, a type of illustration involving solid conceptual formulas set against descriptive text (stylistic forms which Kennedy describes as new disciplines including: absurdism, child-view projection, bad drawn surrealism, and drawingism), were soon found to be welcome, as well as highly marketable. With this influx of attention, his work in painting continued forward at a comfortable pace.
fmsmprc, Kennedy’s collective run record label, took off in full form around this time. On top of that, his most active musical endeavor, Puppy vs. Dyslexia was touring full-time. Solo art exhibitions were few and far between at this time, due to scheduling restraints. But one on one networking concerning all fields of artistic involvement was growing greatly.
Between tours, Kennedy’s time was spent on an expanding array of projects. The evidence shows that his time was, and continues to be stretched between painting, recording sound, community involvement, arts press and promotion, and operating two independent businesses. While not traveling with music, Kennedy found himself constantly arranging art and performance shows, mostly on the d.i.y. level.
Soon he was being invited as an artist to exhibit works at several regional galleries. With the encouragement of successful or even sold out shows, Kennedy’s output of visual art increased.
Recent:
The frequency of exhibition also increased, in both solo and group settings. At the same time, Kennedy was finding great influence from researching artists such as Rauschenberg, Duchamp, de Maria, and other artists working heavily in the conceptual area. Combined with a new found passion for marketing and advertising technique and the sharing ideas with local artist/curator/promoter/"hospital art space founder j. Shelley Harrison, Kennedy’s artistic direction became more defined.
With a heightened interest in conceptually based projects, he joined forces with J. Shelley Harrison in 2005, and together they established a collaborative partnership under the moniker: (knee shy). The united effort has produced and exhibited numerous individual pieces and collections of work. Their work also manifested itself in the form of event oriented "happenings", such as a two group art shows in a hotel suite, an unorthodox fashion event, and other themed or location specific ventures. These proved very successful and allowed the two to take their natural networking and promotion skills to the next level.
For the past four years, Kennedy’s work as a promoter, and his interest as in marketing concept have flourished. These shifts in interest helped to motivate an expansion of his working mediums. After adapting the guidelines of "never letting the medium shape the work", he became more involved with design, construction, and whatever measures required to make the concept work.
In 2006, Kennedy, together with friends and fellow visual artists Crab Jackson and Shane Edge, formed Jinjonjim art. a rather humorous d.i.y. styled collective, which produces collaborative paintings, and mock commercial items under the tag: jinjonjim brand.
During the spring/summer period in 2008, while Kennedy was exhibiting new work on a monthly basis, he still managed to help pull together an art event at his own home, called: "CooKout II". This second annual event had a larger scope than the first, with over twenty local and nationally operating artists and performers participating. As well as the hilarious (knee shy) event: "parking permit". Essentially a publicity stunt, it involved heavy promotion to draw citizens to a 10 minute happening, where somebody simply parallel parked in a pre-designated spot in downtown Bloomington.
Painting and drawing still exist as Kennedy’s mainstay of artistic output. His paintings have continued to draw attention and praise, and the thorough schedule of exhibitions in 2007-2008 have been exceedingly successful. He is also currently working with cellular phones in a new sculpture series. Activity within the (knee shy) and jinjonjim art/brand collaborations is also at a high.
-Tyco Riley
(2008)
tycoriley@hotmail.com
past exhibitions/projects:
as jeremy kennedy:
2009:
2.27.09- "4 Cell" cellular phone oriented exhibition + event
@ fuller projects (mccalla building) / bloomington, in
1.30.09- "a place for everything, everything in it's place" group art event
@ mccalla building / bloomington, in
1.23.09- "leftovers from the last supper" + audio installation (jeremy kennedy + john dawson)
@ hospital (102 e. allen st.) / bloomington, in
2008:
12.12.08- "holiday studio sale" (group art sale)
@ robb stone studio (1017 s. walnut st.) / bloomington, in
10.3.08- "hospital grand re-opening" (group show)
@ hospital / bloomington
7.11.08- "CooKout II" (second annual open house oriented art event)
@ 804 s. rogers st. / bloomington,in
6.6.08- ".get permanent result" (jinojonjim art/brand collaborative and solo event)
@ big car gallery / indianapolis, in
5.16.08- "taste on the range"
@ hospital / bloomington, in
4.7.08- recent works by jeremy kennedy /
@ the runcible spoon / Bloomington,in
1.12.08- "courtesy call (group site specific art installation)
@ courtyard by marriott / bloomington, in
2007:
11.30.07- holiday art sale / group show
@ hospital / bloomington, in
11.16.07- "table-blue super spaghetti
@ boxcar books / bloomington, in
5.26.07- "CooKout"
@804 s. rogers st. / bloomington, in
3.9.07- silent auction
@hospital / bloomington, in
1.12.07- "attractive men star in popular movie playing in many theaters"
@ hospital / bloomington, in
2006:
12.1.06- j.shelley harrison & jeremy kennedy (solo works)
@ big car gallery / indianapolis,in
10.29.06- solo exhibition
@ mondo delgado / bloomington, in
4.7.06- solo exhibition + electronic sound installation
@ big car gallery / Indianapolis, in
2005:
6.?.05- "what do you want the wizard to do? solo exhibit + collaborative sound performance
@boxcar books / bloomington, in
2004:
11.24.04- "super eat solo exhibit + collaborative sound installation
@ relaxation center / bloomington, in
2003:
2.15.03- "underwater gold collaborative and sound installation with shane edge
@ boxcar books / bloomington, in
2002:
?/?/02- collaborative with Chris Resnick
@space 101 / bloomington, in
?/?/02- collaborative with chris resnick
@ boxcar books / bloomington, in
PUBLICATIONS / OTHER:
2005:
Indiana Review -cover art for (collaborative with Crab Jackson)
Drawings- cover art for Issue One (published by friends and relatives records)
"free flyer" (2005-present)- humorous city wide flyer based project.
AUDIO:
puppy vs. dyslexia (1996-2006)- experimental music group.
ground-ups (1999-present)- free jazz ensemble.
the kwop organization (1996-present)- experimental sound/spoken word project
conceptualized from threat letter terrorist group.
jeremy kennedy (2001-present)- experimental cross genre recording project under own name.
COMPANIES / ORGANIZATIONS:
FMSMPRC (2000-present)- low run independent record label for the release and distribution of avant-garde and experimental sound recordings.
(www.fmsmprc.com)
position: minister of affairs
(knee shy) (2006-present)- collaborative, concept based art duo dealing with all mediums. also offering design, promotional, and creative services.
(www.kneeshy.com)
position: prince
jinjonjim art / jinjonjim brand (2006-present)- art, design, marketing creative collective.
(www.jinjonjim.com)
position: designer
exhibitions/projects:
as (knee shy):
2008:
8.10.08- "parking permit" (open reception for parallel parking demonstration)
@ 200 block of n. walnut / bloomington, in
7.11.08-"CooKout II" (second annual open house oriented group art event)
@ 804 s. rogers st. / bloomington, in
1.12.08-"courtesy call" (location specific group installation)
@ courtyard by marriot / room #500 / bloomington,in
2007:
5.26.07-"CooKout" (open house oriented group art event)
@ 804 s. rogers st. / bloomington,in
3.14.07- "kidnapped" (kidnapping party)
@ 804 s. rogers st / bloomington,in
2.14.07- "room service" (valentines day installation project)
@ courtyard by marriot / room #500 / bloomington,in
2.3.07- "options for good ideas" (options for better living fundraising project)
@ chocolatefest /bloomington convention center / bloomington,in
2006:
9.22.06- "pardon our eleven fragile titles" (collaborative works)
@ hospital / bloomington,in
7.14.06-"flying by the seat of our pants" (group fashion event)
@ hospital / bloomington,in
