Jacolby Satterwhite
(born 1986, Columbia, South Carolina; lives and works in Brooklyn, New York)
Using video, 3-D animation, electronic devices and elaborate
handmade costumes, Jacolby Satterwhite uses his body to
confront issues related to gender politics, imagined worlds
and digital life. While in his performances and videos
Satterwhite references a variety of art practices—including
Surrealism, “outsider” art and postmodern dance—his
influences are as familial as they are artistic. He culls from
hundreds of drawings created by his mother, Patricia
Satterwhite, and uses them as catalysts to imagine his
alternate digital universe. To create his videos, he digitally
traces her drawings and then transforms them into 3-D
animations. Next he dances in front of a green screen,
drawing on movement vocabularies from both staged dance
and vogueing. Satterwhite’s live performances—marathon
sessions that span six to ten hours—are also influenced by
these drawings, which alternate between popular dance and
a shared secret visual language.
Biography
Jacolby Satterwhite received his BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2008 and participated in the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2009. In 2010 he earned a MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. His solo exhibitions include The Matriarch’s Rhapsody, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York (2013), and Jacolby Satterwhite, Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Provincetown, MA (2012). His group exhibitions include Approximately Infinite Universe, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (2013); Fore, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2012); 3-D Form: Aboveground Animation, New Museum, New York (2012); Beasts of Revelation, DC Moore Gallery, New York (2012); Bigger than Shadows, Dodge Gallery, New York (2012); Shift: Projects|Perspectives|Directions, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2012); Oh, You Mean Cellophane and All That Crap, Calder Foundation, New York (2012); Pixelated, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Brooklyn (2012); If There’s No Dancing at the Revolution I’m Not Coming, Recess Activities, New York (2011); Robert Melee’s Talent Show, The Kitchen, New York (2010); The Mothership Has Landed, Rush Arts Gallery, New York (2010); The B-Sides, Aljira: A Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ (2008); and Summer Mixtape Volume 1: The Get Smart Edition, Exit Art Gallery, New York (2008).
