Geo Wyeth
Born1984
NationalityAmerican
Alma materYale University

Geo Wyeth (born 1984) is an artist who works with music, performance, installation, and video. They are based in Amsterdam & Rotterdam, NL and in New York City.

Early Life and Education

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Wyeth received their bachelors degree in American Studies from Yale University in 2007.

Work

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Wyeth began making video work in 2013 in their piece Kitchen Steve, which they began at t

he Yaddo residency program in Saratoga Springs, New York. Visuals are central to Wyeth's musical live performances as well. Their performances include sculptural objects and stage sets made from transparent plastic scrims and lights. These performances often break down the barriers between the performer and their audience and use participation to deliberately foster a sense of intimate community among the attendees. [1]

In 2013 Wyeth received a grant from the Art Matters Foundation for the creation of the video Quartered (2014). In their proposal for the project Wyeth cited their relative, the gynecologist Dr. James Marion Sims. According to Wyeth, Sims was catapulted to fame for discoveries made through experiments he conducted on enslaved African-American women. Wyeth is black on their mother’s side, though, they claim, they are often mistaken for white. The video is based on research into Sims life. Quartered, plays on anarchist idea of “propaganda of the deed,” explosive acts of violence meant to ignite the revolutionary spirit of the people. In it, Wyeth travels to Sim's hometown in South Carolina and performs actions in the landscape, building a series of explosive sculptures.

Collaboration is a common theme in Wyeth's practice. In an interview in 2012 Wyeth said, "Collaboration is what happens every time I sit down and really share and communicate with my friends about what’s up in the world and in their brains...I have collaborated with visual artists, choreographers, composers and I enjoy sharing ideas with folks and not just for the sake of creating a product, usually quite the opposite." [2]

Wyeth frequently composes music in collaboration with other artists for films and performances. In 2017 they were commissioned by the Kitchen to produce Swivel Spot with Jen Rosenblit. Performance critic Sarah Lyons described the performance: "Comprised of gently accumulating scored movement punctuated by surprising turns of music and interaction, Swivel Spot watches Rosenblit and Wyeth fumble blindfolded through a motley landscape of objects and sound, groping for grounding, and for one another...They constantly turn surprising corners as they lean towards and away from one another, tearing away plastic to find lotion, or clothing, or a jug; stopping to lounge imposingly with peanuts; and in Wyeth’s case, suddenly keening a powerful and strange song, his heart audible for just a moment." [3]

In 2017 Wyeth performed Juice CrosxxxSing as a part of the exhibition “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon," at the New Museum in New York. The performance introduced two new characters into Wyeth's performance the Lost Tourist and CrosxxxSing Guard, wish the New Musuem website describes as "two friends who have been separated and must navigate a series of hurdles in search of one another." [4]

Discography

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2016 Juice Inferno!

2015 Rich Kit​[​hen, Wild Flesh Productions

2013 DON'T LET DISTANCE KEEP YOU AWAY

2012 Alien Tapes, PACK Projects

  1. ^ "Staff Pick: Geo Wyeth | Art21 Magazine". Art21 Magazine. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  2. ^ "Discovery: Geo Wyeth - Interview Magazine". Interview Magazine. 2012-07-06. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  3. ^ "In Performance: Jen Rosenblit & Geo Wyeth - Swivel Spot (The Kitchen) - Contemporary Performance". Contemporary Performance. 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
  4. ^ "Geo Wyeth: Juice CrosxxxSing". www.newmuseum.org. Retrieved 2018-03-30.