Josh Tonsfeldt
Josh Tonsfeldt | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1979 (age 45–46) Independence, Missouri, U.S. |
| Alma mater | SUNY Purchase College, Columbia University |
| Known for | photography, sculpture, educator |
| Movement | Post-conceptual art |
Josh Tonsfeldt (born 1979)[1] is an American artist and educator. His work is situated between photography, sculpture, and video.[2] His work explores the way images relate to the body, the camera, and the spaces in which they are displayed. He lives and works in New York.
Early life and education
[edit]Tonsfeldt was born in 1979 in Independence, Missouri, and was raised in Kansas City.[3] He graduated from SUNY Purchase College in 2004 with a BA in New Media. He received an MFA from Columbia University in 2007.[4]
Work
[edit]Tonsfeldt works across a variety of media–including moving image, photography, sculpture and drawing–with an approach that is site-responsive and open-ended.[5] He combines found elements with materials from his personal archives and life to imbue a frame onto otherwise common or untraceable images. His work approaches the apparatuses that produce images as a prosthesis, a way of extending or reconfiguring the senses.[2] In an untitled work from 2015 shown at Bright Golden Haze, a group exhibition at Oklahoma Contemporary, Tonsfeldt combines sculpture and video in a dissected LCD television that exposes its internal wiring and LED lights. On the work, critic Thomas Duncan wrote of Tonsfeldt’s work, “the viewer's attention is thrust from the video to the very mechanisms that enable its legibility, to the familiarity of the objects and back again … the effect, almost respiratory, is utterly hypnotic.”[2]
Josh Tonsfeldt’s work has been reviewed in Flash Art[6] and Artforum.[7]
Exhibitions
[edit]Tonsfeldt has exhibited in the United States and abroad. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions at Broadway Gallery, New York (2024);[8] Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2023);[9] Simon Preston Gallery, New York (2015);[7] VidalCuglietta, Brussels (2013);[10] and Franco Soffiantino Gallery, Turin (2010).[11]
Tonsfeldt’s work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including 100 Sculptures, Anonymous Gallery, New York (2021);[12] Bright Golden Haze, Oklahoma Contemporary, Oklahoma City (2020);[13] It's Necessary to Talk About Trees, Foreland, Catskill (2019);[14] Digital Artifacts, Thoma Foundation, Santa Fe (2018);[15] Artists’ Choice: An Expanded Field of Photography, Mass MoCA, North Adams (2015);[3] Mississippi, GAMeC / Bergamo (2014);[6] and Temple Bar Gallery & Studios Are Dead, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin (2013);[16] among others.
Tonsfeldt’s work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Thoma Foundation, the Parrish Museum, and the Pérez Museum in Miami.[4]
Teaching
[edit]Tonsfeldt has taught at Columbia University and SUNY Purchase College.[4] In 2020, he was chosen as the Teiger Mentor in the Arts at Cornell University.[17]
- ^ Tonsfeldt, Josh (2016), Untitled, retrieved 2025-03-24
- ^ a b c "Material Soul |". Flash Art. 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ a b "Artists' Choice: An Expanded Field of Photography by MASS MoCA - Issuu". issuu.com. 2015-06-16. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ a b c "Joshua Tonsfeldt '04". www.purchase.edu. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ "The Artist's Eye: Josh Tonsfeldt (Gallery 2)". The Douglas Hyde Gallery. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ a b "Mississippi GAMeC / Bergamo |". Flash Art. 2015-02-10. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ a b Wilson, Michael (2016-02-01). "Josh Tonsfeldt". Artforum. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ "In the Project Room: Josh Tonsfeldt: Five Below | June 27 - August 2, 2024". Broadway. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ "The Artist's Eye: Josh Tonsfeldt (Gallery 2)". The Douglas Hyde Gallery. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ "Josh Tonsfeldt at VidalCuglietta, Brussels". Contemporary Art Library. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ "JOSH TONSFELDT - Franco Soffiantino". www.francosoffiantino.it. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ "100 Sculptures - NYC at Anonymous Gallery, New York". Contemporary Art Library. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ "#ArtistSpotlight: Josh Tonsfeldt". Oklahoma Contemporary. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ "It's Necessary to Talk about Trees". River Valley Arts Collective. 2019-09-29. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ Vore, Alex De (2018-11-28). "Digital Underground". Santa Fe Reporter. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ "Temple Bar Gallery + Studios are Dead | Temple Bar Gallery + Studios are Dead | Exhibition | Temple Bar Gallery + Studios". www.templebargallery.com. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
- ^ "Teiger Mentor in the Arts | Cornell AAP". aap.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2025-03-24.