John W. Love, Jr.
Charlotte, NC
John W. Love, Jr. is an interdisciplinary artist traversing literature, performance, installation, video, mysticism, and media. Gritty and fantastical, his myths inspire an enthralling navigation of sex, money, beauty, power, desire, humor, identity, and everything we assume to be true. Crystalline worlds of salt, black earth, blurred lines and Absurdist kisses to the psyche bring forth works such as SYMPH (literature, performance), Petal Boy (installation), Black Lily Billy and the Labia Who Knew Him (performance), FECUND (interdisciplinary), Ooo girl, Anchorage! (video), fecund: Night (video), The Diaries of Neequa or She Who Would Be King (performance), and the pop-up bathroom installation that looks HB2 squarely in the genitals, SALT DADDY (sound). The accession of COVID-19 has inspired an unexpected keen from Love’s present interdisciplinary work, The Cathedral of Messes. Some mystics such as The Perpetually Pregnant Man—Exemplar of the Uncategorizable, and The Gem Collector—Anthropologist of the Ridiculous and Absurd, simply refuse to bite into despair. The virtual initiative, The Buddha Has Teeth, and its sumptuously irreverent CALM YO’ ASS meditation series have poignantly and shamelessly elevated salacious defiance to a divine act. Love is a Guggenheim Fellow, Reemprise Fund recipient, NC Arts Council Fellow, and McColl Award recipient.
Image of John W. Love, Jr.’s Neequa As Baby Girl. Photo: Coopernicus Photography.
Image still from Fecund Night Redux Chinchilla Screen Capture.
Image of John W. Love, Jr.’s Blk Alum Gris Gris. Photo: Jay Weinmiller.
Image of John W. Love, Jr.’s Billy As Devarius. Photo: Coopernicus Photography.
Image of John W. Love, Jr.’s Articulating Up. Photo: Coopernicus Photography.
Image of John W. Love, Jr.’s Articulating Facets. Photo: Coopernicus Photography.
Video clips from fecund: Night redux
John W. Love, Jr. in Ooo girl, Anchorage!
John W. Love, Jr. reads from SALT DADDY.
The Cathedral of Messes
John W. Love, Jr. is an interdisciplinary artist traversing literature, performance, installation, video, mysticism, and media.
Artist BioThe Cathedral of Messes is the scene of a crime: a mystic has assassinated his inner saboteur. Crystalline enshrined shoes and body parts of sculpted black salt float in a sea of video, literature, and performance in an installation dedicated to obliterating a virus known as shame.