A R T I S T   S T A T E M E N T

I aim to project energy and images with abundant focus. Through various hybrids of visual art, dance, and theater, I devise highly stylized situations in which images and actions coalesce to produce decidedly poetic, often conceptual, narratives. I strive to challenge expectations and champion a dialogue between art forms. Pre-established artistic disciplines serve as points of departure for blending the abstract with the concrete.

Expectation, seduction, surprise, and illusion are common devices within my work. I’m interested in the idiosyncratic systems we develop to effectively navigate our complex world. Touching on subjects such as materialism, insatiability, conformity, and alienation, my performances reflect a struggle to find pattern and purpose within an imposing and random universe.

The human form is essential to my work. Nude, adorned, or enhanced with wearable sculpture, my body serves to activate objects and environments or personify intangible ideas. A keen interest in site-specificity and performance in non-traditional places has led me to present works in hay fields, school buses, closets, and rooftops. I enjoy showing work in unique locations as much as I do in professional theaters or galleries of art. My images and ideas are designed to have impact while at the same time embracing depth, resonance, and artistic integrity.

B  I   O   G   R   A   P   H  Y

Joseph Ravens creates time-based art works that encompass text, movement, installation, technology, costume, and object. He completed his undergraduate degree in theater at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; studied audio/visuals at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, Netherlands; and is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an MFA in Performance Art. Ravens is a recipient of the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for Interdisciplinary/Performance Art as well as the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for New Performance Forms.

Ravens has received numerous travel and exchange awards that have enabled him to build a global reputation. He has participated in several international festivals including 10 Days of Veem, at Het Veem Theater, and Interzone at DeBalie Center for Culture and Politics, both in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Auf Eine Art II at Kulé Theater, and the 72 Stunden Kongress für Performance Art, both in Berlin, Germany; Man.In.Fest Experimental Theater Festival in Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Postsovkhoz4 Symposium, in Mooste, Estonia; and the International Media Arts Festival (IMAF) in Belgrade, Serbia. In the United States, Ravens has been invited to show work in the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and the Cleveland Performance Art Festival. In the summer of 2008, Joseph presented his work at the Zendai MoMA, Shanghai, China; and the Total Contemporary Art Museum, Seoul, Korea. Most recently, he has shown his performance Kattywampus at the Beyond Pressure Festival in Rangoon, Myanmar and the Open Performance Festival in Beijing, China.

Ravens has collaborated on two films with filmmaker Daniéle Wilmouth, Tracing a Vein, and Round. These films have shown internationally, including Russia, Germany, Australia, and China. A film written by Ravens and co-directed by Ms. Wilmouth, Containers, has aired on the Chicago PBS program, Image Union.

Ravens has also worked with established artists such as Ann Carlson, playing ‘Duck Baby’ in her work, Animals, as well as with Compagnie Felix Ruckert as a guest dancer in two works, Tools and Consulto, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. He was also chosen by movement innovator and MacArthur Foundation genius Elizabeth Streb to study with her in residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Ravens frequently presents workshops around the world that demonstrate his unique approach to creating time-based art.