Jack Hogan

Lives and works in London, UK

Artist statement

I am an artist and musician from Waterford, Ireland. My work focuses on the rich sociality of everyday life, foregrounding friendship and what constitutes good shared lives and places. Life can be hard and seem meaningless. art and music are good way for me to make meaning or find beauty in that meaninglessness. My diverse artistic investigations, in terms of subject matter and media, are driven by intensive studies, but the end result is always deeply personal and subjective. I left Tokyo and my career as a project architect with SANAA in 2012, in an attempt to divest from corporate dependence. Visiting the Zapatistas in Chiapas in 2017, and reading their writings, marked an essential shift in my artistic development. Their refusal to split mind and body—the impossibility on which western intellectual life is predicated—was a revelation, coupled with their refusal to identify themselves or to draw a border around their struggle. They wrote: “We began to create in our own lands what we wanted. Books, medicine, laughter, sweets, and toys flourished under our law.” I saw the importance of specificity and seemingly minor details, equivalent and at times more resonant than louder political gestures. I make work that is not easily translated to or from language, no pre-chewed messages ready for digestion, but riddles that reward time and value the audience’s intelligence. I am interested in processes of social construction and their codes. I want to tell stories that are about...

Artwork