Joseph Grigely - Biography, exhibitions, news and artist's artworks

Joseph Grigely was born in East Longmeadow in 1956. He lives and works in Chicago.  

Deaf since the age of ten, Joseph Grigely essentially focuses on the art of conversation, exploring issues of communication and language.

The art of Joseph Grigely is essentially focused on the art of conversation. Questions such as « What does a conversation look like? » or « How to figure a speech? » are present throughout his work. It is shown literally in his Conversation Pieces installations, referring to a specific genre of painting practiced by William Hogarth and Thomas Gainsborough or Canaletto which depict characters engaged in conversation. Grigely constantly explores issues of communication and language. Before becoming an artist, Joseph Grigely taught literature and critical theory, and continues to do so in the Visual and Critical Studies program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has published several critical theoretical texts (e.g., Textualterity: Art, Theory and Textual Criticism in 1995).

As an artist, he explores multifaceted aspects of spoken and written phenomena. Moreover, conversation takes on particular significance for the artist, who lost his hearing at the age of ten. Grigely actually uses writing in order to communicate, when unable to read lips or in doubt. He asks people to write down what they want to say and thereby creates installations and artworks with.

Joseph Grigely has been exhibited at MASS MoCA, Massachusetts (2023); Kunstverein Hamburg (2015); Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2009); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2008); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2001) and Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris (1996). He has taken part in numerous group shows, including Kunstmuseum Bern (2015), Centre Pompidou Metz (2011), Centre Georges Pompidou Paris (2001) and De Appel Amsterdam (1997). His work has been shown at the Whitney, Berlin, Sydney, Istanbul and Venice Biennales.