Conceptual artist Jennifer Dalton centers her practice on the “mining” of a wide range of data about the art world (and the world at large), be it market statistics or a subjective survey of artists with the most wisdom. In addition to the figures and information she presents, Dalton’s choice of medium is an integral part of her work; she often uses materials that contribute to a hand-made or vintage look, as in Every Descriptive Word and Phrase Used to Describe Artists and their Work in Artforum’s “Best of 2007” (2009), a haphazard-looking pencil-on-paper list, and Contemporary Art According to Jen, (2002), a rudimentary slide presentation given on an outdated laptop computer. In recent works, Dalton has compiled images to answer loaded questions including “What does an important person look like?” (2011), using decorative frames to suggest that these people are themselves works of art.
Conceptual artist Jennifer Dalton centers her practice on the “mining” of a wide range of data about the art world (and the world at large), be it market statistics or a subjective survey of artists with the most wisdom. In addition to the figures and information she presents, Dalton’s choice of medium is an integral part of her work; she often uses materials that contribute to a hand-made or vintage look, as in Every Descriptive Word and Phrase Used to Describe Artists and their Work in Artforum’s “Best of 2007” (2009), a haphazard-looking pencil-on-paper list, and Contemporary Art According to Jen, (2002), a rudimentary slide presentation given on an outdated laptop computer. In recent works, Dalton has compiled images to answer loaded questions including “What does an important person look like?” (2011), using decorative frames to suggest that these people are themselves works of art.
