Past Residents
Past Resident2012: The New York Community Trust’s Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund
Abigail DeVille
Through bricolage, painting, and sculpture, Abigail DeVille cobbles together a visual mass that speaks to the material culture of the present moment. She experiments using found and inherited domestic objects in order to make a connection to the universe. W.E.B. Du Bois’ concept of double-consciousness is the conceptual frame DeVille uses to deconstruct two spatial relationships: the claustrophobic space of the urban environment violently clashing with the infinite expanse of the universe. Black holes are an integral metaphor. DeVille warps the time of physical objects. Her objects speak to the physical infinite expanse of universal time and societal ills of the present moment. DeVille’s work is interested in making the visible representation of the invisible.
Abigail DeVille (born 1981, New York City) received her BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2007. She received the Camille Hanks Cosby fellowship to participate in the Skowhegan Residency Program in 2007. DeVille was a participant in the art world’s first reality television show, Artstar, which aired on Gallery HD from June 2006 – January 2009 and culminated with an exhibition at Deitch Projects (NY). She has exhibited at El Museo Del Barrio, Vogt Gallery, project spaces Recess Activities Inc., The Bronx River Art Center and Marginal Utility in Philadelphia, PA. DeVille is a 2011 MFA graduate in painting at The Yale School of Art.
Residents from United States
Aryel René Jackson

Studio #305
Hanae Utamura

Studio #201
Past Resident2012: Bunka-cho - Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
Motoko Dobashi
By means of different media, including wall paintings, drawings and prints, Motoko Dobashi creates imaginary landscapes that reflect visions of contemporary society. In her work elements from the graphic art of various cultures and eras coexist on a monochrome surface. The source for her inspiration can be found in Rennaissance copperplate engravings as well as in contemporary Japanese Mangas, computer graphics and images from the internet. Dobashi makes use of diverse perspectives to establish a unique visual perception, and allow the viewer to access fictitious worlds, particularly in her site-specific wall paintings.
Motoko Dobashi (born 1976, Tokushima, Japan) lives and works in Munich and Berlin. She studied painting at the Musashino Art University, Tokyo, and the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including Lenbachhaus, Munich; Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; and Tokyo Wonder Site. She is represented by Gallery Dina4 Projekte, Munich, Lullin + Ferrari, Zurich, and Galerie Laurent Mueller, Paris, and her work is included in major public and private collections.
Past Resident2012: Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec
Jean-Michel Ross
Jean-Michel Ross’s curatorial practice questions the spatial relationship and interaction between objects and subjects. He creates different contexts through fiction and narration to build dialogue with artists and interact with their works. His projects often reflect upon hierarchy, freedom, universality, neutrality, equivalence and value. He believes that both conceptual esthetics and formal esthetics are equally fundamental to curatorial research. For him curating is and will always be a collaborative effort. Recently he has started to question the issues and empirical impossibilities raised by the democratic ideal, linking this political theory to the art field and to his curatorial and editorial practice.
Jean-Michel Ross is a Montreal based curator, critic, writer and collector. He completed an art history degree at Université du Québec à Montreal in 2004. He was assistant editor of Espace Sculpture Magazine for six years where he directed several thematic issues. His writings on contemporary art have been published regularly in Espace and C Magazine. In 2010 he curated the exhibition and residency project La Colonie, Deschambault-Grondine, Canada. In recent years he has also acted as co-curator for projects such as The Waterpod Project in 2009, New York; Québec Gold in 2008, Reims, France; and Jumelages in 2007, Montreal, Canada. He is the founder of Free Pass and has been on the board of Optica Gallery in Montreal since 2004.
Events & Exhibitions
Salon: Kakyoung Lee and Jean-Michel Ross
January 24, 2012