John Lovett, born in 1962 in Allentown, USA, and Alessandro Codagnone, born in 1967 in Milano.
They live and work in New York.
Lovett/Codagnone have been working together since 1995. Their production ranges from photography to sculpture, video, installation and performance. They are always the protagonist in their works, performing role games aimed at umnasking socially defined power relationships.
In their earliest works, Lovett/Codagnone often made reference to B&D and S&M practices, repositioning the aesthetics of the gay subculture into suburban and domestic environments or everyday public spaces. Gay culture has recently been absorbed by mass culture as reflected in popular aesthetich products produced by the fashion, music and entertainement industries, neutralizing the destabilizing impact of this particular culture of resistance. Lovett/Codagnone responds to this situation critically by focusing on the hierarchical dynamics that lie behind everyday interpersonal interaction.
Lovett/Codagnone have shown their works in public and private spaces in Europe and the United States, including: Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas; Musée des Beaux Arts, Nantes (1998); Thread Waxing Space, New York (2000); Centre d'Art Contemporain de Basse-Normandie, Hèrouville Saint-Clair; Centre of Contemporary Art, Riga (2001); Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Neue Gesellschaft fur Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin; TRANS>area, New York; Participant Inc., New York; (2003); De Appel, Amsterdam (2005); LA> In 2006 a monograph on Lovett/Codagnone’s work has been published by Charta, with texts by Lia Gangitano and Octavio Zaya.
They live and work in New York.
Lovett/Codagnone have been working together since 1995. Their production ranges from photography to sculpture, video, installation and performance. They are always the protagonist in their works, performing role games aimed at umnasking socially defined power relationships.
In their earliest works, Lovett/Codagnone often made reference to B&D and S&M practices, repositioning the aesthetics of the gay subculture into suburban and domestic environments or everyday public spaces. Gay culture has recently been absorbed by mass culture as reflected in popular aesthetich products produced by the fashion, music and entertainement industries, neutralizing the destabilizing impact of this particular culture of resistance. Lovett/Codagnone responds to this situation critically by focusing on the hierarchical dynamics that lie behind everyday interpersonal interaction.
Lovett/Codagnone have shown their works in public and private spaces in Europe and the United States, including: Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas; Musée des Beaux Arts, Nantes (1998); Thread Waxing Space, New York (2000); Centre d'Art Contemporain de Basse-Normandie, Hèrouville Saint-Clair; Centre of Contemporary Art, Riga (2001); Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Neue Gesellschaft fur Bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin; TRANS>area, New York; Participant Inc., New York; (2003); De Appel, Amsterdam (2005); LA> In 2006 a monograph on Lovett/Codagnone’s work has been published by Charta, with texts by Lia Gangitano and Octavio Zaya.
