ANNOUNCEMENT
A solo exhibition by Jay Critchley at Spoke Gallery, South Boston, MA.
DEMOCRACY OF THE LAND: Patriotism
May 12 to June 28, 2024
THURS, MAY 23, 6-8 PM, OPENING RECEPTION & PANEL

Longtime Provincetown multidisciplinary and performance artist, writer and environmental activist Jay Critchley takes a deep dive into his singular, penetrating work with his historic exploration of the roots of American identity and the occupied landscape and its mythology in his upcoming solo exhibition, Democracy of the Land: Patriotism, at South Boston’s Spoke Gallery (The gallery is a program of SPOKE).

The exhibition will run from May 12 to June 28. Reception 6-8pm Thursday, May 23rd with an accompanying hybrid panel discussion. Gallery, reception and panel discussion free and open to the public.

SPOKE and its Gallery are located at 844 Summer Street, South Boston MA 02127. More info about SPOKE: www.SpokeArt.org

Jay is a longtime resident of Provincetown, Massachusetts and the shifting dunes, landscape and the sea are his palette. His environmentally focused work has utilized locally-sourced sand, Christmas trees, fish skins, plastic tampon applicators washed up on beaches, pre-demolition buildings, ******* and the American Flag and selected sites.

His work has traversed the globe, showing across the US and in Argentina, Japan, England, Spain, France, Holland, Germany, Ireland, Scotland and Columbia.

Jay’s artist residencies include: the Santa Fe Art Institute, New Mexico; Fundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Andalucia, Spain; CAMAC, Marnay-sur-Seine, France; Havestworks Digital Media Arts Center, NYC; Milepost 5, Portland, OR; and Harvard University where he also lectured.

His movie, Toilet Treatments, won an HBO Award and he recently gave a TEDx Talk: Portrait of the Artist as a Corporation. His 2015 survey show at the Provincetown Art Association & Museum traveled to Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL. He has received awards from the Boston Society of Architects and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in NYC for his environmental projects.

Jay recently was the keynote speaker at the UK Conference on Menstruation and Sustainability at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and at the Nuffield Conference in Dublin, Ireland.

Jay was honored by the Massachusetts State Legislature as an artist and founder and director of the Provincetown Community Compact, producer of the Swim for Life, which has raised $6M for AIDS, women’s health and the community since 1988.

SPOKE activates the transformative power of art to heal divisions, strengthen community, and drive social progress. We forge a common path of equity and civic engagement across Greater Boston through visual art, dance, poetry & spoken-word performance. Young people are essential contributors to all of our work. Creating together, we emerge with a deeper understanding of ourselves, each other, and the world we share.

jaycritchley.com