Jacob Kassay: Exploring Structure, Perception, and Materiality

Jacob Kassay, born in 1984 in Lewiston, New York, is a post-conceptual artist renowned for his work in painting, filmmaking, and sculpture. His art is often recognized for its connection to minimalist music and composition, using a structural approach to explore how we perceive sight and space. Kassay currently resides in New York City and is represented by 303 Gallery. 

A Post-Conceptual Artist's Journey

Jacob Kassay, born in 1984 in Lewiston, New York, is a prominent post-conceptual artist, celebrated for his contributions to painting, filmmaking, and sculpture. His art is often recognized for its influence from minimalist music and composition, employing a structural approach to explore the biological aspects of visual perception and spatial awareness. Kassay currently resides in New York City and is represented by 303 Gallery.
Kassay was born to Stephen and Rebecca Kassay, both of whom worked for the government in Niagara County, New York. His father was employed by the United States Postal Service and the department of Weights and Measures, while his mother worked in the probation office.

He pursued his education at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he earned a BFA in photography. During his time as a student, Kassay was influenced by instructors like Sylvie Belanger and Steve Kurtz of the Critical Art Ensemble, who introduced him to semiotics, image theory, and structuralist/post-structuralist ideas. The region’s art history also played a significant role in shaping his understanding of these movements.

While studying at UB, Kassay and his peers founded Kitchen Distribution, a music and art space that began as a class project but evolved into an influential local venue. It hosted performances from bands like Burning Star Core, Tony Conrad, Japanther, and Pengo. This space also marked the debut of Kassay's first solo exhibition, where he presented a series of paintings that would later define his artistic identity.

Kassay later relocated to New York, where his work gained early exposure through group exhibitions such as Cinema Zero: Bendover/Hangover at White Flag Projects in St. Louis and Neo-Integrity at Derek Eller Gallery in New York. His early work found support from artists like Ann Craven, Maurizio Cattelan, Olivier Mosset, and curator Bob Nickas.

Exploring Structure, Perception, and Materiality

Jacob Kassay’s work examines the relationship between structured forms and the human body. He describes his practice as using traditional media to enhance tactile experiences and to reveal the underlying mechanics of how space is shaped. By focusing on the interaction between physical materials and perception, Kassay creates works that challenge how we engage with space and visual experiences.

Kassay is known for incorporating industrial processes and materials into his art, often selecting those that resist easy replication. Early in his career, he used electroplating in his paintings, creating surfaces that both reflect and distort the surrounding environment. These works prompted critics like Alex Bacon to explore the idea of representation, questioning what it means for something to be “represented” in art. The surfaces, while visually engaging, also blur focus and redirect the viewer’s attention, as noted by curator Anthony Huberman.

His innovative use of alternative surface treatments further emphasizes his work’s nature as cultural objects. Materials such as multi-spec—a type of wall treatment that keeps pigments from blending—are applied to both canvases and gallery walls, allowing the physical properties of the paint to play a central role in the artwork. Kassay also collects discarded canvases from his studio, transforming them into unique stretchers that are specific to each remnant, creating a connection between the labor in his studio and the final composition.

Kassay often draws from art movements like institutional critique. In one series, he used library books borrowed from a local library to explore the contrast between public and commercial contexts, highlighting the subtle commercial standards that influence how people engage with art. Another series, “gutted corridors,” includes freestanding aluminum sculptures that replicate airspaces above stairwells, produced with technical precision to push the material to its limits.

Kassay's two films further explore the interaction between time, space, and perception. In Untitled (2015), a helicopter with a single rotor is filmed in a way that makes its rotors appear stationary, exploiting a quirk in industrial regulations. II (2018) features a double-rotor helicopter, with the film screened at Anthology Film Archive and as part of the Mechanisms exhibition curated by Anthony Huberman.

Reflecting on Art and Influence Through Writing

Jacob Kassay has written extensively about other artists, with his work appearing in publications such as The Brooklyn Rail, Mousse, and L'Officiel Art, among others.

In his article “On Demand,” published in The Brooklyn Rail, Kassay explores the work of his fellow Buffalonian, Ad Reinhardt, highlighting the artist’s keen awareness of mass media and its impact on painting. Kassay notes, “The conglomeration of print technologies through which these paintings have passed has yielded an excess of black surface,” suggesting that this abundance challenges the notion of one surface being more valuable than another. Reinhardt’s work, according to Kassay, moves painting away from being a singular object and into a distributed effect. In a subsequent interview, Kassay explained Reinhardt’s influence on his own work, emphasizing that Reinhardt’s art transcends mere visual experience and proposes a strict, absolute concept of what a painting should be and how it should be understood.

Kassay’s writing also engages with art history, particularly that of Buffalo, New York. In Mousse, he revisits the work of Paul Sharits, an often-overlooked artist and filmmaker. In his reflection on Sharits’ film Apparent Motion (1975), Kassay offers a detailed and personal interpretation of the work. He observes that the film’s lack of sound and absence of the usual diagrammatic studies associated with Sharits create a more fluid, less programmatic approach. Kassay describes the film's stroboscopic effects and random distribution of film grain as not only an exploration of film's physical properties but also as a crossover into the realm of painting, with its fluctuating rhythms and stops.

Notable Solo and Group Exhibitions

First Solo Museum Exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2011)

Kassay’s first solo museum exhibition was held at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London in 2011. The show included several of his chrome paintings and shaped canvases, which, as described by the artist, “enact a deflection, describing the negative space adjacent to them.” In the accompanying essay, MoMA/PS1 curator Peter Eleey explained that Kassay's work challenges the objecthood of paintings, as their reflective surfaces divert attention from the artworks themselves, instead engaging with their surroundings. During the exhibition's opening, minimalist composer Rhys Chatham performed Rêve Parisien, a composition later released as an audio catalog of Kassay's work in 2011.

Untitled (Disambiguation) at The Kitchen, New York (2013)

In 2013, Kassay exhibited Untitled (Disambiguation) at The Kitchen in New York City, showcasing an early series of his remnant paintings. The exhibition was distinctive not only for the art displayed but also for Kassay’s interpretation of the venue’s black box theater and its archive. He strategically placed paintings in unexpected spaces, like the video archive and lobby, transforming these locations into temporary, shifting stages. Kassay’s approach emphasized the contingent nature of the paintings’ presentation. New York Times critic Roberta Smith later described the exhibition as “quietly beautiful.”

OTNY at Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo (2017)

Kassay’s first solo museum show in the United States took place at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo in 2017. Titled OTNY, the exhibition explored how implicit habits shape our navigation through familiar spaces. It featured the Jerk sculpture series, which replicated the arrangement of common household items, including actual food and canned goods. Additionally, Kassay reimagined the handrail on the museum’s stairs, using braille letterforms of the letter “H,” a symbol associated with pauses or breaths.

Select Solo and Group Exhibitions
Kassay’s career has included a variety of solo and group exhibitions, some of which include:

• Alarmer 2 at Team (Bungalow), Los Angeles (2017)
• H-L at 303 Gallery, New York (2016)
• HIJK at Xavier Hufkens, Brussels (2015)
• IJK at 303 Gallery, New York (2013)
• No Goal at Power Station, Dallas (2012)

Notable group exhibitions include:

• Other Mechanisms at Secession, Vienna (2018)
• Mechanisms at CCA Wattis, San Francisco (2017)
• From Minimalism into Algorithm at The Kitchen, New York (2016)
• Mississippi at GAMeC, Bergamo (2014)
• The Indiscipline of Painting at Tate St Ives and Warwick Art Centre (2011-2012)

Publications
Kassay has contributed to several important art publications, including exhibition catalogs and books:

• Standards, Surnames (2015), with contributions from Peter Eleey
• ICA Facsimile, ICA Redaction, and ICA Palimpsest (2013), catalog editions published by Gottlund Verlag
• No Goal (2012), exhibition catalog with contributions by Ajay Kurian
• Jacob Kassay (2011), exhibition catalog with an essay by Peter Eleey