Kelly Jazvac

BIOGRAPHY

Kelly Jazvac makes art out of plastic recuperated from the advertising industry, in addition to other sustainable, non-toxic, and found materials. She is also co-founder of The Synthetic Collective,  a plastic pollution research team that includes scientists, artists, and humanists. The work of this research group is highly influential on Jazvac’s artistic practice. Her exhibitions include Broken Nature at The Museum of Modern Art (New York); The Musée D’Art Contemporain (Montréal); the Eli and Edyth Broad Museum (East Lansing); Ujazdowski Castle CCA (Warsaw); and FIERMAN Gallery (New York). Her work has been written about in National Geographic, e-fluxJournal, Hyperallergic, Art Forum, The New Yorker, Canadian Art Magazine and The Brooklyn Rail. Her co-authored art/science research has been published in scientific journals including Nature Reviews, GSA Today, and Science of the Total Environment. Her work is in collections such as Museum London, the Musée D’Art Contemporain, the Yale Peabody Museum, RBC, CDPQ and various private collections. Jazvac is based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal where she is a Full Professor in Studio Arts at Concordia University, with a focus on Sculpture. 

Exhibition History

Residencies

2024      Conseils des Arts et Lettres New York Residency, New York, NY

2024      The Sustainability Institute with the Synthetic Collective at LUMA, Arles, France

2023      Residency with the Synthetic Collective at Evergreen Brickworks and the Bentway, Toronto, ON

2021      Guest faculty for themed residency, “Plastic” at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, AB

2017      University of Toronto Lab School, Artist in Residence, Toronto

2012      Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Artist in Residence, Bethany, CT

2010      WARP Coup de Ville, Sint Niklaas, Belgium

2009      Reverse Pedagogy Part II, Venice, Italy

2009      Space Studios, Canada Council International Residency, London, UK

2008      ‘Figure in a Mountain Landscape’ thematic residency, Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, AB

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2026      (forthcoming) Remember this body, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Toronto, ON

2025      Le désir et le matriarcat, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montréal, QC

2024      Five Million Trillion Trillion, FIERMAN Gallery, New York, NY

2022-23  Time Scale, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto, ON

2022      The Accumulating Years, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montréal, QC

2021      Polyempath Polyethylene, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON

2021      They forgot they were a landscape, FIERMAN Gallery, New York, NY

2019      Fault Line Scenography, Carl Louie, Toronto, ON

2019      Plastiglomerates, The Eli and Edythe Broad Museum, University of Michigan, East Lansing, MI

2018      Lamina Stamina, Museum London, London, ON

2017      Rock Record, FIERMAN Gallery, New York, NY

2017      Proof of Performances, Gallery TPW, Toronto, ON

2017      Sharp and Numb Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon, MB

2016      BROWSING, installation at the former David Mirvish Gallery and Books on Art, curated by Eleanor Johnston as an independent project affiliated with Nuit Blanche, Toronto, ON

2015      Site Words, Spoilers and Shoplifters, Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, ON

2014      Anthropophotogenic, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, curated by Ivan Jurakic, Waterloo, ON

2014      Recent Landscapes, Louis B. James Gallery, New York

2013      PARK, curated by Jon Davies, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, ON

2013      Impel With Puffs, Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, ON

2012      Thermoloaded, Louis B. James, New York, NY

2010      New Vinyl Work, Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, ON

2009      Hi Limit Slots, Khyber ICA, Halifax, NS

2008      Sticky, YYZ Artist’s Outlet, Toronto, ON

2007      Hot Tub and Paper Towels, Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, ON

2007      Upgrade, Toronto Sculpture Garden, Toronto, ON

2007      Part of the Enterprise, The Drawing Room, University of Victoria, BC

2004      D.I.Y.G.P.S., Zsa Zsa Gallery, Toronto, ON

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025      The World is Garbage, Situations, New York, NY

2025      2007, curated by Sophie Latouche, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montreal, QC

2025      Toxic Entanglements, Zone2Source, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2024      Working Through It, project space curated by Lucy Pullen, New York, NY

2024      The Ocean Speaks, Museo del Disseny de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

2024      Manual Assembly, The Goldfarb Gallery, York University, curated by Jenifer Papararo and Lilian O’Brien, Toronto, ON

2024      Too Good To Waste, FOFA Gallery, curated by Nicole Burish, Montreal, QC

2024      curated by Katie Lawsen, Waterloo, ON

2024      A Tale of Small Moments, curated by Anaïs Castro, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montréal, QC

2024      Chapitre II, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Montréal, QC

2024      Environnement, Entends-Tu?, Art Souterrain, Montréal, QC

2024      Erratic Behaviour, Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitcher, ON

2023      Earthly, Galerie Nicolas Robert, Toronto, ON

2022      Plastic Heart: Surface All the Way Through, adapted exhibition for Canadian Consulate in Paris, France

2022      Car Show, Erin Stump Projects, Toronto, ON

2021      Plastic Heart: Surface All the Way Through, organized by The Synthetic Collective in collaboration with the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, ON

2021      Incomplete Open, two person exhibition with Mathieu Lacroix, MacBride Contemporary, Montréal, QC

2020      La machine qui enseignait des airs aux oiseaux, curated by Mark Lanctot and François LeTourneux, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montréal, QC

2020      Broken Nature, curated by Paola Antonelli, The Museum of Modern Art, New York

2019      Plasticity of the Planet, Ujazdowski Castle CCA, Warsaw, Poland

2019      Broken Nature, curated by Paola Antonelli (MOMA, NY), XXII Triennial International

Exhibition, Milan, Italy

2018      Laughing and Crying, curated by Friends and Neighbours Gallery at Espace Pop, Montreal, PQ

2018      Museum of Capitalism, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts, Boston, MA

2018      Learning from the Lake, Art Museum, curated by Katie Lawson, University of Toronto

2018      Desk Set, (four person exhibition with Marvin Gaye Cheywynd, Ayoung Kim and

            Madison Bycroft), Curated by Céline Poulin, CAC Brétigny, France

2018      Plastic Entanglements (touring), curated by Heather Davis, The Palmer Museum, Penn

            State University, State College, PA

2017      Opening exhibition at The Museum of Capitalism, Oakland, CA

2017      Homestead, Carl Louie, London, ON

2017      Song of the Open Road, Contemporary Art Gallery, as part of the Capture Photography Festival, Vancouver, BC

2017      An absolute movement, Or Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2017      Atmospheres of Form, Parisian Laundry, Montreal, QC

2017      Crisp Edge, Fuzzy Border, Kristen Lorello Gallery, New York, NY

2016      A Stratigraphic Fiction, curated by Ginny Kollak, The Berman Museum, Philadelphia

2016      October, at Carl Louie Gallery, London, ON

2016      Vie d’ange, at Vie D’ange Gallery, Montreal, QC

2016      All This Time, Hugh Jackman Institute of Humanites, Art Museum at the University of Toronto, curated by Jaclyn Quaresma, Toronto, ON

2016      The Future We Remember, The Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, curated by Sarah Higgins and Cora Fisher, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

2016      Showroom, University of Toronto Art Centre and Barnicke Gallery, curated by Sarah Robayo-Sheridan, Toronto, ON

2015      Rocks, Stones and Dust, University of Toronto Art Centre, curated by John Hampton, Toronto, ON

2015      Organic Situation, Koenig and Clinton, New York, NY

2015      An other land…and in the other, our own, Prosjekstrom Normanns, curated by Ian Cofre, Stavanger, Norway        

2015      IN MY FAITH THERE IS LOVING AND DRINKING AND LOOKING AT THE SUN AS MUCH AS YOU WOULD LIKE, Garden Avenue Projects, curated by Ella Dawn McGeough, Toronto, ON

2015      Human Nature, (touring) Carleton University Art Gallery and the Kenderdine Art Gallery, curated by Corinna Ghaznavi, Ottawa, ON and Saskatoon, SK

2014      Possible Futures: What is to be done? Curated by Srimoyee Mitra, Melissa Bennett, Lucy Howe, Stuart Reid and Gregory Tom, Windsor Triennial, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, ON

2013      Touch The Moon, curated by Kristen Lorello, Louis B. James, New York, NY

2013      Hybrid Painting, curated by Christiane Meyer-Stoll, as part of curated by_ vienna 2013, Vienna

2013      More Than Two, curated by Micah Lexier,  The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, ON

2013      Surface Tension, curated by Jacob Korzynski, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, ON

2013      Voyager and Stowaways, curated by Patrick Mahon, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, ON

2013      Sample, The ArtLab, London, ON

2013      No Boys with Frogs, DNA Artspace, London, ON

2011      Barroco Nova, curated by Patrick Mahon and Susan Edelstein, Museum London, ON

2011      You can never go home anymore, Louis B. James, New York, NY

2011      Body Asylum, curated by Lucas Soi, Soi Fischer Gallery(three person exhibition), Vancouver, BC

2011      Winter Show, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland

2010      Enthusiasm, curated by Nicholas Brown, Red Bull 381 Projects, (three person exhibition), Toronto, ON

2010      Things You Should Know…, ArtLab, University of Western Ontario, London, ON

2009      Air Conditioned Jungle, curated by Gregory Elgstrand, Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, ON

2009      Double Confluence, collaborative exhibition with Mitzi Pederson and Patrick Howlett, Atelierhof Kreuzberg, Berlin

2009      The Way I Are, curated by Katie Bethune-Leamen, Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto

2008      Pleinairism, curated by Kitty Scott, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik

2008      The Constant Search for a Better Way, curated by Bill Jeffries, Simon Fraser University Gallery, Burnaby, BC

2008      Dream Home, Plug-In ICA, Winnipeg, MB

2007      Pulp, Open Space, curated by Megan Dickie, Ross MacCauly and Rebecca Michaels, Victoria, BC

2005      Kelly Jazvac and Lucy Pullen, Exhibition Hall, curated by Luanne Martineau, University of Victoria, BC

2005      So, you want to think freely! Production Studio Exhibitions, twcurated by Lucy Pullen, Vancouver, BC

2005      Voitures à Controverse: Débrayé, The Darling Foundry, Montréal, QC

2005      The McCleave Gallery Cross Canada Tour, the Ministry of Casual Living,

Victoria, ODD Gallery, Dawson City, YK

2004      MOBLOG, web-based exhibition curated by Dr. Susan Douglas, Guelph, ON