Alex Zak (b. 1988) makes work that interrogates the flattening of culture in tourist imaginaries. Growing up in a blue-collar family in Florida, Zak was raised with a familiarity to the labor and consumption that occurs within tourist economies. Using a wide variety of materials— be it found objects, sand, textiles, and wood to name a few—they rework images and symbols informed by the desire and decadence of such locations to explore history, culture, and labor that is obscured. In doing so, Zak builds and produces installations, sculptures, videos and performances simulating leisure space in collapse.
Zak Received both a BFA and a BAVCS from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2012) and recently received their MFA from Yale School of Art (2020). They have exhibited in Chicago, IL, New Haven, CT, New York, NY, Tampa and Saint Petersburg , FL, Johnson, VT and Varanasi, India. Zak will be a Resident at Sculpture Space in Utica, NY in the summer of 2021.
Zak Received both a BFA and a BAVCS from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2012) and recently received their MFA from Yale School of Art (2020). They have exhibited in Chicago, IL, New Haven, CT, New York, NY, Tampa and Saint Petersburg , FL, Johnson, VT and Varanasi, India. Zak will be a Resident at Sculpture Space in Utica, NY in the summer of 2021.
Alexrobertzak@gmail.com
@alexrzak