Kara Vaggio Does Sol LeWitt
Kara Vaggio Does Sol LeWitt
2013

Kara Vaggio Does Sol Lewitt was a site-specific installation at S.H.E.D. projects in West Oakland California August 2-12th, 2013.

For this exhibition, Joslyn, took on the task of re-purposing a specific body of work by the late minimalist artist, Sol Lewitt under her alter ego, Glam Rock DJ, Kara Vaggio. Joslyn sites Lewitt, whose work engages with interpretation, rationality and optical effects of chiaroscuro (light emerging from dark), as one of her biggest influences. The cool, rational control found in Lewitt’s highly rational, impersonal, and (often) visually stoic wall drawings have been championed as an iconic example of Minimalist strategy.

Minimalism itself has been criticized by the contemporary art world as excessively male-dominated both in thought and in practice. Joslyn’s project is to address this criticism by posing questions about what works would become if made by a female artist (who is really a Rock and Roll DJ in short-shorts) brandishing a spray gun to create three 9x12 foot wall-works as well as a 9x9 foot "light box" wall to enclose the space, unifying it as one light sculpture.

This was the first time the S.H.E.D. Projects exhibition space was utilized as a singular large-scale sculptural work.

As part of the closing of the piece before it was destroyed, on August 10 at 7 pm, singer/songwriter, Joel Robinow performed a live re-creation of John Baldessari’s 1970’s film “Baldessari sings Sol Lewitt.” Where he sang, live, inside the installation, "50 Notes on Conceptual Art," written by Sol LeWitt.