Jessi Reaves: process invented the mirror

Using readymade furniture, found objects, and new and recycled materials, New York–based artist Jessi Reaves (US, b. 1986) dismantles known forms and remakes them into objects that confound preexisting notions of function and beauty.

While Reaves’s earlier work focused on deconstructing and hybridizing well-known mid-century modern designs, her more recent work has moved toward an almost grotesque sense of accumulation. Eschewing ideas of mastery and preciousness, she opts instead for play and provocation. Bulging at the seams and held together by sawdust glue, Reaves’s art willfully reflects its own making.

Jessi Reaves: process invented the mirror marks the artist’s first solo museum show, featuring a suite of new pieces that span a diverse array of media, including sculpture, video, and installation. Inspired by murals made during the WPA (Works Progress Administration) of the 1930s and 1940s, these new works meditate on the nature of labor and its visibility.