Jeremy Blake (October 4, 1971 – July 17, 2007) was an American

digital artist Digital art refers to any artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process, or more specifically computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960s, various names ...

and painter. His work included projected DVD installations,

Type C print A chromogenic print, also known as a C-print or C-type print, a silver halide print, or a dye coupler print, is a photographic print made from a color negative, transparency or digital image, and developed using a chromogenic process. They are ...

s, and collaborative film projects.

Education and career

Blake graduated from the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

with a B.F.A. in 1993 and the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

with an M.F.A. in 1995. His work was selected for the

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition ...

in 2000, 2002 and 2004. His "Winchester" series, inspired by the story of Sarah Winchester and the

Winchester Mystery House The Winchester Mystery House is a mansion in San Jose, California, that was once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of firearms magnate William Wirt Winchester. The house became a tourist attraction nine months after Win ...

, was shown at the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and wa ...

in 2005.sfmoma.org
He also was selected to participate in the

Renaissance Society The Renaissance Society, founded in 1915, is a leading independent contemporary art museum located on the campus of the University of Chicago, with a focus on the commissioning and production of new works by international artists. The kunsthalle- ...

group exhibition, "All the Pretty Corpses", in 2005. Blake also created the painted abstract interlude sequences in the 2002

Paul Thomas Anderson Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970), also known by his initials PTA, is an American filmmaker. He made his feature-film debut with '' Hard Eight'' (1996). He found critical and commercial success with ''Boogie Nights'' (1997) and received ...

film ''

Punch-Drunk Love ''Punch-Drunk Love'' is a 2002 American absurdist romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and starring Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzmán, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. It follows an entr ...

'', and contributed images and video for Beck's album '' Sea Change.'' Blake was also involved in creating and commissioning a soundtrack album called ''The Forty Million Dollar Beatnik'' with Neil Landstrumm and Mike Fellows in 2000 on Scandinavia Records and Pork Salad Press to accompany an L.A. drawings/script show by Blake of the same title. His work is held in the collections of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

and the

Personal life

Blake was the boyfriend of filmmaker, cultural critic and video game designer

Theresa Duncan Theresa Duncan (October 26, 1966 – July 10, 2007) was an American video game designer, blogger, filmmaker and critic. By the late 1990s, she was recognized as one of the most critically acclaimed game designers for young girls. Career Dunc ...

. In February 2007, the couple moved from Los Angeles to New York City, and resided in the East Village. He was also the son of Anne Schwartz Delibert and the brother of Adrienne Morningstar Delibert.

Death

On July 10, 2007, Blake found Duncan dead in their apartment, the result of an apparent suicide. On July 17, 2007, Blake was reported missing off New York's Rockaway Beach in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. According to press reports, a woman had called 911 to report that she saw a man walking out into the ocean. Blake's clothes and wallet were reportedly found along with a suicide note that referred to Duncan. On July 22, 2007, Blake's body was found by a fisherman in the waters off

Sea Girt, New Jersey Sea Girt is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 1,828,Scientologists Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It has been variously defined as a cult, a Scientology as a business, business, or a new religious movement. The most recent ...

prior to his disappearance. Blake also included his allegations of harassment by Scientologists and others in a 27-page "chronicle" he prepared for a lawsuit he planned to file. On November 30, 2008, the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

s Page Six reported that

Bret Easton Ellis Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a ...

is writing a screenplay about Duncan and Blake. Director Gus Van Sant signed on as a consultant for the movie, which is being produced by

Braxton Pope Braxton Pope is an independent American film and television producer and writer. He is a partner in Sodium Fox Productions, which he co-founded with novelist Bret Easton Ellis. Production work Pope formerly maintained a production deal with Li ...

and Kevin Frakes. The '' Law & Order'' episode "Bogeyman" in season 18 is loosely based on the deaths of Duncan and Blake. In the episode, the body of the character paralleling Theresa Duncan has forensic evidence that calls into question her suicide, while the Jeremy Blake parallel character survives his suicide attempt. A legal case against him is disrupted by the cult group Systemotics, resulting in a near mistrial followed by a plea accepted after the ADA implies both he and the judge are connected to Systemotics. The nightclub

Bungalow 8 Bungalow 8 was an exclusive nightclub chain with locations in Manhattan's West Side, London's West End, and Amsterdam's nightlife neighborhood Leidseplein. The New York location in particular was popular with celebrities in the early 2000s. Fre ...

, which operated in New York City from 2001 to 2009, was named for Blake's 1998 video work. David Berman, a frontman of the band

Silver Jews Silver Jews were an American indie rock band from New York City, formed in 1989 by David Berman alongside Pavement members Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich. Berman was the only constant band member. During the last few albums, Cassie Berman ...

, wrote a song called "My Pillow is the Threshold" for Blake after Duncan's suicide.

References

External links

*
Exhibit Honors Young Artist Whose Star Was Rising

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, Weekend Edition, October 27, 2007
Jeremy Blake
– Jeremy Blake was represented by KTF Gallery *

Tim Griffin John Timothy Griffin (born August 21, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 20th lieutenant governor of Arkansas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the United States Attorney for the Eastern Dist ...

''In Conversation: John Baldessari & Jeremy Blake''
''ArtForum'', March 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Jeremy 1971 births 2007 suicides 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century male artists American digital artists American male painters Artists who committed suicide School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni California Institute of the Arts alumni Critics of Scientology People from the East Village, Manhattan Suicides by drowning in the United States Suicides in New York City