John S. Boskovich (December 8, 1956 – September 24, 2006) was an artist, writer, filmmaker, and teacher. He is most known for his found art and installation work, his most notable piece being ''

Electric Fan (Feel It Motherfuckers) ''Electric Fan (Feel It Motherfuckers): Only Unclaimed Item from the Stephen Earabino Estate'' is a 1997 work of art by John S. Boskovich. The piece consists of a functioning electric box fan, the only possession Boskovich was able to keep that ...

''.

Early life

Boskovich was the only child of John Boskovich Sr. and Marcella Boskovich (née Montagna). Boskovich is the grandson of Stephan Boskovich, founder of

Boskovich Farms Boskovich Farms is a historic vegetable producer based in Oxnard, California, U.S. It has operations in California, Arizona and Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost countr ...

. Boskovich was raised in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

and attended Notre Dame High School. Boskovich received an undergraduate degree from

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, and went on to earn an MFA from the

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

. At CalArts, he was a student of

John Baldessari John Anthony Baldessari (June 17, 1931 – January 2, 2020) was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lived and worked in Santa Monica and Venice, California. Initially a paint ...

, a conceptual artist who became his mentor. While attending CalArts, Boskovich simultaneously earned a law degree at

Loyola Law School Loyola Law School is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Jesuit university in Los Angeles, California. Loyola was established in 1920. Academics Degrees offered include the Juris Doctor (JD); Master of Science in Legal ...

, although he never practiced law.

Career

In the late 1980s Boskovich co-wrote and directed ''Without You I'm Nothing'', a one-woman off-Broadway show starring actress and comedian

Sandra Bernhard Sandra Bernhard (born June 6, 1955) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy, where she often critiqued celebrity culture and political figures. Bernhard is also well kn ...

. He also directed the subsequent 1990 film version. He later went on to direct ''North'', a 2001 film which featured artist and writer

Gary Indiana Gary Hoisington (July 16, 1950 – October 23, 2024), known as Gary Indiana, was an American writer, actor, artist, and cultural critic. He served as the art critic for the ''Village Voice'' weekly newspaper from 1985 to 1988. Indiana is best k ...

reading from

Louis-Ferdinand Céline Louis Ferdinand Auguste Destouches (27 May 1894 – 1 July 1961), better known by the pen name Louis-Ferdinand Céline ( ; ), was a French novelist, polemicist, and physician. His first novel '' Journey to the End of the Night'' (1932) won the ' ...

's novel of the same name. As an artist, Boskovich was indebted to the

Dadaist Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

s, and used found objects, photography, handwritten and typeset texts, as well as audio sources to create witty, sharp-edged, social commentary. From 1988 to 1999, Boskovich exhibited at the

Rosamund Felsen Gallery The Rosamund Felsen Gallery is one of the longest-running art galleries in Los Angeles, California, involved in and influencing the broader American art community since its establishment in 1978. The gallery has operated four locations since its ...

, now in Bergamot Station in

Santa Monica, CA Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

. A 1994 show entitled "Rude Awakening" was inspired by his friendship and work with the band Rude Awakening, which included one of his friends, bassist Robert Calkin (a.k.a. Robert Ryder). The band's logo was included in many of his works. He also did the photography for their ''Headbutter'' E.P. using a technique he originated that incorporated video, television, and Polaroid cameras. He continued to use this photographic technique, with the addition of textual elements, in his mid-1990s "It" series. A later project involved the transformation of his living space into an environmental artwork, often through architectural interventions or the incorporation of his older pieces into the space. In the mid-1990s, Boskovich taught at

Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California, United States. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aero ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He curated several shows of his students' works at Rosamund Felsen. Boskovich died at his home on September 24, 2006, aged 49, from undisclosed causes. Boskovich's estate is represented by the

David Lewis Gallery David Lewis was a contemporary art gallery in New York founded by art historian David Lewis in 2013. The gallery was known for representation and championing prominent international artists such as Barbara Bloom and the estates of Thornton Dial, ...

in New York. Two solo exhibitions have been exhibited at the gallery, ''John Boskovich'' from March 6, 2020—April 19, 2020 which reassembled his former West Hollywood home, “a highly fetishized design concept,” and ''John Boskovich: Mirrors'' from March 4, 2022—April 16, 2022.

References

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* https://soundcloud.com/conversations-on-the-arts/rebecca-matalon-interview-with-irit-krygier-re-tongues-untied {{DEFAULTSORT:Boskovich, John S. 1956 births 2006 deaths American art curators People from Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles Film directors from Los Angeles