ARTISTS WHO MAKE FUTURES
Conversation Series
JAKE TROYLI x JASMINE WAHI
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Read audio transcript here.
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Jasmine Wahi discuss Fine Line and Drawing as not only a medium but a practice, driven by compulsion and access. In Fine Line, Troyli presents his traditional drawing practice for the first time, moving his focus from his formal painting mastery to the place where the work normally begins. The artist discusses the decision to pull back the color, while also introducing new collage techniques that allow him to emphasize the ways in which his avatars teeter on lines of hypervulnerability and empowerment, revealing the absurdities that exist within a performance of self.
The conversation establishes drawing as the foundational, compulsive engine of Troyli's practice, tracing its roots to the accessible, politically charged humor of his childhood influences, such as Mad Magazine and political cartoons. Troyli describes these drawings as immediate, visceral ideas that are later distilled into his more atmospheric paintings, with the large-scale work in the show acting as a bridge between the two mediums. Central to the discussion is his use of a repeated, nude self-portrait as a malleable avatar, which he manipulates to explore the performance of identity, the commodification of the Black body, and the elastic tension between vulnerability and power within systems of spectacle and labor.
Inspired by the theatrical absurdity of Northern Renaissance painting, Troyli crafts worlds with a beautiful, polished sheen that is deliberately undermined by a lurking menace, implied violence, and a cast of recurring characters—like "competitive mourners" and disembodied, puppeteering hands—that critique contemporary sociopolitics and cognitive dissonance. The conversation reveals the artist’s coded visual language, using narrative vignettes and stark black-and-white compositions to force a confrontation with themes of surveillance, artifice, and the fragmented self, all while looking ahead to his upcoming museum survey and first foray into animation.
This episode is also available on Bloomberg Connects.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, and raised in Montclair, NJ, Shoshanna Weinberger received her MFA from Yale School of Art in 2003 and her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995. She has lived and worked in Newark, NJ, since 2006, where her studio practice explores her Afro-Caribbean-American lineage through abstraction.
Weinberger’s work is held in permanent collections including: AC Kingston Collection, Jamaica; Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA; Davidson College, Davidson, NC; Girls Club Collection, Fort Lauderdale; LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, LA; Margulies Collection, Miami; New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ; Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ; Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers University-Newark; and Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE.
Shoshanna Weinberger was a 2018 Project for Empty Space Artist in Residence.
Learn more about Shoshanna Weinberger at shoshanna.info.
Photo credit: Rachel Fawn Alban
Tiana Webb Evans is a distinguished brand strategist, cultural producer, and advocate committed to supporting artists and the creative economy. She is the founder of three unique ventures. These include ESP Group LLC, a brand strategy and communications consultancy serving a diverse international clientele across the art, design, and hospitality industries. She also founded Yard Concept, a cultural platform that features a digital journal, a gallery, and unique 'happenings' like her signature Reading Circles, all aimed at fostering consciousness through art, design, and community. Most recently, she established the Jamaica Art Society, a multinational advocacy initiative designed to strengthen the Jamaican art ecosystem through professional development programs, capacity-building workshops, and art engagement experiences for collectors and enthusiasts.
Tiana's extensive professional background includes significant roles in branding, communications, strategic planning, and cultural programming. Before launching ESP Group in 2014, she was the Communications Director at Phillips Auctioneers, a global corporation specializing in contemporary art sales. Her career also includes her tenure as Vice President of the Hospitality and Real Estate group at Nadine Johnson & Associates, where she managed a client portfolio at the intersection of art, culture, and business. Earlier, she served as the Business Director of Studio Sofield, a celebrated architecture and design firm known for its work with luxury brands.
In addition to her professional roles, Tiana is deeply involved in the art community through her service on various boards and committees. She was recently appointed to the board of the National Gallery of Jamaica, where she chairs its exhibition committee. She also serves on the boards of Project for Empty Space, the Female Design Council and is on advisory committees for the Laundromat Project and Art at a Time Like This.
Learn more about Tiana Webb Evans at jamaicaartsociety.com.
Photo credit: Bimpé Fageyinbo