Conceived by Jeremy Deller: Iggy Pop Life Class

Twenty-one artists, from all walks of life, gathered at the New York Academy of Art on Sunday, February 21, 2016, for a special life drawing class with a guest model, American rock legend Iggy Pop. The class was organized by the Brooklyn Museum and conceived by artist Jeremy Deller. The drawings created during the class will be part of a Brooklyn Museum exhibition in fall 2016, with a tour to be announced later.

In stark contrast to his kinetic stage persona, Pop methodically posed nude on a different kind of stage. “The life class is a special place in which to scrutinize the human form. As the bedrock of art education and art history, it is still the best way to understand the body,” says Deller. “For me it makes perfect sense for Iggy Pop to be the subject of a life class; his body is central to an understanding of rock music and its place within American culture. His body has witnessed much and should be documented.”

The participating artists represent New York’s diverse community, ranging from 19 to 80 years of age with varying backgrounds, and include undergraduate and graduate students, practicing artists, and retirees. The life drawing class was led by artist and drawing professor Michael Grimaldi. The 21 participants were selected by Deller and Sharon Matt Atkins, Vice Director, Exhibitions and Collections Management, Brooklyn Museum, from recommendations made by instructors at the Brooklyn Museum’s Gallery/Studio Program, the Art Students League of New York, Kingsborough Community College, the New York Academy of Art, and Pratt Institute. The participants include: Jeremy Day, Jeannette Farrow, Margaret Fisher, Seiji Gailey, Robert Hagan, Tobias Hall, Deirdra Hazeley, Patricia Hill, Okim Woo Kim, Maureen McAllister, Kallyiah Merilus, Guno Park, Kinley Pleteau, Angel Ramirez, Robert Reid, Mauricio Rodriguez, Danielle Rubin, Taylor Schultek, Charlotte Segall, Andrew Shears, and Levan Songulashvili.

London-based conceptual artist Jeremy Deller (English, born 1966) is known for orchestrating large-scale collaborative projects. In 2001, Deller worked with former miners and members of reenactment societies to restage a violent confrontation between the police and striking miners that had occurred in 1984 during the yearlong miners’ strike in the United Kingdom. For It Is What It Is, commissioned by The Three M Project and Creative Time in 2009, Deller toured the United States with a car destroyed in a 2007 bomb attack in Baghdad, inviting journalists, Iraqi refugees, soldiers, and scholars to share their experiences. He has developed several music projects including Acid Brass (1997), a brass band performance of acid house music. Winner of the 2004 Turner Prize, Deller represented Great Britain at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. His appreciation of academic drawing can be traced to his art history studies at the Courtauld Institute of Art and the University of Sussex.

A pioneer of rock music, Iggy Pop (American, born James Newell Osterberg, Jr., 1947) is a singer-songwriter, musician, and actor. Born and raised in Michigan, Pop began performing in the 1960s. In 1967, he formed The Stooges, a band that significantly influenced the trajectory of rock music in the 1970s and 1980s. Pop became known for dynamic and unpredictable stage performances, a trademark throughout his career. These highly physical events often left his body battered and cut. His music has encompassed a number of styles over the course of his career with well-known albums such as The Idiot (1977), Lust for Life (1977), Blah Blah Blah (1986), Brick by Brick (1990), and Skull Ring (2003). In 2010, The Stooges were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 2016 will mark the release of Pop’s seventeenth album, Post Pop Depression, a collaboration with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age.

This exhibition is organized by Sharon Matt Atkins, Vice Director, Exhibitions and Collections Management, Brooklyn Museum.

Media contact: Fatima Kafele, Public Information Officer, T (718) 501 6331 / fatima.kafele [​at​] brooklynmuseum.org.