Joshua Challen Ice

Joshua is an artist working with traditional and non-traditional gallery spaces such as SPACE Gallery, Carlow University, The Sculpture Center, and The Royal Danish Academy, among others. This has offered opportunities to experiment with many different formats and methods. His practice is rooted in an improvisational way of thinking, designing and building. Early artistic pursuits in improvisational music-making created a framework to apply to physical sculpture, and this idea creates a practice without limits on medium. Joshua graduated from Point Park University with a BFA in Lighting Design and Entertainment Technology. He worked as an Exhibitions Manager at Mattress Factory before becoming a full-time artist, and uses his exhibitions training to create fully-immersive works.

Joshua’s body of work explores the idea of “the surreal everyday”: examining construction materials and domestic items and reinterpreting how they may affect our lives. A heavy focus on foundational elements of composition, texture, and lighting create a platform on which material and process motivate the form and function of Ice’s work. Assemblages of reclaimed construction mediums joined by high-tech light and video components probe both our past and present, creating traversable territories and moments in time. Juxtaposing things like recovered windows and scaffolding with flashing lights and live camera feeds—material maintenance merges with the maintenance of one’s self, offering endless landscapes to survey and investigate through the lens of freshly built future worlds.

What do you hope to accomplish in the Distillery Residency?

While I’m excited to have a framework to create alongside other artists, learn with the mentors, and grow my practice through the community, I also plan to cultivate a relationship with the Brew House building itself. Understanding how it’s utilized, maintained, neglected and celebrated. Investigating which service pipes are being used and which are relics of the past. I hope to then respond and intersect my work with the building, either drawing attention to unnoticed parts of the building and exemplifying their utilitarian implementation or integrate the installation seamlessly with the original craftspersonship, working to expand upon the work that has already been done. All of this is an attempt to call attention to the labor and care involved in constructing and maintaining a space like Brew House.

What do you do outside of art?

I am a person that likes to stay busy! When I’m away from my practice I enjoy riding my bike around the city, camping with my wonderful partner, making music, dancing, building furniture and making improvements to my living spaces. When I calm down, you can find me underneath a blanket and our 3 cats, usually asleep.

Where can we see your work?

To find out more about Joshua and to see more of his work, take a look at:

Website: www.joshuachallenice.com
Instagram: @joshuachallenice