Alex Jovanovich

Alex Jovanovich
Born1975 (age 50–51)
Hobart, Indiana, U.S.
EducationSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA, 2003)
Known for

Alex Jovanovich is an American artist, writer, and senior editor at Artforum whose practice merges visual work and critical writing. He works in drawing, writing, and 35mm slide projection, and his work has been exhibited at such institutions as the Whitney Biennial.

Early life and education

Jovanovich was born in 1975 in Hobart, Indiana. He received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003.

Career

Visual art

"And here is a moon that bids you goodnight" in white text on a black field above a white crescent moon surrounded by scattered stars
Untitled, 2014. Still from a 35 mm slideshow exhibited in the Whitney Biennial.

Jovanovich works primarily in 35 mm slide projection and drawing, in black-and-white, to address themes of love, spirituality, melancholy, and mourning. His drawings include his hand-lettered text amid disembodied human orifices, flowers, and leather straps.

He uses text in his work, both writing his own words and pulling from public-domain sources, including the Bible. Some works incorporate domestic objects such as cufflinks and diaper pins, which Jovanovich described as being blessed by a witch.

Critical reception

An Artforum review of Jovanovich's 2013 exhibition likened his work to a hypothetical collaboration between Christina Ramberg and Lee Bontecou, and noted how "shockingly sensitive" it is. His drawings have been described as "obsessively drawn works in ink and graphite reminiscent of some occult manual." The Village Voice noted the contrast between the name of a 2025 piece (I Fucked Your Dad Then Slit His Throat (WHITE FECES/SCUM CUNT)) and the "sheer graphic delight" of "delicately wrought fields of pencil lines complementing bold black ink designs".

Jovanovich's use of words in his art and skill as a writer were among the reasons he was selected for inclusion in the Whitney Biennial, part of curator Anthony Elms's stated goal to make the exhibition "a literary event."

Selected exhibitions

Art criticism

Jovanovich is a senior editor at Artforum, where he contributes exhibition reviews, artist profiles, and art criticism. His writing includes profiles of such artists as Brigid Berlin, John Currin, Clarity Haynes, Gerard Malanga, and Peter McGough; and reviews of exhibitions at such museums as MassMOCA, SFMOMA, Tate Modern, and the Whitney, and such independent galleries as Gagosian, Invisible-Exports, Matthew Marks, and Pace.

He has also contributed essays and interviews to exhibition catalogs and artists' books, including:

  • John Torreano: Dark Matters Everywhere – Paintings, Sculptures, and Prints (Carl Solway Gallery / Oddi, 2013), catalog essay
  • Whitney Biennial 2014 (Whitney Museum of American Art / Yale University Press, 2014), in conversation with poet Dan Beachy-Quick
  • Tabboo!: 1982–88 (Gordon Robichaux/Karma Books, 2021), interview with Stephen Tashjian
  • Queer Love: Affection and Romance in Contemporary Art (Lehman College Art Gallery / La MaMa Galleria, 2023), catalog essay

Personal life

Jovanovich is of Serbian Orthodox heritage. He lives and works in the Bronx.

He is openly gay. At age 10, Jovanovich saw Andy Warhol on The Love Boat and has described it as a formative experience, saying he saw in Warhol "something of myself" and "some glimmer of hope for a future."

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Whitney Biennial 2014: Alex Jovanovich". Whitney Museum of American Art. Archived from the original on March 13, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 "Alex Jovanovich, Editor". Artforum. December 30, 2024. Archived from the original on October 7, 2023. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Saunders, Heather (April 17, 2018). "Alex Jovanovich: The Artist's Contemplative Work Is a Match for the Museum's Library". Cleveland Museum of Art. Archived from the original on February 24, 2024. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 Comer, Stuart; Elms, Anthony; Grabner, Michelle (2014). Whitney Biennial 2014. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art. pp. 357–358. ISBN 978-0-300-19687-0.
  5. ↑ "FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art Opens". School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Archived from the original on September 22, 2023. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Foumberg, Jason (2013). "Alex Jovanovich at Adds Donna". Artforum. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 Arango, Jorge S. (July 7, 2024). "More Summer Art Shows to See". Portland Press Herald. Portland, Maine. p. E.5.
  8. 1 2 Baker, R.C. (December 18, 2025). "Two Artists Ask: How Abject Do You Wanna Get?". The Village Voice. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
  9. ↑ Goldstein, Andrew M. (March 5, 2014). "Whitney Biennial Curator Anthony Elms on the Rise of Literary Art and the Usefulness of Ghosts". Artspace. Archived from the original on March 15, 2014.
  10. ↑ Thompson, Michael (June 2015). "The 2014 Whitney Biennial: The Book as a Medium in Contemporary American Art". The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. 109 (2): 147–192. doi:10.1086/681814. JSTOR 10.1086/681814.
  11. 1 2 "Museum of Arts and Design Hosts Series Examining the Role of Objects in Contemporary Performance". Museum of Arts and Design. March 25, 2015. Retrieved January 10, 2026.
  12. ↑ Greenberger, Alex (July 20, 2017). "Artist List Revealed for First FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art". ARTnews. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
  13. ↑ "David Carrino & Alex Jovanovich: Actual Queers Kissing!". Elliott Templeton Fine Arts. Retrieved December 25, 2025.
  14. 1 2 Jovanovich, Alex (April 2020). "Clarity Haynes". Artforum. Vol. 58, no. 8. This is a general yet reasonably accurate description of an obese, middle-aged physique—one that belongs to me, a gay man.
  15. ↑ Torreano, John; Jovanovich, Alex (2013). John Torreano: Dark Matters Everywhere – Paintings, Sculptures, and Prints. Iceland: Oddi. OCLC 900496055.
  16. ↑ Tabboo!: 1982–88. New York: Karma Books / Gordon Robichaux. 2021. ISBN 978-1-949172-57-7. OCLC 1256542160.
  17. ↑ Queer Love: Affection and Romance in Contemporary Art. Bronx, NY: Lehman College Art Gallery / La MaMa La Galleria. 2023. ISBN 978-1-7343095-8-4. OCLC 1379252741.
  18. ↑ "Interpreting Andy Warhol with Alex Jovanovich". Artforum. July 14, 2023. Retrieved January 10, 2026.