ARTIST

Joseph Desler Costa Resume

Joseph Desler Costa is an American/Italian artist who works in photography, video and new media. Costa’s practice explores ideas of consumerism, pop culture, nostalgia and desire. His works often use the language of commercial imagery to examine the aesthetics of material culture, notions of luxury and the ways in which perceptions of reality bend under the forces of commerce. Employing multiple exposure, re-photography, and cut paper constructions as well as die-cut layered prints, Costa produces photographs and films that appear almost entirely machine-made; revealing, questioning, and embracing illusions of transcendence and transformation offered by mass production and consumerism.

Costa currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He holds an advanced degree from ICP-Bard College (MFA) and attended the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión (EICTV) in Cuba. Past exhibitions include Them!, Transformer Station, Cleveland, USA; Particle Paradise, Foley Gallery, NY, USA; Thread Count, Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam, NL; Photography is Magic, Aperture Foundation, NY, USA; The Art of Now, The Hearst Galleries, NY, USA; and Expanded Geographies, Lianzhou Foto, Lanzhou, China.

Costa’s Photographic works are included in the permanent collections of the Leonard Lauder Collection, the Cleveland Clinic Art Collection, BNY Mellon Collection, the Bidwell Collection and the collection of the International Center of Photography. Costa has curated and organized a number of exhibitions, books and zines including group shows at Baxter St. Camera Club of NY and Foley Gallery. In 2014, Costa founded the imprint Silent Face Projects. Costa is a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts in New York and The International Center of Photography.

Series

This is a color photograph of a white cat with purple and pink letters laid across the bottom half.
Soft Powers

Joseph Desler Costa’s “Soft Powers” series explores the concept of soft power through the lens of 1980s and 1990s advertising and propaganda. Using techniques like multiple exposure and re-photography, Costa works that critique the subtle manipulation of consumer culture and the blurring of lines between fact and fiction in today’s digital age.

This is a color photograph of green apples on a branch. There is a green haze over the entire photo.
Dream Date

Joseph Desler Costa’s “Dream Date” series explores the intersection of nostalgia, desire, and consumer culture. Through intricate photographic constructions, Costa examines how media imagery and the passage of time shape our memories and fantasies.

This is a color photograph of binoculars floating against palm tree leaves.
Particle Paradise

Joseph Desler Costa’s “Particle Paradise” explores the concept of a modified reality, where perception is shaped by desire and circumstance. Through layered and manipulated photographs, Costa critiques the pursuit of a perfect paradise and the consequences of constant consumption in today’s digital age.

This is a color photograph of a white helmet. The background is red, white, and black.
Extreme Learning Machine

Joseph Desler Costa’s ‘Extreme Learning Machine’ explores the fascinating process of learning through playful patterns and everyday objects.

Exhibitions

This is a color photograph of a white cat with purple and pink letters laid across the bottom half.
Soft Powers

“Joseph Desler Costa’s ‘Soft Powers’ explores the seductive influence of advertising and propaganda through visually striking,
mass-produced-looking works that critique the subtle power of persuasion.”

This is a color photograph of green apples on a branch. There is a green haze over the entire photo.
Dream Date

ClampArt is pleased to present Joseph Desler Costa’s first solo show at the gallery. ‘Dream Date’ explores the intersection of nostalgia, desire, and mass media, using highly constructed photographs to reveal the ways in which technology and consumerism shape our imaginations.

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