Jason Rhoades: Meccatuna

MECCATUNA: The act of taking a live bluefin tuna on a pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca to circumnavigate the Kabba, or
MECCATUNA: As in “the whole meccatuna,” an idiom for the entire universe and everything in it, similar to “the whole shebang,” or
MECCATUNA: Upon realizing that the word meccatuna did not exist, and that moving a live tuna would be met with great difficulty, the artist, through various contacts, located a man in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that would drive to Mecca, buy a case of canned tuna, document its presence, and send this to the gallery in New York, via DHL.

Location

525 West 19th Street New York

Dates

September 12—October 25, 2003

Artist

Jason Rhoades

Press Release

Download Checklist

Meccatuna

Jason Rhoades

Shelf (Love Pocket), 2003

Seville Ultra Durable chrome shelving system with seventeen (17) shelves, twenty-three (23) neon panels, forty-one (41) ceramic donkey carts, three (3) power strips, three (3) orange extension cables, and fourteen (14) metal hooks

83 x 54 x 24 inches (210.8 x 137.2 x 61 cm)

Jason Rhoades

Seville Ultra Durable chrome shelving system with 9 shelves, 13 neon panels (glass, plexi, wire, transformers), 2003

Seville Ultra Durable chrome shelving system with 9 shelves, 13 neon panels (glass, plexi, wire, transformers), 31 ceramic

Shelf: 41 x 142 x 60 inches (104.1 x 360.7 x 152.4 cm) Donkey: 50 x 58 x 16 inches (127 x 147.3 x 40.6 cm)

Jason Rhoades

Wailing Wall / Los Feliz Costco and Unpainted Camel Toe, 2003

Cast fiberglass camel toe bone, neon panel (glass, blue plexi, wire, transformer), Ivory Snow boxes, PeaRoeFoam, Elmers Glue, cardboard, 2 Lifetime folding tables (polyethylene, steel)

61 x 63 x 47 1/2 inches (154.9 x 160 x 120.7 cm)

Jason Rhoades

PeaRoe Ramp (From Wastewedge, Part of Impetuous Process, 2002), with Embedded HiFi and Honda XR50, 2003

PeaRoe Wedge with fidy (2003 XR50 Honda motorcycle)

PeaRoe Ramp: 61 x 51 x 118 inches (154.9 x 129.5 x 299.7 cm) Honda XR50: 36 x 50 x 30 inches (91.4 x 127 x 76.2 cm)

Jason Rhoades: PeaRoeFoam $55.00

Artist: Jason Rhoades

$55.00

Rhoades introduced PeaRoeFoam into his work in his fourth solo exhibition at the gallery, titled PeaRoeFoam. The Impetuous Process & from the Costner Complex, in 2002. This material, which the artist created from whole green peas, fish-bait style salmon eggs, and white virgin-beaded foam combined with non-toxic glue, was used extensively for subsequent works including a number of those featured in Meccatuna. This publication is the first to properly examine and situate PeaRoeFoam within Rhoades’s career and to acknowledge its importance for his practice as a whole. The book features an essay by David Zwirner, a text by Julien Bismuth, and selected interviews from the Jason Rhoades Oral History project conceived by Dylan Kenny and Lucas Zwirner. Published by David Zwirner Books.

An installation view of the exhibition Jason Rhoades: Meccatuna, at David Zwirner New York, dated 2003.

Download Fact Sheet