# Alex Jovanovich

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{{Short description|American artist, writer, and editor (born 1975)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2025}}
{{Infobox artist
| name          = Alex Jovanovich
| image         =
| caption       =
| birth_date    = {{birth year and age|1975}}
| birth_place   = [Hobart, Indiana](/source/Hobart%2C_Indiana), U.S.
| education     = [School of the Art Institute of Chicago](/source/School_of_the_Art_Institute_of_Chicago) (BFA, 2003)
| field         = {{Flatlist|* [Drawing](/source/Drawing)
* [mixed media](/source/mixed_media)
* [slide projection](/source/slide_projection)}}
| website       =
}}
'''Alex Jovanovich''' is an American artist, writer, and senior editor at ''[Artforum](/source/Artforum)'' whose practice merges visual work and critical writing.<ref name="whitney">{{cite web |title=Whitney Biennial 2014: Alex Jovanovich |url=https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2014-biennial/alex-jovanovich |website=Whitney Museum of American Art |access-date=December 31, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190313124750/https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2014-biennial/alex-jovanovich |archive-date=March 13, 2019}}</ref><ref name="artforumcontrib">{{cite web |title=Alex Jovanovich, Editor |url=https://www.artforum.com/author/alex-jovanovich/ |website=Artforum |date=December 30, 2024 |access-date=December 31, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007173819/https://www.artforum.com/author/alex-jovanovich/ |archive-date=October 7, 2023}}</ref><ref name="cleveland">{{cite web |last=Saunders |first=Heather |title=Alex Jovanovich: The Artist's Contemplative Work Is a Match for the Museum's Library |url=https://www.clevelandart.org/articles/alex-jovanovich |website=Cleveland Museum of Art |date=April 17, 2018 |access-date=December 31, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224073048/https://www.clevelandart.org/articles/alex-jovanovich |archive-date=February 24, 2024}}</ref> He works in drawing, writing, and 35mm&nbsp;slide projection, and his work has exhibited at such institutions as the [Whitney Biennial](/source/Whitney_Biennial).<ref name="whitneycatalog">{{cite book |last1=Comer |first1=Stuart |author-link1=Stuart Comer |last2=Elms |first2=Anthony |author-link2=Anthony Elms |last3=Grabner |first3=Michelle |author-link3=Michelle Grabner |title=Whitney Biennial 2014 |date=2014 |publisher=Whitney Museum of American Art |location=New York |isbn=978-0-300-19687-0 |pages=357–358 |url=https://archive.org/details/whitneybiennial20000whit_u9a8/page/357/mode/1up}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Jovanovich was born in 1975 in [Hobart, Indiana](/source/Hobart%2C_Indiana).<ref name="whitney" /> He received a BFA from the [School of the Art Institute of Chicago](/source/School_of_the_Art_Institute_of_Chicago) in 2003.<ref name="saic">{{cite web |title=FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art Opens |url=https://www.saic.edu/node/15354 |website=School of the Art Institute of Chicago |access-date=December 31, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922111910/https://www.saic.edu/node/15354 |archive-date=September 22, 2023}}</ref>

==Career==
===Visual art===
thumb|alt=Intricate black ink drawing of tangled organic tubes, spiral shell forms, and animal silhouettes interwoven within ornate rectangular border filled with geometric and crosshatched patterns|''I Fucked Your Dad Then Slit His Throat (WHITE FECES/SCUM CUNT)'', 2025. India ink and pencil on watercolor paper.
Jovanovich works primarily in 35&nbsp;mm slide projection and drawing, in black-and-white, to address themes of love, spirituality, melancholy, and mourning.<ref name="whitney" /><ref name="artforum-foumberg">{{cite web |last=Foumberg |first=Jason |title=Alex Jovanovich at Adds Donna |url=https://www.artforum.com/events/alex-jovanovich-197780/ |website=Artforum |date=2013 |access-date=December 31, 2025}}</ref><ref name="cleveland" /> His drawings include his hand-lettered text amid disembodied human orifices, flowers, and leather straps.<ref name="artforum-foumberg" />

He uses text in his work, both writing his own words and pulling from [public-domain](/source/public-domain) sources, including the [Bible](/source/Bible).<ref name="whitney" /><ref name="cleveland" /> Some works incorporate domestic objects such as cufflinks and diaper pins, which Jovanovich described as being blessed by a witch.<ref name="portland">{{cite news |last=Arango |first=Jorge S. |title=More Summer Art Shows to See |newspaper=[Portland Press Herald](/source/Portland_Press_Herald) |location=Portland, Maine |date=July 7, 2024 |page=E.5 |url=https://www.pressherald.com/2024/07/07/more-summer-art-shows-to-see-out-west-up-the-coast-and-close-to-home/ }}</ref>

====Critical reception====
An ''Artforum'' review of Jovanovich's 2013 exhibition likened his work to a hypothetical collaboration between [Christina Ramberg](/source/Christina_Ramberg) and [Lee Bontecou](/source/Lee_Bontecou), and noted how "shockingly sensitive" it is.<ref name="artforum-foumberg" /> His drawings have been described as "obsessively drawn works in ink and graphite reminiscent of some occult manual."<ref name="portland" /> ''[The Village Voice](/source/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".<ref name="villagevoice">{{cite news |last=Baker |first=R.C. |title=Two Artists Ask: How Abject Do You Wanna Get? |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/two-artists-ask-how-abject-do-you-wanna-get/ |newspaper=[The Village Voice](/source/The_Village_Voice) |date=December 18, 2025 |access-date=December 31, 2025}}</ref>

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](/source/Anthony_Elms)'s stated goal to make the exhibition "a literary event."<ref>{{cite web |last=Goldstein |first=Andrew M. |title=Whitney Biennial Curator Anthony Elms on the Rise of Literary Art and the Usefulness of Ghosts |url=https://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/whitney_biennial_curator_anthony_elms_interview/ |website=Artspace |date=March 5, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140315034808/http://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/whitney_biennial_curator_anthony_elms_interview/ |archive-date=March 15, 2014}}</ref>

====Selected exhibitions====
* 2013: "Some Poor Girls," Adds Donna, Chicago<ref name="artforum-foumberg" />
* 2014: [Whitney Biennial](/source/Whitney_Biennial), [Whitney Museum of American Art](/source/Whitney_Museum_of_American_Art), New York; curated by [Stuart Comer](/source/Stuart_Comer), [Anthony Elms](/source/Anthony_Elms), and [Michelle Grabner](/source/Michelle_Grabner)<ref name="whitneycatalog" /><ref name="thompson">{{cite journal |last=Thompson |first=Michael |title=The 2014 Whitney Biennial: The Book as a Medium in Contemporary American Art |journal=The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America |volume=109 |issue=2 |date=June 2015 |pages=147–192 |doi=10.1086/681814 |jstor=10.1086/681814}}</ref>
* 2015: "Making a Scene: Objects for Performance," [Museum of Arts and Design](/source/Museum_of_Arts_and_Design), New York<ref name="mad" />
* 2018: FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, [Cleveland Museum of Art](/source/Cleveland_Museum_of_Art); curated by Michelle Grabner and Jens Hoffmann<ref name="Front2018">{{cite web |last=Greenberger |first=Alex |title=Artist List Revealed for First FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/artist-list-revealed-for-first-front-international-cleveland-triennial-for-contemporary-art-8675/ |website=[ARTnews](/source/ARTnews) |date=July 20, 2017 |access-date=December 31, 2025}}</ref><ref name="cleveland" />
* 2024: "If You Lived Here You Would...," Gingerbread House, Norway, Maine; with [Valerie Hegarty](/source/Valerie_Hegarty), Adam Payne, and Michelle Grabner<ref name="portland" />
* 2025–2026: "Actual Queers Kissing!" [Elliott Templeton Fine Arts](/source/Elliott_Templeton_Fine_Arts), New York; with David Carrino<ref name="villagevoice" /><ref>{{cite web |title=David Carrino & Alex Jovanovich: Actual Queers Kissing! |url=https://elliotttempleton.nyc/david-carrino-alex-jovanovich |website=Elliott Templeton Fine Arts |access-date=December 25, 2025}}</ref>

===Art criticism===
Jovanovich is a senior editor at ''Artforum'', where he contributes exhibition reviews, artist profiles, and art criticism.<ref name="artforumcontrib" /> His writing includes profiles of such artists as [Brigid Berlin](/source/Brigid_Berlin), [John Currin](/source/John_Currin), [Clarity Haynes](/source/Clarity_Haynes), [Gerard Malanga](/source/Gerard_Malanga), and [Peter McGough](/source/Peter_McGough); and reviews of exhibitions at such museums as [MassMOCA](/source/Massachusetts_Museum_of_Contemporary_Art), [SFMOMA](/source/San_Francisco_Museum_of_Modern_Art), [Tate Modern](/source/Tate_Modern), and [the Whitney](/source/Whitney_Museum_of_American_Art), and such independent galleries as [Gagosian](/source/Gagosian_Gallery), [Invisible-Exports](/source/Invisible-Exports), [Matthew Marks](/source/Matthew_Marks_Gallery), and [Pace](/source/Pace_Gallery).<ref name="artforumcontrib" /><ref name="jovanovich-haynes" />

==Personal life==
Jovanovich is of [Serbian Orthodox](/source/Serbian_Orthodox) heritage.<ref name="mad">{{cite web |title=Museum of Arts and Design Hosts Series Examining the Role of Objects in Contemporary Performance |url=https://madmuseum.org/press/releases/museum-arts-and-design-hosts-series-examining-role-objects-contemporary-performance |website=Museum of Arts and Design |date=March 25, 2015 |access-date=January 10, 2026}}</ref> He lives and works in [the Bronx](/source/the_Bronx).<ref name="whitney" />

He is openly gay.<ref name="jovanovich-haynes">{{cite magazine|magazine=Artforum|url=https://www.artforum.com/events/clarity-haynes-246907/|title=Clarity Haynes|last=Jovanovich|first=Alex|date=April 2020|volume=58|issue=8|quote=This is a general yet reasonably accurate description of an obese, middle-aged physique—one that belongs to me, a gay man.}}</ref> At age 10, Jovanovich saw [Andy Warhol](/source/Andy_Warhol) on ''[The Love Boat](/source/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."<ref>{{cite web |title=Interpreting Andy Warhol with Alex Jovanovich |url=https://www.artforum.com/video/interpreting-andy-warhol-167750/ |website=Artforum |date=July 14, 2023 |access-date=January 10, 2026}}</ref>

==See also==
* [List of Whitney Biennial artists#2014](/source/List_of_Whitney_Biennial_artists)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.artforum.com/author/alex-jovanovich/ Jovanovich at Artforum]

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jovanovich, Alex}}
Category:1975 births
Category:American art critics
Category:American contemporary artists
Category:American gay artists
Category:Living people
Category:People from Hobart, Indiana
Category:School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni
Category:LGBTQ people from Indiana

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alex Jovanovich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Jovanovich) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Jovanovich?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.