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Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (1955), Sterbak immigrated in 1968 to Canada as a teenager with her parents. She attended the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University of Art and Design) in 1973-74 and the University of British Columbia in 1974-75 before moving to Montréal to complete her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1977 at Concordia University.
It is worth noting the intense Czech culture that Sterbak was surrounded by and continues to appreciate (for example the works of Kafka, Kundera and Čapek) as strong buttressing references in her ironic and often pessimistic artwork. Coming from this background “it is not surprising, then, that the theme of constraint, imposed from within and from without, should have become a major preoccupation in her work” (Nemiroff p. 15).
Sterbak works with the theme of control in pieces such as Remote Control (1989). She created a large metal skirt on wheels that elevates the woman wearing it while its movement is directed by an electric controller held by the viewer. In a conversation with the curator Milena Kalinovska, Sterbak says:
“In a lot of my work one has to decide whether one is the controlling agent or being controlled, and to decide what are the pros and cons of both situations” (Nemiroff p. 47)
The surprising variety of materials used in Sterbak’s sculptures has a Dadaist spirit and is significant in expressing meaning through materials. The meat she used in Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic (1987) has emotional and symbolic value implying death in relation to the piece being worn as a dress by a woman. The network of relations among the materials defines what she calls ‘states of being’ between freedom and restraint. Her work has Surrealist affinities that acknowledge experiences of uncanny and unconscious desires that go beyond reason. She doubles the self in her art through objects that are worn on the body (like Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic (1987) )or suggest a presence, and they convey a sense of otherness through a psychic state of being.
Sterbak is a recipient of the 2012 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts.
Jana Sterbak, 2012 Canada Council laureate – on Vanitas, the meat dress
Solo exhibitions
2013/14 Jana Sterbak Human condition: the limits of our freedom, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milano
2012 Back Home, Galerie Laroche/Joncas, Montréal, Qc
2010 Through the eye of the other, Teatro La Fenice, Venezia
2009 Waiting For High Water, Fonderie Darling, Montréal
2009 Septentrionale, Raffaella Cortese, Milano
2009 Waiting for High Water, Darling Foundry, Montréal,Qc
2008 From Here to There, Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent, Rivière-du-Loup,
2008 Seasons, Galerie Erna Hécey, Brussel
2007 Dissolution, Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec, Qc
2007 The Seasons, Galeria Toni Tàpies, Barcelona
2006 Condition contrainte, Carré d’Art, Nîmes
2006 Waiting For High Water, Centre Culturel Canadien, Paris
2006 De la performance al vídeo, Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz
2006 About Winter, Galerie Erna Hécey, Brussel
2006 From Here to There, Bozar. Centre for Fine Arts, Brussel
2006 Raffaella Cortese Gallery, Milano
2004 Jana Sterbak. Videoinstallations. Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense
2004 Planetarium, Galeria Toni Tàpies, Barcelona
2004 From here to there, Musée des Beaux Arts, Nantes
2003 From here to there, Biennale di Venezia, Venezia
2003 La Biennale di Venezia : 50th International Art Exhibition, Dreams & Conflicts — The Viewer's Dictatorship
2002 Jana Sterbak, Malmö Konsthall, Mälmo; Haus der Kunst, München
2002 Jana Sterbak, Barbara Gross Galerie, München
2002 Jana Sterbak: Photopractice, Art Gallery of Subdury, Subdury
2002 La lune à l’école, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
2002 Pensare ad alta voce Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea, Università di Roma "La Sapienza", Rome
2001 Jana Sterbak. Penser tout Aut./Thinking Out Loud, Galerie de l’UQAM, Université du Québec, Montréal
2001 Dissolution, Galerie Herba Hécey, Luxembourg
2001 Faradayurt, Galeria Toni Tàpies, Barcelona
2000 Centre International de Recherche sur le Verre et les Arts plastiques (CIRVA), Marseille
2000 Direccions, Centro Cultural de la Fundació «la Caixa» de Lleida, Lleida
2000 Jana Sterbak, Erna Hecey, Luxembourg
2000 Jana Sterbak, Galerie Barbara Gross, München
2000 Jana Sterbak: Oasis (part II), The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphie, Penn., États-Unis, 2000.
2000 Jana Sterbak. Penser tout haut = Jana Sterbak. Thinking Out Loud, Salle Alvin Hamilton, Ambassade du Canada, Beijing; The Loft, Beijing; Galerie de l'UQÀM, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal; Galerie L'Œuvre de l'autre, Pavillon des arts de l'UQÀC, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi
1999 Jana Sterbak: Early Work (part I), The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphie
1998 Jana Sterbak, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
1998 Galerie René Blouin, Montréal
1998 Galeria Toni Tàpies- Edicions T, Barcelona
1997 Jana Sterbak: Metamorphosis, David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence
1996 Jana Sterbak: New Photoworks, Donald Young Gallery, Seattle
1996 Trichotilomania III, Galerie René Blouin, Montréal
1995 Jana Sterbak, Angles Gallery, Santa Monica
1995 Jana Sterbak, Donald Young Gallery, Seattle
1995 Jana Sterbak: Velleitas, Musée d'art moderne de Saint-Etienne; Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona; et 1996: Serpentine Gallery, London
1994 Jana Sterbak: Déclaration, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes
1994 Jana Sterbak: Déclaration, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal
1992 Jana Sterbak: Catacombs
1993 I Want You to Feel the Way I Do, Fundació "la Caixa", Barcelona
1993 Jana Sterbak, Louisiana, Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek
1993 Jana Sterbak: Lénine rétréci, Galerie René Blouin, Montréal
1992 Project Room, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1992 Galerie Crousel Robelin / BAMA, Paris
1991 Jana Sterbak: Sisyphe, II, Galerie René Blouin, Montréal
1991 JANA STERBAK : States of Being / Corps à corps, Musée des beaux arts du Canada, Ottawa; List Visual Arts Centre, Cambridge; 1992: Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary, Alberta Alberta; San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
1990 Jana Sterbak, Donald Young Gallery, Chicago
1990 Jana Sterbak, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
1989 The Western Front, Vancouver
1989 Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina
1989 Galerie René Blouin, Montréal
1988 The Power Plant, Toronto
1987 The Ydessa Gallery, Toronto
1987 Galerie René Blouin, Montréal
1986 Jana Sterbak / Krzysztof Wodiczko, 49 eParallèle, Centre d'art contemporain canadien/49th Parallel, Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art, New York; Nexus Gallery of Contemporary Art, Atlanta
1985Ida Applebroog / Jana Sterbak, Glendon Gallery, Glendon College, Toronto
1985 Jana Sterbak, The Ydessa Gallery, Toronto
1982 Golem Objects as Sensations, Mercer Union, Toronto
1981 How Things Stand Up, Main Exit, Vancouver
1980 Jana Sterbak: Small Works, YYZ, Toronto
1980 Travaux récents, Galerie Optica, Montréal
1978 [Drawings], Pumps Art, Vancouver
Public collections
Caja Madrid, Madrid
Centre Georges-Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne, Paris
Fondation Canada-Chine, Montréal
Fonds National d’Art Contemporain (FNAC)
France Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain (FRAC) Languedoc-Roussillon, Montpellier
France Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain (FRAC) Corse, Corte
France Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain (FRAC) Normandie, Sotteville-lès-Rouen
Fundació ”la Caixa”, Barcelona
MAC - galeries contemporaines des Musées de Marseille, Marseille