Episode 5: Critiquing Whiteness through Constructive Discomfort: The Art Practice of Jeff Musser

Posted Date: December 10, 2020

Episode Description: LAC member Hannah Matangos interviews Sacramento-based conceptual artist Jeff Musser.  Musser discusses how he came to tackle race, racism, and whiteness in his work, and the ways in which his perception of these topics – and their relationship to his own personal and family histories – has changed through his artmaking.  In his artmaking practice, he figures himself an amateur historian in researching the history of racial categorization in the United States and beyond while also drawing on his own formative personal experiences that framed and reframed the ways he thinks about race.  Matangos and Musser further critique the centering of Whiteness in the Western art historical canon, discussing how Musser’s own aesthetics work to undermine this centering, often through a “constructive discomfort” on the part of the viewer.

You can view the artworks, artists, and exhibitions discussed in the episode listed below!

Guest Biography

Jeff Musser is a California-based conceptual artist and graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  He merges old master realism with contemporary collage and explores how these art forms can foster a deeper conversation on whiteness and its history.  With his paintings, Jeff asks: why don’t white artists tackle issues of race? Why don’t white artists confront issues of racism, colonialism, and whiteness from the perspectives of being white?  His most recent exhibitions include “Breathing While Black” at the August Savage Gallery, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and “From Chaos To Order: Making Our Way In The New World Of COVID-19” at the Delaware Contemporary in Wilmington.  He has also lived and exhibited in China.

Project Title: White History Month

Project Description: In Jeff’s words, “I have noticed that when the subject of “race” or “racism” or “whiteness” comes up in the contemporary art world, rarely do artists who look like me step into the conversation in a meaningful, deep way. Much like in the non-art world, black and brown people are expected to make work about race. Or, they are expected to carry the burden of doing something about racism in their work. But why don’t white artists like me tackle issues of race? Why don’t white artists confront issues of racism, colonialism, and whiteness from the perspectives of being white? 

I am building a series of paintings, drawings, and collages that for now, is called “White History Month.” The work reflects two vantage points of whiteness: a macro view (what are the origins of whiteness, what are its manifestations in the real world, how has whiteness morphed over time) and a micro view (how has it affected my family and my personal outlook on the world.) I also try to examine and play with the notions of race as “something that is normal” by using aspects of the natural world in my work. Many of the plants depicted in the paintings are invasive species, but because they were brought to North American from Europe so long ago, these plants now seem common and normal. Contrasted with invasive vegetation, I have included common fruits and vegetables that were brought to America via enslaved Africans, and much like the origins of plants from Europe, time has clouded their true heritage. 

Too often the discussion of race among white people is halted because someone “feels uncomfortable.” One of my goals with this work is to introduce constructive discomfort both within myself and among my white-identified peers, social circles, and my family, with the hope that a deeper conversation on whiteness and its history can be had.” Yu can learn more about Jeff on his personal website and his blog. 

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