What does it mean to be an artist? Often romanticized and revered, this role is challenged by Jesse Darling in their new exhibition, The Contractor. Darling describes themselves as “a person with a job,” viewing the exhibition as “producing and displaying a series of objects for retail and exhibition.” Art becomes labor, a profession, a task. Through this lens, Darling interrogates the complex interplay of modern art, labor, and meaning.
For a decade, Darling has grappled with questions of labor and production, and this exhibition is a reflection of those contemplations. Referencing Marx’s theory of alienation, they describe the artist’s detachment from their audience as an “occupational disease.” While art is created for others, its purpose has become increasingly ambiguous. The exhibition’s most striking element is its backdrop: Darling’s belief that their labor serves a “war machine,” rendering their work’s meaning hollow.
Darling calls this feeling “something words fall short of describing,” admitting to feeling too frail to bear its weight. They also critique modern therapy, particularly Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which they see as a system optimized to return artists to their work, reducing mental health to manageable commodities like money and objects.
Amid these heavy themes, the exhibition whispers a forbidden longing for the wild and unrestrained. Plants, animals, and children emerge as symbols of this yearning. The Contractor is a manifesto of resistance, showing how an artist completes their work even amidst destruction.
Exhibition Details:
Artist: Jesse Darling
Venue: Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Charlottenstrasse 24
Dates: On view through November 8, 2025
