Zerek Kempf’s work navigates the unstable ground between perception and reality, examining structures that shape knowledge, identity, and truth. Using his body, objects, AI, and CGI, he operates in a space where the raw and the uncanny intertwine. By embracing visual mechanics of deception, he shapes a reality that is not fixed but maintained—a fragile construct upheld by action, attention, and belief.
This pursuit extends to the liminal space between freedom and captivity, where agency and constraint become indistinguishable. How much control do we exert over the world we inhabit, and to what degree are we conditioned by ontological forces that govern our existence? Grounded in cognitive science and philosophies of vision, his explorations intersect with the sleight-of-hand tactics of stage magic and the visceral risk of cinematic stunt work. These influences converge in his studio, a mutable space that becomes both site and stage where a few coats of paint, patience, and postproduction manipulation establish a limitless backdrop for performative action.
Spatial relationships and sequence are at the core of Kempf’s approach, treating space and time as malleable, deeply entwined forces. By reconstructing them through performance, video editing, and digital intervention, his work links the mystery of time to the mystery of consciousness itself.
Kempf is based in Brooklyn, New York. He received his MFA from the University of California, San Diego in 2006 and his BFA from The Ohio State University in 2003. He has been selected to attend residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Vermont Studio Center, The Atlantic Center for the Arts, Fountainhead, and the New York Art Residency & Studio Foundation. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at galleries and museums including The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York; The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus; Waag Society, Amsterdam; CA2M Museum, Madrid.