b. 1977, Kingston, Jamaica. Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Dave McKenzie works in a variety of media—video, sculpture, painting, and performance—to address themes of public space, viewer expectation, and the identity and availability of the artist. Often making use of his own likeness, McKenzie transformed himself into a life-sized bobble-head for his 2003 performance piece While Supplies Last. The artist wore a oversize papier-mâché mask of his own visage to greet visitors and distribute miniature “Dave” bobble-head figurines. For the Performa 07 biennial in New York, McKenzie staged four performances in and around the Studio Museum in Harlem. In one of these, I'll Be There (2007), McKenzie sat on a public bench for three hours and made himself available to passers by for casual conversation.

On display in On Procession is McKenzie’s 2004 video Watch the Sky, in which a cartoon version of the artist is superimposed upon the Little Bill blimp in footage of a past Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Imagining himself as participant rather than spectator, McKenzie transforms himself into the child-friendly, Bill Cosby–created character that was the first African American float in the parade’s history.

Image Credit:
Dave McKenzie, Watch the Sky (2004)
Video still
Courtesy of the artist