Jacques Louis Vidal

Vidal was quoted in a 2005 New York Times article about a signpost around the corner from the Whitney Museum of Art, where people were leaving their admission stickers for others to use: "sometimes people who look like-minded walk out and hand you their sticker. I guess my big thing with it is that there are plenty of people who can pay and I'm not one of them." He was referred to as "a 22-year-old painter and sculptor who lives in Ridgewood, Queens."^[12]

In 2006, Vidal attempted to organize a "surrealist county fair" at Metro Mall in Middle Village, Queens, scheduled to take place on April 1. He told a reporter for the New York Times that he pitched the event to mall management ''the first-ever opportunity for the worlds of art and science to truly merge'' by the ''Queens Artists Trust Alliance for Communally Aligned Artists.''^[13] After the New York Times published an article on March 30, Metro Mall canceled the event, which a lawyer representing Middle Village Associates attributed to Mr. Vidal's characterization of the Mall as having an atmosphere that was "stark, impersonal" and "vast."^[14]

In 2007, Vidal's first solo show in New York City, Wood Folks is Good Folks took place at Horton Gallery.^[15][16] James Wagner wrote about it that "Vidal's performances and sculptures evoke traditional folk-tale forms and, well, a lot of slacker high school shop, but his subject appears to be a contemporary and grown-up concern with the absurdity of a world created by the rude political, commercial and religious heirs to that more humble and more muted America and its naive how-to culture."^[17]

For four years, Vidal worked as an assistant for artist Justin Lieberman, eventually showing him at Know More Games.^[9] His 2014 solo exhibition Nothing is Possible In There is No Future focused on corresponding and collaborating with a childhood friend referred to as "Jerry," who at the time was on death row in Huntsville, Texas. The two had first been arrested together while doing graffiti as teenagers in Texas.^[18][19] In 2021, Vidal curated a group exhibition at Lubov Gallery, titled Disease Was My Life Coach.^[20][21] Vidal shows his artwork with Harakwik and Broadway Gallery.^{[22][23][24][25][26]} When Steve Albini died in 2024, he told reporter Annie Armstrong that he learned from the musician "that your medium can, and should vary wildly because your spirit will come through more strongly if you’re always pushing forward” and “that your sound (or style) can be brutal and punishing while still creating a sense of relief, and joy.”^[27]

He is a board member of the non-profit organization Montez Press Radio and Do Not Research, as well as KAJE, which he co-founded.^[28][29] Reporting shows that the Jacques Louis Vidal Charitable Fund has given money to organizations such as Prarieland, a gallery in Chicago, and Beverlys, a bar and art-space in Manhattan.^[30][31]

Vidal's work is in the collection of The Bunker in West Palm Beach.^[32]

• Review in the Boston Globe by Sebastian Smee (2008)
• Know More Games Website
• Jacques Louis Vidal Artist Website