ARNOLD JOSEPH KEMP
b. 1968 in Boston, lives and works in Chicago
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Less Like an Object and More Like the Weather curated by Dieter Roelstraete, University Of Chicago’s Neubauer Collegium, Chicago, IL
2021
FALSE HYDRAS, JOAN, Los Angeles, CA
I COULD SURVIVE, I WOULD SURVIVE, I SHOULD SURVIVE, Manetti Shrem Art Museum at UC Davis, CA
2019
WORKSHOP, King School Museum of Contemporary Art, Portland, OR
2018
THE BIG DARK w/ Kristan Kennedy, Fourteen 30 Contemporary, Portland, OR
h/S: w/ Sb Fuller, Situations Gallery, NY, NY
New and Recent Work, May 68, Books & Records at Martos Gallery, NY
2017
CUANDO LOS ENFERMOS GOBIERNAN EL MUNDO (When the Sick Rule the World), Biquini Wax EPS, Mexico City, Mexico
THE STUPIDITY OF BELIEF, Iceberg Projects, Chicago, IL
2016
FOND FAREWELLS, ADA Gallery, Richmond, VA
NOT YET SEEN, Cherry & Lucic, Portland, OR
2015
HEADLESS, Soloway, New York, NY
POSSIBLE BIBLIOGRAPHY, PDX Contemporary at Volta, New York, NY
2013
WHEN WILL MY LOVE BE RIGHT?, PDX Contemporary, Portland, OR
2012
FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, ΜΕΣ(s)Α Project Space, Portland, OR
HOW TO MAKE MIRRORS, 2nd Floor Projects, San Francisco, CA
CRACKED MIRROR, Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts, Pendleton, OR
2010
DAYDREAM NATION, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR
2009
THIS QUIET DUST, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR
THEM (TREES), Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007
THE SUSPIRIA VERSION, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, OR
2006
DRAWINGS, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2005
DRAWINGS, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2004
A NEW LIBRARY, CCSRE, Stanford, CA
2002
REVERSE VACATION, Quotidian Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2001
PLAYED TWICE, Debs & Co., New York, NY
2000
Color Theory w/ Mark Bradford, Luggage Store, San Francisco, CA
1998
ESP, esp, San Francisco, CA
1991
ELEGY, San Francisco African and African American Historical Society, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020
Mask, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, NY
2019
We Burn Our Dreams Just to Stay Warm, Capital Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2017
Strange Attractors: The Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Art, Vol. 1 Life on Earth, Redling Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
Where Do We Stand?, Two Years of Drawing with Open Sessions, Drawing Center, New York, NY
Let Me Be an Object that Screams, Gallery 400, University of Illinois at Chicago, IL
2015
Nassau Calling, HilgerBrotKunsthalle, Vienna Austria
European Ghosts, Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium
New Dominion, Mixed Greens, NY, NY
National Exhibition #7: Antillean: an Ecology, The National Art Gallery of the
2014
The Botanica, Invisible Exports, New York
International Invitational Triennial of Contemporary Wind Chimes, Rocksbox Fine Art, Portland, OR
2013
Spectators, Rendered and Regulated, Koenig & Clinton, NY, NY
2012
Portland Biennial 2012, Disjecta, Portland, OR
The Bearden Project, The Studio Museum in Harlem
2011
Here/Now, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
You Can Never Go Home Anymore, Louis B. James Gallery, NY, NY
2010
Collected. Black & White, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
SELECTED PERFORMANCES
2017
February 14, Biquini Wax EPS, Mexico City, Mexico
WAITING Cranbrook Academy of Art Lecture Series, Bloomfield Hills, MI
16 Lectures on 16 Wars, Comfort Station, Chicago, IL
2016
NOT YET SEEN: WE REVEAL A HAND THAT HAS YET TO REVEAL US, Stimulus Packages, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2014
IN THE LAST MINUTE OF BEING BLACK, Banff Centre, Banff, Canada
2013
In Arms, PDX Contemporary, Portland, OR
2011
FIRE AND ICE (BLACK PRISM REMIX), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
The University of California Berkeley Art Museum / Pacific Film Archive
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Nelson Gallery and Fine Art Collection at the University of California, Davis
Manetti Shrem Museum at UC Davis
The Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma WA
JP Morgan Chase Art Program, New York
EXHIBITION CATALOGS
2020
WORKSHOP, King School Museum of Contemporary Art, 2020.
2019
May 68 Books & Records, curated by Bob Nickas, 2017.
2018
Tag: Proposals on Queer Play and Ways Forward, ICA Philadelphia, curated by Nayland Blake, 2018.
2017
Arnold Kemp: The Stupidity of Belief, Iceberg Projects, 2017.
Let Me Be An Object That Screams, Gallery 400, curated by Matt Morris, 2017.
2012
The Bearden Project, The Studio Museum in Harlem, edited by Jessica Lott and Samir S. Patel, 2012.
Best of the Northwest: Selected Works from Tacoma Art Museum, edited by Margaret E. Bullock and Rock Hushka, 2012.
2010
Re:Collection, Selected Works from the Studio Museum in Harlem, 2010.
2001
Freestyle, by Studio Museum in Harlem, 2001.
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS
2020
Recipient, The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for Forthcoming Article, “Who is this black, queer curator? If you don’t remember it and do him, his last name is McShine.”
2012
Recipient, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
2009
Recipient, Art Matters Grant for collaborative project with Pierre Soulages, BLACK ART INDEX, Art Matters Foundation, New York, NY
Recipient, Printed Matter Award for Artists, New York, NY
2003
Recipient, Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
2001
Fellow, Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York, NY
Recipient, The ArtCouncil Grant
PRESS
2020
Cardoza, Kerry. “Art 50 2020: Chicago’s Artists’ Artists.” New City, September 3, 2020.
2017
Reichert, Elliott. “Art 50 2020: Chicago’s Visual Vanguard.” New City, August 31, 2017.
Sheets, Hilarie M. “Hidden Lights: Art-World Professionals Answer a Question—Who Are the Most Underrated Artists Today?” ARTnews, March 21, 2017.
2014
Kitson, Will. “Arnold Joseph Kemp: RISING FROM THE EDGE OF MAN’S SORROW.” Seymour Magazine. January 14, 2014 — Online
2013
Margolis-Pineo, Sarah. “When Will My Love Be Right: A Conversation with Arnold J Kemp.” Bad at Sports. March 20, 2013 — Online
Snyder, Stephanie. “Critics’ Pick: Arnold J. Kemp.” ARTFORUM, February 5, 2013 — Online.
2010
Motley, John. “Arnold Kemp with ‘Daydream Nation’ and Vanessa Renwick with ‘As Easy as Falling off a Log’ both featured at PDX Contemporary Art.” The Oregonian, Nov. 19, 2010.
Donovan, Thom, “Aspect Blindness: Arnold Kemp and Sreshta Rit Premnath,” art: 21 blog, September 7.
2009
Row, D.K., "Review: Arnold Kemp at PDX and Dianne Korberg at Elizabeth Leach Gallery," The Oregonian, November 27.
Jahn, Jeff. "A Gaggle of November Reviews," PORT, November 26.
Malone, Micah, "Critics' Picks: Arnold J. Kemp," Artforum, November 10.
Norris, TJ, "Arnold J. Kemp: Whispering Amid the Darkness, Shining in the Light," just out, November 6.
2007
Kryza, AP, “Blood, Guts and Art: The Hallucinatory Horror Double Feature,” Willamette Week, May 11, 2007.
Bowie, Chas, “Arnold J. Kemp Presents ‘Suspiria and Prince of Darkness’,” Portland Mercury, May 10, 2007.
2006
Cotter, Holland, “Energy and Abstraction at the Studio Museum in Harlem,” The New York Times, April 7, 2006.
Baker, Kenneth, “Black History Month Artist Profile,” San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 17, 2006.
2002
Hamlin, Jesse, “A necessary labor of art,” The San Francisco Chronicle, September.
2001
Schmidt, Jason, “The New Masters,” Vibe, May.
Valdez, Sarah, "Freestyling,” Art In America, September.
Cotter, Holland, “Arnold J. Kemp,” The New York Times, November 9.
2000
Horton, David, “Color Theory at the Luggage Store,” Artweek, September.
1998
Berk, Amy, “Arnold Kemp at ESP”, Art in America, June.
1997
Bonetti, David, “Kemp: An artist unmasks the past,” San Francisco Examiner, March 27.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2021
“A Questionnaire on Decolonization,” October, Fall 2020, 62-63.
2020
“Profile: Kerry James Marshall,” Spike Art Magazine #62, Winter 2020.
“A Poets Theater Tribute to Kevin Killian,” TRIPWIRE 16 — A Journal of Poetics, 2020, 115-116.
2018
“Kynaston McShine (1935-2018)”, Texte Zur Kunst, issue no. 110 - Performance Evaluation, June 2018.
“Situations,” The Poetry Project Newsletter #255 - From Our Hearts to Yours: New Narrative as Contemporary Practice, eds. Rob Halpern & Robin Tremblay-McGaw, review by Erica Kaufman, April / May 2018.
2016
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 360°: Views on the Collection, edited by Judy Bloch and Suzanne Stein, 2016.
2014
“A Girl in the Park,” TRIPWIRE 7 — A Journal of Poetics, 2014, 163-164.
2011
“One on One: Arnold J. Kemp on Sargent Johnson’s Forever Free,” SFMOMA Impermanent Collection (Online), January 31, 2011.
"Fucking James Franco, (under the pen name Arnonymous Poet)," Fucking James Franco, 2011, 73-76.