Jeffrey Gibson
Jeffrey Gibson (b. 1972, Colorado Springs, CO) grew up in major urban centers in the United States, Germany, Korea, and England. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995 and Master of Arts in painting at the Royal College of Art, London, in 1998. He is a citizen of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and is half Cherokee. He is currently an artist-in-residence at Bard College and lives and works near Hudson, New York.
Jeffrey Gibson’s multimedia practice synthesizes the cultural and artistic traditions of his Cherokee and Choctaw heritage with the visual languages of Modernism and themes from contemporary popular and queer culture. His work is a vibrant call for queer and Indigenous empowerment, envisioning a celebration of strength and joy within these communities.
Gibson’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; Denver Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.; National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR; among many others. Gibson is a recipient of numerous awards, notably a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2019); Joan Mitchell Foundation, Painters and Sculptors Award (2015); and Creative Capital Foundation Grant (2005).
Review
Selected Exhibitions
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021
ALL GOOD FIRES, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., March 13 – April 17, 2021
It Can Be Said of Them, Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, CA, January 9 – February 20, 2021
2020
Jeffrey Gibson: Every Eye Open, Roberts Projects/Gallery Platform.LA (online exhibition)
Material Issues: Strategies in Twenty-First Century Craft, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, UT, November 13, 2020 – June 2021
Nothing is Eternal, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA, October 22 – December 12, 2020
She Never Dances Alone, Times Square Arts, New York, NY, March 1 – March 31, 2020
Jeffrey Gibson: When Fire Is Applied to Stone It Cracks, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, February 14, 2020 – January 10, 2021
2019
Jeffrey Gibson: Time Carriers, Esker Foundation, Calgary, AB, Canada, September 28 – December 20, 2019
Jeffrey Gibson: CAN YOU FEEL IT, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, IL, September 20 – December 14, 2019
Jeffrey Gibson: I Was Here, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA, May 24 – September 22, 2019
Jeffrey Gibson: The Anthropophagic Effect, New Museum, New York, NY, February 13 – June 9, 2019
2018
I AM A RAINBOW TOO, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY, October 18 – November 21, 2018
DON’T MAKE ME OVER, The de la Cruz Gallery of Art, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, September 27 – November 18, 2018
Jeffrey Gibson: THIS IS THE DAY, Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, catalogue, September 8 – December 9, 2018; travels to: Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX, catalogue, July 14 – September 29, 2019
Jeffrey Gibson: LIKE A HAMMER, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, catalogue, May 13 – August 12, 2018; travels to: Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, catalogue, September 8, 2018 – January 27, 2019; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, catalogue, February 28 – May 12, 2019; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI, June 7– September 14, 2019
2017
In Such Times, Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, CA, September 9 – October 21, 2017
Jeffrey Gibson: Speak to Me, Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, Oklahoma City, OK, February 9 – June 11, 2017
Look How Far We’ve Come! Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, February 2 – March 21, 2017
2016
A Kind of Confession, Gallery 1600, Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, GA, February 16 – May 20, 2016
2015
Jeffrey Gibson, Marc Straus, New York, NY, October 25 – December 13, 2015
Jeffrey Gibson, A. Lange & Sohne, New York, NY, June – August 2015
2014
Jeffrey Gibson, Marc Straus, New York, NY, February 23 – March 23, 2014
2013
The Spirits Refuse Without A Body, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, September 7 – October 19, 2013.
Said The Pigeon To The Squirrel, National Academy Museum, New York, NY, catalogue, May 23 – September 8, 2013
Love Song, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, May 1 – July 14, 2013
Timeline, performance, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, January 29, 2013
Tipi Poles Performing As Lines, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, FL, catalogue, January 19 – September 1, 2013 Artist in Residence, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, 2013
2012
Jeffrey Gibson, Marc Straus, New York, NY, November 18 – December 23, 2012
One Becomes The Other, Participant Inc, New York, NY, February 19 – March 25, 2012
One Becomes The Other, American Contemporary, New York, NY, 2012
Nephelococcygia, Permanent Percent for Art Installation, PS264-Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY, 2012
2011
Jeffrey Gibson, 222 Shelby Street, Santa Fe, NM, 2011
Jeffrey Gibson, Submerge, Arin Contemporary Art, Laguna Beach, CA, 2011
2009
Totems, Sala Diaz, San Antonio, TX, March 8 – 13, 2009
2006
Talkin’ Smack, Samson Projects, Boston, MA, December 1 – 30, 2006
2005
Indigenous Anomaly, American Indian Community House, New York, NY, October 5 – November 23, 2005
2001
(re)positions, The Bronx Museum of The Arts, New York, NY, 2001
1998
Fever, G.U.N. Gallery, Oslo, Norway, 1998
1997
Transitional Bodies, Hockney Gallery, London, United Kingdom, 1997
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021
Crafting America, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, February 6 – May 31, 2021
Collecting – A Love Story: Glass from the Adele and Leonard Leight Collection, The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY, February 5 – June 20, 2021
An apology, a pill, a ritual, a resistance, Remai Modern, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, March 13 – May 23, 2021
2020
More than a Trace: Native American and First Nations Contemporary Art, K Art, Buffalo, NY, December 11, 2020 – March 12, 2021
Radical Tradition: American Quilts and Social Change, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH, November 21, 2020 – February 14, 2021
2021
Crafting America, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, February 6 – May 31, 2021
Collecting – A Love Story: Glass from the Adele and Leonard Leight Collection, The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY, February 5 – June 20, 2021
An apology, a pill, a ritual, a resistance, Remai Modern, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, March 13 – May 23, 2021
2020
More than a Trace: Native American and First Nations Contemporary Art, K Art, Buffalo, NY, December 11, 2020 – March 12, 2021
Radical Tradition: American Quilts and Social Change, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH, November 21, 2020 – February 14, 2021
Cross Pollination: Heade, Cole, Church, and Our Contemporary Moment, Cummer Museum, Jacksonville, FL, October 28, 2020 – January 17, 2021; Olana State Historic Site and Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Catskill and Hudson, NY, June 12 – October 31, 2021
Transatlantico, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ, October 18, 2020 – April 17, 2021
unflagging, Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, TX, October 2, 2020 – January 21, 2021 (work on view November 27 – December 10, 2020)
We Fight to Build a Free World: An Exhibition by Jonathan Horowitz, Jewish Museum, New York, NY, October 1, 2020 – January 24, 2021
To Be Determined, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, September 27 – December 27, 2020
Synchronicity, Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, CA, September 19 – December 12, 2020
Art on the Stoop: Sunset Screenings, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, September 9 – November 8, 2020 (work on view October 14 – November 8)
Larger Than Memory: Contemporary Art from Indigenous North America, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ, September 4, 2020 – January 3, 2021
MONUMENTS NOW, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY, July 10 - March 2021
Blue, Nassau County Museum, Roslyn Harbor, NY, July 8 – November 1, 2020
Telling Stories: Changing the Narrative, Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY, May 15 – August 15, 2020 (online exhibition)
Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, February 29 – September 13, 2020
Catalyst: Art and Social Justice, Gracie Manson, New York, NY, February 24 – September 8, 2021
2019
Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950 – 2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, November 22, 2019 – February 2022
Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, New York, NY, November 16, 2019 – Fall 2021
How We Live, Hudson Valley MOCA, Peekskill, NY, October 12, 2019 – December 6, 2020
Thread, Long Beach Museum of Art, long Beach, CA, October 4, 2019 – January 12, 2020
Cosmic Rhythm Vibration, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC, September 28, 2019 – March 1, 2020
Dress Up, Speak Up: Regalia and Resistance, 21c Museum Cincinnati, OH, August 2019 - June 2021
Open Ended: New Acquisitions at the Portland Museum of Art, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, June 8 – October 20, 2019
Double Edged: Geometric Abstraction Then and Now, Weatherspoon Art Museum at University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, May 25 – August 18, 2019
Undefined Territories: Perspectives on Colonial Legacies, MACBA, Barcelona, Spain, May 17 – October 20, 2019
Whitney Biennial 2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, May 17 – September 22, 2019
Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 Years After Stonewall, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, May 3 – December 8, 2019
Suffering from Realness, MASS MoCA/Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA, April 13, 2019 – February 2, 2020
Suffering from Realness, MASS MoCA/Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA, April 13, 2019 – February 2, 2020
How We See: Materiality and Color, Laumeier Sculpture Park, Saint Louis, MO, March 2 – June 30, 2019
Aftereffect: Georgia O’Keeffe and Contemporary Painting, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO, February 14 – May 26, 2019
WE NEVER LEFT, Museum of Arts & Sciences, Daytona Beach, FL, January 12 – April 14, 2019
2018
Material Futurity, Law Warschaw Gallery at Macalester College, Saint Paul, MN, November 8 – December 16, 2018
Parallel Lives, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL, June 16 – August 24, 2018
Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices 1950s to Now, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, October 6, 2018 – January 7, 2019; IAIA/Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, NM, January 25 – July 19, 2019; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC, August 22, 2019 – January 5, 2020
Surface/Depth, The Decorative after Miriam Schapiro, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY, March 22 – September 9, 2018
One Way Or Another, Roberts Projects, Culver City, CA, January 6 – March 3, 2018
2017
Monarchs: Brown and Native Contemporary Artists in the Path of the Butterfly, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE, December 7, 2017 – February 24, 2018; Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, May 24 – August 5, 2018; Blue Star Contemporary and Southwest School of Art, San Antonio, TX, October 4, 2018 – January 6, 2019; Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art at Johnson County Community College, Overlook Park, KS, March 7 – June 2, 2019
Sanctuary, FOR-SITE Foundation, Fort Mason Chapel, San Francisco, CA, October 7, 2017 – March 11, 2018; traveled to: Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, ON, Canada, March 21 - October 25, 2020
From a whisper to a scream, Lehmann Maupin, New York, NY, May 25 – September 1, 2017
Southern Accent: Seeking the American South in Contemporary Art, Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY, April 30 – October 14, 2017
A Decolonial Atlas: Strategies In Contemporary Art Of The Americas, Vincent Price Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA, April 22 – July 22, 2017; traveled to: Aidekman Art Center, Tufts University, Medford, MA, January 16 – April 15, 2018; Mandeville Gallery at Union College, Schenectady, NY, January 19 – June 16, 2019
Opulent Landscapes, DeBuck Gallery, Saint Paul de Vence, France, February 27 – May 26, 2017
Desert X Biennial, Palm Desert, CA, February 25 – April 30, 2017
2016
New Geometries, Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, September 15 – November 12, 2016
Southern Accent: Seeking the American South in Contemporary Art, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC, September 1, 2016 – January 8, 2017
No Commission, The Dean Collection, New York, NY, August 11 – 14, 2016
Perfect Day, Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, CA, July 16 – August 20, 2016
Much Wider Than A Line, SITE Santa Fe Biennial, NM, catalogue, July 16, 2016 – January 8, 2017
Obsidian Gaze, Riddu Riddu Festival, Sammuelsberg, Norway, July 13 – 17, 2016
Kindred Beasts, Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY, June 4 – August 24, 2016
March Madness, Fort Gansevoort, New York, NY, March 18 – May 1, 2016
Convene, The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, KS, March 15 – May 22, 2016
2015
Greater New York, MoMA PS1, New York, NY, October 11, 2015 – March 7, 2016
Affinity Atlas, The Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, September 5, 2015 – January 3, 2016
An Evening Redness in the West, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), Santa Fe, NM, August 21 – December 31, 2015
Gray Would Be The Color if I Had a Heart, curated by Tim Hawkinson, Marc Straus, New York, NY, June 21 – July 31, 2015
Between History and Body, The 8th Floor, Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, New York, NY, June – October 16, 2015
Piece by Piece, Building a Collection, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, January 30 – April 26, 2015
2014
P3, Prospect New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, October 25, 2014 – January 10, 2015
Contemporary American Indian Art, The Nerman Museum Collection, Overland Park, KS, February 7 – September 21, 2014
2013
Outside The Lines, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX, catalogue, October 31, 2013 – January 5, 2014
Peekskill Project, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY, October 28, 2012 – July 13, 2013
Fiction / Non-Fiction, Esker Foundation, Calgary, Canada, September 28 – December 22, 2013
Totem, Aysa Geisberg, New York, NY, September 12 – October 19, 2013
Hotbox Forever, Steven Wolf, San Francisco, CA, September 7 – October 19, 2013
Changing Hands 3, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY, catalogue, June 26 – October 21, 2012
Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada, catalogue, May 17 – September 2, 2013
E-Vapor-8, 319 Scholes, New York, NY, May 5 – May 18, 2013
The Old Becomes The New: New York Contemporary Native American Art and the New York School, Wilmer Jennings Gallery, New York, NY, April 3 – June 2, 2013
2011
Drift of Summer, RM Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand, October 27 – November 12, 2011
Close Encounters, Plug-In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg, BM, Canada, catalogue, January 22 – May 8, 2011
An Exchange with Sol LeWitt, Cabinet Exhibitions, Brooklyn, NY and Mass MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts, catalogue, January 21 – March 5, 2011
Anthony Greaney x Dan Graham x Samson, Cottage Home Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, January 15 – February 20, 2011
Recent Acquisitions, Museum of Fine Arts, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, 2011
Recent Acquisitions, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, 2011 Observe/Recognize: Works from Contemporary American Indian Artists, Berlin Gallery at Legends, Santa Fe, NM, 2011
2010
Collision, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI, November 12, 2010 – June 19, 2011
Alluring Subversions, Timken Art Center, California College of The Arts, San Diego, CA, October 18 – October 30, 2010
Raw State, Shelby Street Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, October 1 – October 30, 2010
Vantage Point, Recent Acquisition, Smithsonian National Museum of The American Indian, Washington, DC, September 25, 2010 – August 7, 2011
The Shades: Jeffrey Gibson and Jackie Saccoccio, Samson Projects, Boston, MA, September 10 – October 9, 2010
Everyday Mystics, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco, CA, July 8 – August 14, 2010
Lush Life, Invisible Exports Gallery, New York, NY, June 25 – July 31, 2010
New Paintings, Staley Wise Gallery, New York, NY Currents, University of Northern Colorado, Greenley, CO
2009
Currents, Metro Visual Arts Center, Denver, CO, August 27 – November 7, 2009 Lover, On Stellar Rays, New York, NY, June 20 – July 26, 2009
Signs Taken For Wonders, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY, catalogue, May 27 – July 2, 2009
Surveillance, Affirmation Arts, New York, NY, April 9 – May 16, 2009
Solutions, Diverseworks, Houston, TX, March 6 – April 18, 2009
Recent Acquisitions, Eiteljorg 2008-09 Fellows, Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN, 2009
The Banality of Good, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, 2009
Relevant, Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, NY, 2009
2008
BLUEBALLS, Art Production Fund LAB, New York, NY, October 27 – December 7, 2008
Cautionary Tales, 516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM, September 6 – October 18, 2008
Native Voices: Contemporary Indigenous Art/Works on Paper, Kentler International Drawing Space, New York, NY and Long Island University, Greenvale, NY, February 8 – March 23, 2008
Voices of the Mound, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, NM, February 2008
Make It Rain, Dust Gallery, Las Vegas NV, catalogue Visions, Flushing Town Hall Projects, Flushing, NY Shameless, 1x1 Project, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ
2007
Sonotube: Contemporary Art and Transport, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA, July 14 – August 26, 2007
Off The Map, The National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, New York, NY, catalogue
Postmillennial Black Madonna (in two parts), New England School of Art and Design, Paradise @ MoCADA, and Inferno @ Skylight Gallery, New York, NY
Newark Open 2007, Newark, NJ
2006
Tropicalisms, The Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ, September 14, 2006 – January 14, 2007
No Reservations, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, catalogue, August 23, 2006 – February 25, 2007
Paperworks, Paul Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, July 15 – August 12, 2006
Brooklyn, Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT, 2006
Paumanoka, State University of New York, Stonybrook, NY, catalogue, 2006
2005
Le Désert de Retz, Massimo Audiello, New York, NY, May 5 – June 25, 2005
From the Root to the Fruit, Alona Kagan Gallery, New York, NY, April 16 – May 28, 2005
Out of Bounds, Wave Hill, Glyndor Gallery, New York, NY, catalogue, 2005
Evolving Pattern, New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ, catalogue, 2005
Play, Landor Fine Arts, Newark, NJ, 2005
AIR, Cuchifritos Gallery, Artists Alliance, New York, NY, 2005
2004
Jeffrey Gibson and Rune Olsen: The Urge That Binds, Samson Projects, Boston, MA, December 3, 2004 – January 15, 2005
Super Salon, Samson Projects, Boston, MA, March 23 – May 23, 2004
Jersey (New), Jersey City Museum, NJ, catalogue
New American Talent, The Jones Art Center for Contemporary Art, Austin, TX, selection by Jerry Saltz, catalogue
The Space Between Words, Kean University, Union, NJ
Timeless/Timeliness, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, NJ, catalogue
HD video (color, audio), with original music by Tanya Tagaq
8:40 minutes
Edition of 3 +1 AP
2017
13:30 minutes
13:30 minutes