Jennifer Bolande

Jennifer Bolande emerged as an artist in the late 1970s working initially in dance, choreography and drawing. In the early 1980s, influenced by Pop, Conceptualism, Arte Povera, and the ‘Pictures’ artists, she began working with found material from the urban and media landscape which she remixed and invested with idiosyncratic narratives. Exhibiting in New York at Nature Morte Gallery, Metro Pictures, Artists Space and The Kitchen, Bolande was noted early on for her works exploring the materiality of photographs.

For more than thirty years, Bolande has built a lexicon of recurring elements which she recombines to generate new meanings as they pass from one context or material to another. She uses various media including photography, film, sculpture and installation to explore affinities and relationships and to convey embodied experience. Commonplace objects assume an unexpected stature and significance: stacked speaker cabinets become frames for pictures and stanzas in a concrete poem; layers of old newspapers solidify into monolithic columns; and stills from 1940s pornographic films are cropped, turning the background into the main event. Her work examines what is changing, vestigial or disappearing—calling into question distinctions between event and object, real and imagined, or received and potential meanings. In Tower of Movie Marquees, 2010, Bolande famously stacked theater signage on the floor of the gallery like giant building blocks. Globes, vinyl records, washing machines, and tornadoes spin and abound alongside other references to motion. Resisting a fast read, Bolande draws attention to the invisible forces that condition human consciousness such as narratives, models, cultural codes, preconceptions, and projections.

In 2010, a thirty-year retrospective of Bolande’s work was presented by INOVA in Milwaukee, WI which also travelled to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA and the Luckman Gallery at California State University, Los Angeles, CA. Her site-specific project, Visible Distance/Second Sight, was featured in the inaugural Desert X 2017 in Coachella Valley, CA. Solo exhibitions of her work have appeared at institutions and galleries around the world including Kunstraum, Munich, DE; MoMA PS1, New York, NY; Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal, CH; Margo Leavin, Los Angeles, CA; Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne, DE; Urbi & Orbi, Paris, FR; and Nordanstad-Skarstedt, Stockholm, SE, among others. Bolande was recently included in museum exhibitions such as Celebration of Our Enemies, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Readymades Are For Everyone, Swiss Institute, New York, NY; Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC; Mixed Use Manhattan, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, ES; Don’t Look Back; The 1990s at MOCA, Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, CA; and This Will Have Been, Art Love and Politics in the 1980’s, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, which travelled to Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, and ICA, Boston, MA. Living Inside the Grid, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY; and The Photogenic, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA. Bolande has been awarded fellowships from John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, Tesuque Foundation, Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, and Andy Warhol Foundation. She is professor emerita of New Genres in the Department of Art at UCLA.

Born in 1957 in Cleveland, OH
Lives and works in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree, CA

Education

1979

BFA Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, Halifax, CA

Solo Exhibitions

2022

An Evening with Jennifer Bolande, Modern Mondays Screening Series, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

2020

The Composition of Decomposition, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
Reprise: Plywood Curtains and Visible Distance, The Green Gallery, Milwaukee, WI

2018

The Composition of Decomposition, Pio Pico, Los Angeles, CA

2014

Measured Against What, Green Gallery, Chicago, IL

2012

Landmarks, a Survey Exhibition, Luckman Gallery, Cal State, Los Angeles, CA
Landmarks, a Survey Exhibition, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA

2010

Landmarks, a Survey Exhibition, Institute of Visual Arts, INOVA, Wisconsin, MI
Mathematics and Myths of Yesterday and Today, Thomas Solomon & Cottage Home, Los Angeles, CA
Plywood Curtains, West of Rome Public Art, citywide installation, Los Angeles, CA

2008

Smoke Screens, Alexander and Bonin, New York, NY

2004

Earthquake, Alexander and Bonin, New York, NY

2003

Fotohof, Salzburg, AT

2001

Globe Sightings, Alexander and Bonin, New York, NY

1999

The City at Night Alexander and Bonin, New York, NY
MoMA P.S.1, Long Island City, New York, NY

1995

Road Movie, John Gibson Gallery, New York, NY
Kunstraum München, Munich, DE
Kunsthalle Palazzo, Liestal, CH

1994

Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA

1992

Metro Pictures, New York, NY

1990

Urbi et Orbi, Paris, FR
Galleri Nordanstad-Skarstedt, Stockholm, SE

1989

Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1988

Metro Pictures, New York, NY

1987

Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne, DE

1986

Nature Morte, New York, NY

1983

Artists Space, New York, NY

1982

The Kitchen, New York, NY

Select Group Exhibitions

2022

Untitled (hands), Carriage Trade, New York, NY
On Jupiter: Selections from the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, Olin Hall Galleries, Roanoke College, Salem, Virginia
Chambres d’Amis: Ikea, Office Baroque, Brussels, BE
Drawing Down the Moon curated by Allegra Pesenti, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA

2021

Friends & Family, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
Hello America, curated by Gianni Jetzer, Karma International Gallery, Zurich, CH
Golden Hour: California Photography from LACMA, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA; Cal State University Northridge, CA; Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA; Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA; Vincent Price Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Fit to Print, The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA

2020

Before Metro, Metro Pictures, New York, NY
World Peace, MoCA Westport, Westport, CT
After the Plaster Foundation, or, “Where can we live?”, Queens Museum, New York, NY

2019

Celebration of Our Enemies, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Make Believe, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
BreatheWatchListenTouch, The Work and Music of Yoko Ono, Femmebit and Makingout-LA at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA
CBARET' What Not /Speak Easy, curated by Marie de Brugerolle, LAX Art, Los Angeles, CA

2018

Readymades Are For Everyone, Swiss Institute, New York, NY
Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s, Hirschhorn Museum, Washington, DC
Arcadias, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
Art & Entertainment, MAMCO, Geneva, CH
Social Photography VI, Carriage Trade, New York, NY
Naturel pas naturel, Palais Fesch Musée des beaux-arts, Ajaccio, FR
Picture City, Carriage Trade, New York, NY

2017

Desert X, Site-specific art exhibition/installation in the Coachella Valley, CA
Vernacular Environments, Edward Cella Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2016

Every Future Has A Price: 30 Years After Infotainment, Elizabeth Dee, New York, NY
Apeirophobia/Aporia, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA
Don’t Look Back; The 1990s at MOCA, Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, CA

2015

Artists and Architecture; Variable Dimensions, du Pavillon de l’Arsenale, Paris, FR
Rideaux/Blinds, Institut d’Art Contemporain Villeurbanne Rhône-Alps, FR

2014

Modèles modèles, MAMCO, Geneva, CH

2012

The Pathos of Things, Carriage Trade, New York, NY
Tell It To My Heart: Collected by Julie Ault, Kunstmuseum Basel; Artists Space, New York, NY
Skyscraper, Art and Architecture Against Gravity, MCA, Chicago, IL
This Will Have Been, Art Love and Politics in the 1980’s, curated by Helen Molesworth, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; ICA, Boston, MA
25 Years of Talent, curated by Michelle Grabner, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY

2010

Mixed Use, Manhattan: Photography and Related Practices 1970s to Present, curated by Lynne Cooke & Douglas Crimp, Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, ES
Another Green World, curated by Peter Scott Carriage House, New York, NY

2009

Phot(o)bject, curated by Robert Nickas, Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver, B.C., CA

2005

The Art of Design: The Architecture and Design Collection, San Francisco MOMA, CA
The Forest: Politics, Poetics, Practice, Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, NC
Mirage, curated by Julie Ault & Martin Beck, Alexander and Bonin, New York, NY

2004

Architecture & Arts: 1900/2000, curated by Germano Celant, Palazzo Ducale, Genova, IT

2003

Influence, Anxiety, and Gratitude, curated by Bill Arning, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA
Living Inside the Grid, curated by Dan Cameron, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY

2002

The Photogenic: Photography Through Its Metaphors in Contemporary Art, ICA, Philadelphia, PA

1998

Interpretations, curated by Deena Shottenkirk, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

1997

Deep Storage, Haus der Kunst, Munich, DE; Nationalgalerie, Berlin, DE; Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf, DE; MoMA PS1, New York, NY; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA

1996

Just Past, curated by Anne Goldstein, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Making Pictures: Women and Photography, 1975 – NOW, Nicole Klagsbrun, New York, NY

1993

Jennifer Bolande, Sophie Calle, Vic Muniz & Mike Scott, Wooster Gardens, New York, NY
Contacts/Proofs, curated by Gary Sangster, Jersey City Museum, NJ

1992

Jennifer Bolande, Sylvia Gertsch, Marie-Therese Huber, Pippilotti Rist, Mio Shirai,
Shedhalle, Zurich, CH
Constructing Images: Synapse Between Photography and Sculpture, curated by Ingrid Schaffner, Lieberman & Saul, New York, NY; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa FL; Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ

1990

The Readymade Boomerang, curated by Rene Block, Eighth Biennale of Sydney, AU
Status of Sculpture, L’espace Lyonnais d’Art Contemporain, Lyon, FR; ICA, London, UK; Lowen-Palais, Berlin, DE
Jennifer Bolande, Mike Kelley, John Miller, Seibu Gallery, JP
Jennifer Bolande, Tim Ebner, Mike Kelley, Ken Lum, Robbin Lockett Gallery, Chicago, IL

1989

A Climate of Site, curated by Robert Nickas, Galerie Barbara Farber, Amsterdam, NL

1988

Detail in the Cottage, curated by Mitchell Kane, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, IL
Graz 1988, Stadtmuseum Graz, AT
Made in Camera, curated by Peter Anderson, Galerie Sten Eriksson, Stockholm, SE
Presi per Incantamento, curated by Gregorio Magnani, Giorgio Verzotti and Daniela Salvioni, Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, IT

1986

Cinemaobject, curated by Dennis Adams, City Gallery, New York, NY

1985

Infotainment, Texas Gallery, Houston, TX; Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL; Vanguard Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Aspen Art Museum, CO; Galerie Montenay, Paris, FR

1984

(Some Places East of Eden), curated by Howard Halle, The Kitchen, New York, NY

1982

Real Life Magazine Presents, White Columns, New York, NY
Resource Material: Appropriation in Current Photography, curated by Stephen Frailey, Bard College, Proctor Art Center, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Public and Private Collections

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR
Frac, Corsica, FR
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
LACMA, Los Angeles, CA
MAMCO, Geneva, CH
Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE
MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA