American Artist

They // Them // Theirs

Artist and Educator

New York, New York

A portrait of a person from the midriff upwards. They have brown skin and a stoic expression as they stand amongst green foliage. Their eyes are obscured by dark sunglasses and framed by braids that hang loosely around their face. They wear a long-sleeve, black shirt that features two small beefy figures. — Photo by Alex Hodor-Lee.

“I really enjoy making things. I’ve always known that, but I forgot how important it is to my process – to create, design, and build the things I want to see in the world. I always hope that my joy is discernible in the details of the work when others encounter it, but I have to remember to protect the part of the process that is joyful for me, whether or not others can access it.”

American Artist makes thought experiments that mine the history of technology, race, and knowledge production, beginning with their legal name change in 2013. Artist's artwork primarily takes the form of sculpture, software, and video. They are a 2022 Creative Capital and United States Artists Fellow, and a 2021 LACMA Art & Tech Lab Grantee. They are a former resident of Smack Mellon, Red Bull Arts Detroit, Abrons Art Center, Recess, Eyebeam, Pioneer Works, and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. They have exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art; MoMA PS1; Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland; and Nam June Paik Center, Seoul. Their work has been featured in The New York Times, Cultured, Artforum, and Art in America. Artist is a co-director of the School for Poetic Computation and a full-time faculty member at Yale.

Donor -This USA Fellowship was generously supported by the USA Endowment Fund. The Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship is supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

This artist page was last updated on: 07.31.2024

Media

A view of a gallery. Three school desks outfitted with ballistic shields are facing a television monitor from which a blue man stares out, a target on his forehead. — Installation view of *I'm Blue (If I Was █████ I Would Die)* by American Artist, 2021. Installed at Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles.

Photo courtesy of the artist.

Bleacher seats are arranged facing a screen in a dim room. The screen shows time-stamped footage from a dashboard camera. — Installation view of *My Blue Window* by American Artist, 2021. Installed in *Reality Errors* at Nam June Paik Art Center, Seoul.

Photo courtesy of the artist.

A large gallery space with white walls and a shiny floor is bifurcated by a prison-like cinderblock and barbed wire barrier wall. In front of the wall is a street sign with the words "Bus" and "Limited Stop," and a metal agave plant at its base. — Installation view of *Shaper of God* by American Artist, 2022. Installed at REDCAT, Los Angeles.

Photo by Brica Wilcox.