Ken Okiishi
Born 1978, Lives and works in New York.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021
A Model Childhood, The Art Gallery, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, US
Vital Behaviours, MoMA, New York, US
2019
A Model Childhood, Pilar Corrias, London, UK
2018
A Model Childhood, Reena Spaulings, Los Angeles, US
2017
Being and/or Time, Reena Spaulings, New York, US
2016
Solar/Data/Matter: Sobreteixims i escultures, 1972, 1968, 2016, 1978, Fundació Gaspar, Barcelona, Spain
2015
Porous Feedback, Arbeiterkammer Wien, Vienna, Austria
Gestures, data, feedback, Take Ninagawa, Tokyo, Japan
2014
Screen Presence, Projekt 25 / 25 / 25, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
Eggleston und Andere, "reality bites", Mathew, Berlin, Germany
Ken Okiishi, Reena Spaulings, New York, US
2013
gesture/data, Pilar Corrias, London, UK
[List Projects] Ken Okiishi, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, US
A Way Out As Hovering, Rongwrong, Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Very Quick of the Word, Hessel Museum of Art, Bard Center for Curatorial
Studies, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, US
2012
(Goodbye to), Take Ninagwawa, Tokyo, Japan
Gino / Marcel Duchamp on Streeteasy.com, Mathew, Berlin, Germany
2011
Gino / "thinking about moving uptown" / Marcel Duchamp on StreetEasy.com, Alex Zachary, Frieze Art Fair: Frieze Frame, London, UK
2010
(Goodbye to) Manhattan, Mehringdamm 72, Berlin, Germany
(Goodbye to) Manhattan, Alex Zachary, New York, US
COLLABORATIVE EXHIBITIONS
2015
Poetry as not, with singing, Dia Art Foundation, New York, US
2014
Nick Mauss & Ken Okiishi, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2012
Looking Back: The White Columns Annual (co-curated with Nick Mauss), New York, US
2007
A Fair to Meddling Story (with Nick Mauss), Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
One Season in Hell (with Nick Mauss), Upstairs at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York, US
SELECTED PERFORMANCES AND SCREENINGS
2019
Vital Behaviors, ICA London, London, UK
Vital Behaviors, Cinéma Le Brady, Paris, France
2016
Projective Life: Lucy Ives and Ken Okiishi, Light Industry, Brooklyn, New York, US
The Magazine Sessions 2016: Emily Sundblad’s Dichterliebe/Divine Bitches Part Two, with Juliana Huxtable and Ken Okiishi, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
2015
Enter/Exit, curated by Steven Cairns as part of OPEN-ENDED ISSUES: Eine Reihe zu Überproduktion und Ambivalenz in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland
2014
Modern Mondays: An Evening with Ken Okiishi (screening and discussion with Stuart Comer and Emmelyn Butterfield-Rosen), The Museum of Modern Art, New York, US
Artists’ Film Biennial, ICA, London, UK (curated screening of works by Leslie Singer & Cecilia Dougherty and Loretta Fahrenholz)
2013
The Sixth Year, Anthology Film Archives, New York, US
Artists’ Film Club, ICA, London, UK
Pride Goes Before a Fall: Beware of a Holy Whore: an exhibition in two acts, Artists Space, New York, US
(Goodbye to) Manhattan, Halle für Kunst, Lüneburg, Germany
Telly & Casper / The Deleted Scene, Artists Space Books and Talks, New York, US
El Mundo, Haunted Houses Projects, White Columns & Rainer Ganahl present: Classical Music Concert at El Mundo Third Avenue Theater, El Mundo – All Brand Name, 1852 Third Avenue, New York, US
Domino, I ate it, (with Emily Sundblad), L’Archiduc (organised by Galerie VidalCuglietta), Brussels, Belgium
2012
Volcano Extravaganza (with Emily Sundblad), Stromboli, Italy
A Hanging at TIMES, TIMES e.V. für Kunst und Kultur, Neukölln, Berlin
Golem, Hamburg, Germany
2011
(Goodbye to) Manhattan, Anthology Film Archives, New York, US
2010
Harpsichord concert, Schinkel Pavilion, Berlin, Germany
2009
Circular File Channel: Episode 2005 (2009), Performa 09, New York, US
Nostalgia Isn’t What It Used To Be, (performance series curated by Sharon Hayes and Brook O’Harra) La Mama E.T.C., New York, US
2008
Manhattan soundtrack, Evas Arche und der Feminist, New York, US
Vorstellungsklavier (version 3), Ludlow 38, New York, US
2007
Vorstellungsklavier (version 2), Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Vorstellungsklavier (version 1), Upstairs at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York, US
2006
E.lliotT.: Children of the New Age (screening), Evas Arche und der Feminist, Berlin, Germany
2001
The Good Luck Galleon (broadcast of “Telly and Casper”), Manhattan Neighborhood Network Television, New York, US
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
KANTEN 観 展: The Limits of History, apexart, New York, US
Victoriassecret, Helena Anrather, New York, US
2022
Je suis la chaise, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France
The Impermanent Collection #3.0, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
2020
Ice and Fire: A Benefit Exhibition in Three Parts, The Kitchen, New York, US
2019
Jutta Koether, Ken Okiishi, Josephine Pryde, Goton & Reena Spaulings Fine Art, Palais-Royal and Cinéma Le Brady, Paris, France
2018
The Vitalist Economy of Painting, Galerie Neu, Berlin, Germany
2017
Being Modern: MoMA in Paris, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
2016
PLEIN_ECRAN, La Station, Nice, France
À la Présentation de la Collection Thea Westreich Wagner et Ethan Wagner, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Mixtape 2016, Pilar Corrias Gallery, London, UK
MashUp: The Birth of Modern Culture, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
Performing Time, Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai, China
2015
Collected by Thea Westreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US
Full of Peril and Weirdness: Painting as a Universalism, M Woods, Beijing, China
RR ZZ, Gluck50, Milan, Italy
Over you/you, 31st Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Under the Clouds: From Paranoia to the Digital Sublime, Serralves Museum, Porto, Portugal
Second Chances, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, US
The Tell-Tale Heart, Chi Art Space, K11 Foundation, Hong Kong, China
2014
Cut to Swipe, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, US
Galerie Neu at La Douane, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris, France
The Material Image, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, US
Whitney Biennial 2014, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US
The Granite Block, Overduin & Co., Los Angeles, US
2013
Speculations on Anonymous Materials, Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
Frieze Projects, Frieze Art Fair, London, UK
Das Beste vom Besten: Vom riskanten Geschäft der Kunst [On the Risky Business of Art], Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany
Love is still colder than capital, Mathew, Berlin, Germany
Version Control, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Liebe ist Kälter als das Kapital [Love is Colder than Capital], Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
Frozen Lakes, Artists Space, New York, US
2012
Now I am quietly waiting for the catastrophe of my personality to seem beautiful again, and interesting, and modern, Bortolami, New York, US
TCCA, NEW THEATER 2012-2013, APN Research, autoslides #1-3, shindisi home videos, the deleted scene, a fanzine as a museum /a museum as a fanzine, cut-out bin / apnegative, sci-fi sounds from the alienated kitchen, OOO &&& LLL, hc r 1, Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland
The Log-0-Rithmic, GAMeC, Bergamo, Italy
Volcano Extravaganza, Stromboli, Aeolian Islands, Italy
Films and Windows II, Mathew, Berlin, Germany
“During the Second World War, a British sergeant piloting a Kittyhawk fighter plane disappeared in the Sahara Desert. Now employees of an oil company have come upon the plane's remains within the shifting Egyptian sands. To the joy of historians, the aircraft is astonishingly well-preserved and reveals a great deal about its pilot's fight for survival”: Heike-Karin Föll, Ken Okiishi, Robin Bruch, Peep-hole, Milan, Italy
Relocated, MD 72, Berlin, Germany
2011
Grand Opening Part 1, Mathew, Berlin, Germany
Perfect Man II, White Columns, New York, US
Books on Books, Swiss Institute, New York, US
Based in Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Hasta Mañana, Greene Naftali, New York, US
Nobody Can Tell the Why of It, 1857, Oslo, Norway
I don't know if it makes any sense – I feel quite dizzy and a little drunk due to the blow. I will
return with more info shortly..., IMO, Copenhagen, Denmark
Chris Kraus, Ken Okiishi, George Perec / Bernard Queysanne and friends, Herald St, London, UK
One is the loneliest number (with Nick Mauss), Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, US
2010
In the Middle of Affairs, Kunstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany
2009
Head-wig (Portrait of an exhibition), selected by Paulina Olowska, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK
Modernmodern, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, US
Gennariello, Balice Hertling, Paris, France
Evas Arche und der Feminist, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, US
2008
One Season in Hell, MD72, Berlin, Germany
2006
When Artists Say We, Artists Space, New York, US
Between the Lines, Daniel Reich temporary space at the Chelsea Hotel, New York, US
Sehnsüchtig gleiten Ballone rund um die Welt (KünstlerInnen-Archiv), Gormannstrasse/ Mulackstrasse, Berlin, Germany
2005
Exile: New York is a Good Hotel, Broadway 1602, New York, US
2004
Home, American Fine Arts, Co. at P.H.A.G., New York, US
New Image Art, Los Angeles, US
Nowojorskie Porno, Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw, Poland
Was ist in meiner Wohnung wenn ich nicht da bin? (Programm im Gästezimmer), Temporary project space, Berlin, Germany
2003
Now Playing, D’Amelio Terras, New York, US
Listen Translate Translate Record Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, US
Karaoke Death Machine, Daniel Reich Gallery, New York, US
2001
Sharing Horizons That Are New to Us, Houghton Gallery, Cooper Union School of Art, New York, US
Coal By Any Other Name: The Journey Towards The Good Taste (compiled and set on stage by Syntax, Early Century Unrest & The Society Of Control” a.k.a. Stephen Dillemuth) American Fine Arts, Co., Colin de Land Fine Art, New York, US
2000
The Anita Pallenberg Story (Video by Laura Cottingham and Leslie Singer, with production still photographs by Aaron Cobbett, Laura Cottingham, Rainer Ganahl, Lucas Michael, Chuck Nanney and Ken Okiishi) Postmasters, New York, US
PUBLICATIONS
2022
Pollack, Maika; Azimi, Negar, A Model Childhood, The Art Gallery, University of Hawaii at Mānoa / Mānoa Commons Press
2015
Ribas, João, Under the Clouds: From Paranoia to the Digital Sublime, Serralves Museum, Porto
Singer, Deb, The Material Image [exhibition catalogue], New York, Marianne Boesky
2014
Ken Okiishi, Annie Godrey Larmon, Alise Upitis, The Very Quick of the Word, Sternberg Press
Whitney Biennial 2014 [exhibition catalogue], Yale / Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
2013
Ken Okiishi and Annie Godfrey Larmon, [DRAFT] A Way Out as Hovering: Congestion and Porosity in the Work of Ken Okiishi, New York: Hessel Museum of Art, CCS Bard Center for Curatorial Studies
2012
Corrected Slogans: Reading and Writing Conceptualism, New York: Triple Canopy
2011
Biesenbach, Klaus, Christine Macel, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Jakob Schillinger, Fredi Fischli,Angelique Campens, Scott Cameron Weaver, Magdalena Magiera, Based in Berlin. Berlin: König
2009
Hertling, Pati, Stefan Kalmar, Ariane Müller, Jan Verwoert, modern modern, New York/Berlin: Chelsea Art Museum/Starship
2008
A Fair to Meddling Story. With Nick Mauss and Jill Johnston. Zürich: JRP Ringier
2007
One Season in Hell. With Nick Mauss. New York: Gavin Brown's Enterprise
SELECTED WRITING BY THE ARTIST
2022
“Ken Okiishi on “Human Brains: It Begins With an Idea” at Fondazione Prada, Artforum, Summer 2022
2020
“Re: White Allies,” Deadlines and Divine Distractions, July 2020
2019
“Logical Revolts,” Artforum, December 2019, pg 185-186
2018
“Liberty and Justice For All, Not Us,” Texte zur Kunst #111, 2018, pg 40-51
2017
“Ken Okiishi on the art of Bruce Nauman,” Artforum October 2018
“Negative Chic: Ken Okiiski on Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,” Texte zer Kunst #107, 2017, pg. 180–185.
2015
Citizenship, Texte Zur Kunst, December “The Canon,” p. 124.
"Painting Paintings," [essay on Joan Mitchell] in Joan Mitchell: Retrospective: Her Life and Paintings, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, pp. 39-49
Light Repairs: A Roundtable on the Restoration of Mark Rothko's Harvard Murals, with Yve-Alain Bois, Harry Cooper, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, Ken Okiishi, R.H. Quaytman, David Reed, Jeffrey Weiss and Michelle Kuo, Artforum, Summer 2015, pp. 290–299, 380, 382, 384
Time as Material: Joa Jonas, Ken Okiishi, Lucy Raven, Jennifer West, Mousse 47, February 2015, pp. 222-233
Critics Page, curated by Barbara London, "Tools and Contemporary Art," Ken Okiishi, The Brooklyn Rail, March 2015, http://www.brooklynrail.org/2015/03/criticspage/ken-okiishi
2013
Carlo Scarpa, Artforum, November
"Live from Harlem," in El Mundo: A Classical Music Concert, Booklet/LP, Mousse/Villa Merkel/White Columns/ Haunted House Projects
"Ei Arakawa interviewed by Ken Okiishi about his participation in the UNITED MileagePlus Program," Wandering No. 2
2012
“Best of 2012: Bernadette Corporation: 2000 Wasted Years,” Artforum, December, pp. 222-225
“Sun Photographs: Ken Okiishi and Nick Mauss reflect on Zoe Leonard’s Sun Photographs,” MAP, http://mapmagazine.co.uk/9611/ken-okiishi-nick-mauss-zoe-leonards-sun-photograph/
“Ken Okiishi on Forrest Bess,” Artforum, May, pp. 89-92
“The Threat of the Provincial [Le menace du provincial],” May, No. 8 (February), pp. 16 - 37
2011
“Fancy Feast: Ken Okiishi on The Leopard at Des Artistes,” Artforum, November, pp. 107-108
2010
“Artists’ Artists,” Artforum, December
2008
"On Georges Perec's 'Un homme qui dort'," Bidoun, No. 14 (Spring/Summer)
"If/Then: Carey Young," [review] Bidoun, No. 14 (Spring/Summer)
"Top Ten," [with Nick Mauss] Artforum, March
2007
"K/L/M/N/O/P: a conversation," Noël sur le balcon / HOLD THE COLOR. with Nick Mauss, LucyMcKenzie and Paulina Olowska, Ed. Jan Seewald and Stephan Urbaschek. Munich: Kunstverlag Ingvild Goetz. pp. 64-112
"Documenta 12," [review] Bidoun, No. 12 (Fall)
2006
"Never Forget to Remember: On Disaster and Tourism," Bidoun, No. 7, pp. 71
2003
“How Raël taught me how to meet the aliens,” K48: “Kult 48,” No. 4, pp. 11-13
SELECTED REVIEWS AND FEATURES
Nemoto-Jay, Kristen. “Art In The Community – ART AS A TIME CAPSULE,” The Hawaii Herald
2020Mclean-Ferris, Laura. “Thirst Trap- Laura McLean-Ferris on Ken Okiishi’s Vital Behaviours,” Artforum, October/November 2020, pp. 200-203
2018Mizota, Sharon. “The mystery of the puppet-head box: “Why an Iowa childhood has been unpacked in an L.A. Gallery,” Los Angeles Times, May 2018.
20172016
Bacon, Alex, “Surface, Image, Reception: Painting in a Digital Age,” Rhizome May 24.
2015
“Artist Pick Up: Ken Okiishi,” Bijutsu Techo, November Issue, pp. 132-135
Wilk, Elvia, "Ken Okiishi," Art in America, February 28, http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/reviews/ken-okiishi/
2014
Nagy, Jeff, "Ken Okiishi," Artforum, Summer 2014
Pollack, Maika, "Alibis: Sigmar Polke 1963-2010, The Museum of Modern Art," Gallerist NY, April 16, http://galleristny.com/2014/04/alibis-sigmar-polke-1963-2010-at-the-museum-of-modern-art/
Roben, Scott, "PICKS: Ken Okiishi," Artforum.com
Howe, David Everitt, "Everywhere at Once: Ken Okiishi: painting in the age of Instagram," Frieze Magazine, April 2014
Pollack, Maika, "Ken Okiishi," Interview Magazine, March 2014
Doran, Ann, "Ken Okiishi," TimeOut New York, March 10, 2014
2013
Fiske, Courtney, "Frozen Lakes," http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/reviews/frozen-lakes/
2012
McGovern, Fiona, “Roto-Zebra-Reliefs,” Texte zur Kunst, pp. 204-206
Stakemeier, Kerstin, Artforum.com [review]
Smith, Roberta, “Looking Back / The 6th White Columns Annual—Selected by Ken Okiishi and Nick Mauss,” The New York Times, February 10
Wilson, Michael, “Looking Back: The 6th White Columns Annual,” Artforum, April
“Looking Back,” The New Yorker, January 17
Heinrich, Will, “The End of the Beginning: Looking Back/The White Columns Annual,” The New York Observer, January 16
2011
Holmqvist, Karl, “(Goodbye to) Manhattan,” May, No. 7, October, pp. 118-124
Russeth, Andrew, “In Artforum, Artist Ken Okiishi Becomes a Restaurant Critic,” GalleristNY, October 25, http://www.galleristny.com/2011/10/in-artforum-artist-ken-okiishi-becomes-a-restaurant-critic/
Mcgarry, Kevin, “Frieze Frame: Ken Okiishi’s Manhattan Transfer,” T Magazine (The New York Times Style Magazine), October 18
“Frieze hopes for a fair wind,” The Independent, October 13
2011
Rutland, Beau, “Hasta Mañana,” Artforum, October, pp. 341
“Hasta Mañana,” Time Out New York, July 14-20, pp. 38
Røed, Kjetil, “Nobody Can Tell the Why of It,” Aftenposten, May 2011
Nordby Wernø, Johanne, “Nobody Can Tell the Why of It” Artforum.com / Critics Pick http://www.artforum.com/picks/id=28611&view=print#
“Nobody Can Tell the Why of It’ at 1857, Oslo,” Mousse Magazine Blog, June 14, http://www.moussemagazine.it/blog/?p=11471
Haraldseth, Geri,“NOBODY CAN TELL THE WHY OF IT Curated by Esperanza Rosales at 1857, Oslo,” Kaleidoscope Blog, http://kaleidoscopeoffice.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/nobody-can-tell-the-why-of-it-curated-by-esperanza-rosales-at-1857-oslo-27-05-14-08-2011-by-geir-haraldseth/
Lewis, David, “Neverland,” Mousse 26, December 2010/January 2011, pp. 190-195.
2010
DAS INSTITUT, “Top Ten,” Artforum, April, pp.95“Ken Okiishi,” The New Yorker, March 8
Rosenberg, Karen, “Art in Review,” New York Times, Feb 5, pp. C27
2009
Charlesworth, JJ, "Head-wig (Portrait of an Exhibition)," Time Out London, Oct. 30, http://www.timeout.com/london/art/event/161691/head-wig-portrait-of-an-exhibition
Eichler, Dominic, "How do these things touch each other?" Mousse, September-October, pp. 41-45
Stillpass, Zoe, "Gennariello. Balice Hertling--Paris," Flash Art, May-June 2009, pp. 130
Lewis, David, "Gennariello," Artforum.com / Critics Picks, March 20, http://www.artforum.com/archive/id=22292
2008
2007
Leisten, Georg, "Ein blutrotes Fragezeichen," Stuttgarter Zeitung, Nov 6
Schacher, Marko, "Austellung als Schnitzeljagd," Stuttgarter Nachrichten, 9 Nov. listing, film screening of Georges Perec and Bernard Queysanne's Un Homme Qui Dort for the end of the Künstlerhaus exhibition, Stuttgarter Nichrichten, Nov 24
2006
Armetta, Amoreen, "Out of the Box," art on paper, September-October, pp. 36-37
2005
2004
SELECTED TALKS AND PANELS
2021
‘Barbara London Calling: Ken Okiishi’ [podcast] https://www.barbaralondon.net/barbara-london-calling-podcast/
2019
‘Andy Warhol After Pop’ (symposium in conjunction with the Warhol retrospective as the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY), Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School / Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US
2017Artists on Artists Lecture Series: Nick Mauss and Ken Okiishi on Hanne Darboven, Dia Art Foundation, Dia:Chelsea, New York, US
Ken Okiishi in Conversation with Jens Hoffmann, AM at the JM, February 21, Jewish Museum, New York, US
2015
Albert Oehlen: Home and Garden, Contemporary Painting Symposium, Panel 2: "Digital Abstraction", New Museum, New York, US
Light Repairs: A Roundtable on the Restoration of Mark Rothko's Harvard Murals, with Yve-Alain Bois, Harry Cooper, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, Ken Okiishi, R.H. Quaytman, David Reed, Jeffrey Weiss and Michelle Kuo, Artforum, Summer 2015, pp. 290–299, 380, 382, 384
Universal Pictures: Considering Contemporary Video Practice (roundtable with Joan Jonas, Ken Okiishi, Lucy Raven and Jennifer West), Jewish Museum, New York, US
2014
Who Cares if it's Painting: Artist Ken Okiishi Talks with Curator Kathy Halbreich, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, US
2012
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
EDUCATION
2001
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, BFA