SUZANNE BOCANEGRA
Born Houston, TX
Lives and works in New York, NY
EDUCATION
1982 MFA from San Francisco Art Institute
1979 BFA from University of Texas, Austin
PERFORMANCES
(*denotes world premiere)
Honor, an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Starring Lili Taylor (2022)
2024 NYU Skirball Center, New York, NY
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
2023 Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University, Houston, TX
2022 Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
*The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
2019 Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA; workshop performance developed as part of Bocanegra’s 2019-20 residency
My Life as an Artist Lecture (2018)
2018 *Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY; with Anne Gridley, Frances McDormand, and Lili Taylor
Farmhouse/ Whorehouse, an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Starring Lili Taylor (2017)
2023 NYU Skirball Center, New York, NY
2020 Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, NJ
2019 The Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Art Cake, Brooklyn, NY
2018 The Theatre at Ace Hotel, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY
Wexner Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
*Countercurrent Festival, Match-Box Theater, Houston, TX
Studio Visit (2016)
2016 *Old American Can Factory, Brooklyn, NY
Chromatic (2016); collaboration with Susan Marshall and Jason Treuting
2016 The Kitchen, New York, NY
*American Dance Institute, Washington, D.C.
Darker (2015); collaboration with David Lang
2017 Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
2015 *Mass MoCA, North Adams, MA
Bodycast, an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Starring Frances McDormand (2013)
2024 NYU Skirball Center, New York, NY; with Ruth Negga
2019 Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, MO; with Lili Taylor
2015 Crowley Theater, Marfa Contemporary, Marfa, TX
Countercurrent Festival, The Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
2013 Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Henry Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Commonweal, Bolinas, CA
Next Wave Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY
*Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
When a Priest Marries a Witch, an Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra Starring Paul Lazar (2010)
2023 NYU Skirball Center, New York, NY
2017 Dorothy Young Center for the Arts, Drew University, Madison, NJ; with Anne Gridley
2016 Chicago Arts Club, Chicago, IL
Abrams Art Center, New York, NY
Countercurrent Festival, Match-Box Theater, Houston, TX
Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
2012 Fusebox Festival, Austin, TX
The Prelude Theater Festival, New York, NY
2011 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, University of Houston, Houston, TX
The Chocolate Factory, New York, NY
James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY
2010 The Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
*Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
First-Person Shooter (2011)
2011 *Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
I Write The Songs (2009)
2011 SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
2009 *River to River Festival, The Winter Garden, New York, NY
LITTLE DOT (2010)
2014 Danspace Project, New York, NY; with New York Ballet Theater
2010 *The Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
REREMEMBERER (2009)
2014 Countercurrent Festival, El Dorado Ballroom, Houston, TX
Marfa Live Arts, Marfa, TX
Fusebox Festival, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX
2011 Theatre Republique, Copenhagen, Denmark
2009 *Judson Memorial Church, New York, NY
DECK (2008)
2009 Miller Theater, New York, NY
2008 *Bang on a Can Marathon, The Winter Garden, New York, NY
WORK (2006); Collaboration with David Lang, performed by Real Quiet
2006 Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Santa Fe, NM
New Haven Festival of Arts and Ideas, New Haven, CN
*Muzik 3 Festival, La Jolla, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Valley, Gund Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
2021 Valley, Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
2019 Wardrobe Test, Art Cake, New York, NY
2018 Poorly Watched Girls, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2011 I Write the Songs, SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
2010 I Write the Songs, The Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
2006 Victoria Munroe Fine Art, Boston, MA
2005 Millet’s Aprons, The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY
2004 Bowery Poetry Club, New York, NY
2003 Lucas Schoormans Gallery, New York, NY
1993 Freedman Gallery, Albright College, Reading, PA
University of North Dakota, Fargo, ND
Queens Museum, Bulova Center, New York, NY
California Center for the Arts, Escondido, CA
1992 Skep, New York, NY
Victoria Munroe Gallery, New York, NY
1990 Victoria Munroe Gallery, New York, NY
Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY
1988 Christian A. Johnson Memorial Gallery, Middlebury College, VT
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019 Bel Canto: Contemporary Artists Explore Opera, SITE Santa Fe, NM
2017 Non-Atomic, 215 Orleans, Beaumont, TX
2016 Studio Systems, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy
2014 I Was a Double, The Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
2008 Family and Friends, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, NY
Flatfiles, Frederike Taylor Gallery, New York, NY
Parts of the Puzzle, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
2007 In the Belly of the Whale, Tracy Williams, LTD, New York, NY
New Directions in American Drawing, Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA
New Directions in American Drawing, Telfair Museum, Savannah, GA
New Directions in American Drawing, Knoxville Museum, Knoxville, TN
2006 Birdwatching, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Inside, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
2005 Pattern Language, 5 Projects/ Wave Hill, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY
CD.E.N. Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles, CA
The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY
Pattern Language, Tufts University, Boston, MA
Pattern Language, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC
Pattern Language, Textile and Fashion Museum, London, UK
Food, Shelter, Clothing, Inter-Faith Center, New York, NY
2004 National Drawing Invitational, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR
Art on Paper 2004, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
Curator's Choice, Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, ME
2003 Fine Lines, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
In the Making: Contemporary Drawings from a Private Collection, The University Museum of Contemporary Art, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Apex Gallery, New York, NY
637 Running Feet, Queens Museum, New York, NY
2002 Artist to Artist, Ace Gallery, New York, NY
What’s the Use?, (with J. Morgan Puett) University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
2001 Free Exchange, (with J. Morgan Puett) Serpentine Gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
Domestic Culture, Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, ME
2000 Secret Victorians, organized by The Hayward Gallery, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA
1999 Secret Victorians, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England
Secret Victorians, Middlesbrough Art Gallery, Middlesbrough, England
Secret Victorians, City Art Museum, Brighton, England
Secret Victorians, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
A/C Project Room, New York, NY
School Reunion, (with J. Morgan Puett), Antony Wilkinson Gallery, London, England
1998 Secret Victorians, Arnolfini, Bristol, England
Secret Victorians, organized by The Hayward Gallery, Firstsite, Colchester, England
1997 Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA
Mandeville Gallery, Union College, Schenectady, NY
1996 Place, E. S. Van Dam Gallery, New York, NY
1995 Project Exhibit, Maryland Institute of the Arts, Baltimore, MD
Collective Histories, Fleming Museum, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
In Three Dimensions, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, New York, NY
Accumulation, The Work Space, New York, NY
Anderson Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Triple Feature, Art in General, New York, NY
Phillips Museum of Art, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA
Margulies Taplin Gallery, Miami, FL
1990 Socrates Sculpture Garden, New York, NY
1987 L. Rastovski Gallery, New York, NY
COSTUME AND SET DESIGN
2016-18 12 Shouts to the Ten Forgotten Heavens, by Sibyl Kempson, 7 Daughters of Eve Thtr & Perf. Co, The Whitney Museum, New York, NY; performance on every equinox and solstice for 3 years
2016 Sequenzas in Quadrilles, by Pam Tanowitz Dance, Joyce Theater, New York, NY
The Loser, by David Lang, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY
Short Form, by Big Dance Theater, The Kitchen, New York, NY
2015 Now Let Us Praise Susan Sontag, by Sibyl Kempson, 7 Daughters of Eve Thtr & Perf. Co., Abrons Arts Center, New York, NY
2012-13 Ich, Kurbisgeist!, by Sibyl Kempson, staged by Big Dance Theater at The Chocolate Factory, New York, NY, and New York Live Arts, New York, NY; nominated for a Bessie Award for best design
2012 Love Fail, by David Lang, performed by Anonymous 4 at Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY; Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.; University of the County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; Festival of Arts and Ideas, New Haven, CT; Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
2021 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Art
2020 Guggenheim Fellowship
2019 Robert Rauschenberg Award, Foundation for Contemporary Arts
2015 MacDowell Colony Fellowship
2013 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship
2009 MacDowell Colony Fellowship
2007 Danish Arts Council Fellowship
Yaddo Residency
2005 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship
2003 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
Yaddo Residency
2001 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant
Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant
New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship
1994 National Endowment for the Arts Grant
1993 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship
Marie Walsh Sharpe Arts Foundation Studio Grant
1991 Mid-Atlantic Arts Council Grant
1990 Prix de Rome
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
1989 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship
Yaddo Residency
1988 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Delaware Museum of Art, Wilmington, DE
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
PUBLICATIONS
2019 “Suzanne Bocanegra: Poorly Watched Girls,” catalogue published by The Fabric Workshop and Museum and MW Editions, accompanying exhibition
2011 Berry, Ian, “Suzanne Bocanegra: I Write the Songs,” catalogue published by the Tang Museum at Skidmore College, accompanying exhibition
“Rerememberer,” catalogue published by the Danish Arts Council
2010 “The Suzanne Bocanegra Recipe Card Collection,” Esopus Magazine
TEACHING
2008-09 Parsons School of Design, New York, NY, Adjunct Fine Arts Instructor, Senior Projects Seminar
1988-99 Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art, Painting
1998 Cooper Union, New York, NY, Adjunct Painting Instructor
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2022 Bishop, Claire, “Best of 2022: Claire Bishop on Suzanne Bocanegra,” Artforum, December 2022
Gale, Nikita, “The Artists’ Artists,” Artforum, December 2022
2021 Bradley, Taylor, “Judy, Judy, Judy: With ‘Valley,’ Suzanne Bocanegra flips the script on exploitation,” Sight Lines, July 31, 2021
Dinsdale, Emily, “Suzanne Bocanegra explores the tragic demise of a Hollywood legend,” Dazed, July 13, 2021
Weinstock, Jane, “Screening Memories,” October, Spring 2021
Purcell, Barbara, “Suzanne Bocanegra: Valley,” Art Papers, July 2021
Knecht, Lyndsay, “Suzanne Bocanegra Casts Spotlight on Judy Garland’s Final Years,” Southwest Contemporary, June 29, 2021
Feldman, Ella Malena, “Two exhibits, ‘Black Is Beautiful’ and ‘Valley,’ make history at Blanton Museum of Art,” austin360 Austin American- Statesman, June 26, 2021
2020 “Foundation for Contemporary Arts Announces 2020 Grant Recipients,” Artforum, January 22, 2020
2019 Donoghue, Katy, “Suzanne Bocanegra’s ‘Wardrobe Test’ at Art Cake,” Whitewall, November 21, 2019
“Suzanne Bocanegra Develops New Work at UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance,” Broadway World, November 18, 2019
Gluibizzi, Amanda, “Suzanne Bocanegra: Wardrobe Test,” The Brooklyn Rail, November, 2019
Muse, John, “Suzanne Bocanegra: Poorly Watched Girls,” CAA Reviews, June 7, 2019
“UCLA’S Center for the Art of Performance Announces 2019-20 Season,” Broadway World, May 2, 2019
Shaw, Helen, “Critical Eye: Close Stitching,” Art in America, March 1, 2019
Strong, Melissa, “Best Little Lecture in Philly,” Broad Street Review, February 12, 2019
Dube, Ilene, “Women’s Wense Relationship with Fabric Artfully Unfolds,” Hyperallergic, February 4, 2019
Krieger, Deborah, “Suzanne Bocanegra: Poorly Watched Girls,” this is tomorrow, January 30, 2019
“Suzanne Bocanegra: Poorly Watched Girls,” Articulate, January 28, 2019
2018 Forsythe, Pamela J., “The Fabric Workshop and Museum Presents Suzanne Bocanegra’s Poorly Watched Girls,” Broad Street Review, December 30, 2018
Press, Clayton, “Suzanne Bocanegra ‘Poorly Watched Girls’ at the Fabric Workshop andMuseum, Philadelphia,” Forbes, December 25, 2018
Huff Hunter, Bea, “Critics’ Pick: Suzanne Bocanegra,” Artforum, December 2018
Roach, Imani, “Many stages of girlhood Suzanne Bocanegra’s Poorly Watched Girls at the Fabric Workshop and Museum,” The Art Blog, December 6, 2018
Klarich Johnson, Grant, “Suzanne Bocanegra: Poorly Watched Girls,” The Brooklyn Rail, November 1, 2018
Sullivan, Robert, “Suzanne Bocanegra’s Haunting Beautiful Clutter,” The New Yorker, October 19, 2018
McNulty, Charles, "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the farmhouse next door, and unexpected connections in between," The Los Angeles Times, April 16, 2018
Hoffman, Laura. Interview with Suzanne Bocanegra. "Suzanne Bocanegra talks about her 'Artist Lectures,'" Art Forum, April 30, 2018
2017 Haskell, John, “Suzanne Bocanegra by John Haskell, Interview,” Bomb Magazine, Fall 2017
Lubow, Arthur, "Breaking Through Categories and Conventions at BAM," The New York Times, December 1, 2017
Feldman, Adam, "The top ten theater productions of 2017," Time Out New York, December 15, 2017
Shaw, Helen, "2017: Top Ten Theater Shows That Should Come Back," Divers Alarums, December 2017
2015 “Oscar-Winner, Frances McDormand and Artist, Suzanne Bocanegra Talk About ‘Bodycast’, Talk at Ten Interview,” Marfa Public Radio, January 7, 2015
"Suzanne Bocanegra: Bodycast," Glasstire, January 2015
Krasinski, Jennifer, "Pulling the Plug," Artforum, December 29, 2015
Shaw, Helen, "Helen Shaw's Best Shows of 2015: The ones that should come back,” Divers Alarums, December 29, 2015
2014 Burke, Siobhan, "Dance Listings, Suzanne Bocanegra," The New York Times, September 25, 2014
Kourlas, Gia, "Suzanne Bocanegra Fills Danspace with Little Dot," Time Out New York, September 25, 2014
Siebert, Brian, "Toeshoe Marks the Spot of Color: Little Dot, a Seurat-Inspired Work by Suzanne Bocanegra," The New York Times, September 30, 2014
2013 Simon, Lizzie, "Bodycast Won't Confine This Actress," The Wall Street Journal, November 26, 2013
Isherwood, Christopher, “You’re Here to Be Lectured,” The New York Times, November 27, 2013
Isherwood, Christopher, “I Can’t Hear You, I Have an Artist in My Ear: ‘Bodycast,’ at BAM, With a Lecturing Frances McDormand,” The New York Times, December 5, 2013
Vincentelli, Elisabeth, “Frances McDormand serves as mouthpiece in ‘Bodycast’,” New York Post, December 5, 2013
Vlastelica, Ryan, “The 25 Best Stage Shows of 2013,” The L Magazine, December 18, 2013
2011 Simon, Lizzie, "The Divine Power of a Solitary Voice," The Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2011
LaRocca, Claudia, “This Week Ahead, Dance,” The New York Times, April 22, 2011
Berkovitch, Ellen, “I Write the Songs: Drawings in Flux Quartet’s Musical Inbox,” Adobe Airstream, June 2011
Armitage, Diane, “Suzanne Bocanegra: I Write the Songs/ Pae White: Material Mutters,” Issuu Magazine, August 2011
2006 Woodard, Joseph, "Atmospheric ‘Work’ at Muzik 3 Festival," Los Angeles Times, April 21, 2006
2005 Millett, Ann, "Art on Paper 2004," Art on Paper, January/ February 2005, page 76
Ollman, Leah, “Around the Galleries,” Los Angeles Times, July 15, 2005
Dambrot, Shana, “’Collected Recordings’ at d.e.n. contemporary art,” Artweek, October 2005
2004 Wolfe, Julia, "Artists on Artists - Suzanne Bocanegra," Bomb Magazine, Spring 2004, pages 8-9
2003 Levin, Kim, “Shortlist - Suzanne Bocanegra," Village Voice, June 18, 2003
Newhall, Edith, "Talent: Suzanne Bocanegra Takes an Eccentric Inventory of the Past," New York Magazine, June 30, 2003
2002 Kaplan, Janet K., "Give and Take," Art Journal, Summer 2002
2001 Heartney, Eleanor, "Report from London," Art in America, July 2001, page 51
1995 Karmel, Pepe, "Triple Feature," The New York Times, February 3, 1995
1994 Silver, Joanne, "Diverse works at DeCordova quietly inspire," Boston Herald, July 1, 1994
Temin, Christine, "Artists/ Visions: DeCordova at its best," The Boston Globe, July 1, 1994
McQuaid, Cate, "Outside and In," The Boston Phoenix, August 5, 1994
1993 Lillington, David, "Times - Anderson O'Day," Time Out London, June 16, 1993
1992 Holloway, Memory, “Suzanne Bocanegra/Sculpture Center," Arts International, Spring/Summer 1992
Heartney, Eleanor, "Suzanne Bocanegra," Art News, October 1992, page 130
1991 Kohen, Helen, "Women Artists Illustrate New Directions," The Miami Herald, January 13, 1991, page 2H
Denson, G. Roger, "Suzanne Bocanegra," Contemporanea, January 1991, pages 95-96
Koplos, Janet, "Suzanne Bocanegra at Victoria Munroe," Art in America, January 1991, pages 132-33
1987 Esman, Abigail R., "K.A. Meyer and S. Bocanegra at L. Rastovski Gallery," Arts International, Summer 1987