BORN: Detroit, Michigan 1962
EDUCATION:
1988 BFA, Otis Art Institute of Parson's School of Design,
Los Angeles, CA
1985 Bath Academy of Art, Bath, England
1983-84 American College in Paris/ Parson's School
of Design, Paris, France
AWARDS:
2000 COLA (County of Los Angeles) Fellowship, Los Angeles,
CA
1999 J. Paul Getty Fellowship for Visual Arts
Long
Beach Public Corporation for the Arts, Banner Design, Long Beach,
CA
1998 The Basil H. Alkazzi Award
1997 The William J. Fulbright Foreign Scholarship,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1995 Guggenheim Fellowship
NEA U.S./Mexico International
Exchange Scholarship to Mexico City
1994 WESTAF(Western States Art Federation)/NEA
Grant
Art Matters Individual Artist
Grant
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2005 “Dante’s Paradiso”, Hearst Art Gallery
of Saint Mary’s College, Moraga, CA
"The Divine Comedy- Sandow
Birk”, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
“Sandow Birk”,
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA
“Dante’s Paradiso”,
PPOW Gallery, New York, NY
2004 “Dante’s Purgatorio”, Catharine
Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA
“Finesse”, Catherine
Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2003 "Dante's Inferno", Koplin Del Rio
Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
“Incarcerated”,
Samuel Dorsky Museum, NY
2002 "Maximum Security: New York in the21st
Century" Debs & Co. Gallery, New York, NY
"In Smog and Thunder:
Historical Works from the Great War of the Californias"
Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA
"Homefront: Propaganda
posters from the Great War of the Californias,"
Catharine Clark Gallery, SF, CA also shown at 111 Minna Gallery,
SF, CA
"Incarcerated: Visions
of CA in the 21st Century" Catharine Clark Gallery, SF, CA
2001 "Prisonation," Santa Barbara Contemporary
Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
2000 “Prisonation,” Koplin Gallery,
Los Angeles, CA
"Smog and Thunder: Historical
Works from the Great War of the Californias,"
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
“Historical Works from
the Stonewall Riots & Beyond,” Catharine Clark Gallery,
SF, CA
1999 "Carioca: A Year Among the Natives of
Rio de Janeiro,”
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
"Sandow Birk: New Work,"
Catherine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA
"Historical Works from the Stonewall Riots and Beyond,”
Earl McGrath Gallery, NY, NY
1998 "Smog and Thunder: Historical Works From
The War of The Californias” (Part II),
Koplin Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
"Smog and Thunder: Historical
Works from The War of The Californias” (Part I),
Catherine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1997 “Carioca:A Year Among the Natives of
Rio De Janeiro,”Laguna Art Museum,
Laguna Beach,CA
“Skatistas, Moleques
y Mendigos: New Drawings From Rio de Janeiro,”
Spruce St. Forum, San Diego, CA
1996 “Historical Paintings of the Great Battle
of San Fran.,” Catherine Clark Gallery, SF, CA
“Sandow Birk-Recent
Paintings,” Michael Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
1995 “Chilangos: Drawings by Sandow Birk
and the Rise and Fall of Los Angeles:
New Work by Sandow Birk,” Koplin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
"Tales of the Cities,”
Morphos Gallery, San Francisco, CA
"Chilangos,” Drawings
by Sandow Birk, Nacional de Artes Plasticas
"La Esmerelda" “Sandow Birk,” Centro Nacional
de las Artes, Mexico City,
Mexico City, D.F.
1994 "Skaters,” Koplin Gallery, Santa
Monica, CA
"Asphalt Landscape,”
Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago, IL
1993 "Truce: Sandow Birk,” Julie Rico
Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1992 "The Gates of Hell: L.A. Landscapes of
the '90's,” Orange Coast College,
Costa Mesa, CA
"Sandow Birk,”
Bess Cutler Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1990 "New Velvet,” Earl McGrath Gallery,
Santa Monica, CA
1989 "Velvet,” Earl McGrath Gallery,
Santa Monica, CA
GROUP
EXHIBITIONS:
2004 “Take this Bread” Gallery C, Hermosa
Beach, CA
“Paper Bullets: A War of Words”, Intersection
for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
“Prints: System, Style
and Subject”, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA
“100 Artists See Satan”,
Cal State Fullerton, Santa Ana, CA
“Drawings VII”,
Koplin Del Rio Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
“On the Edge: Skateboard
Art”, Pico Rivera Centre for the Arts, Pico Rivera, CA
“The Political Landscape”,
The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2003 "Surf Culture", Contemporary Museum,
Honolulu, HI
2002 "Drawings VI" Koplin Gallery, Los
Angeles
"Unreal: Sandow Birk,
Kathleen Gilje, & Kim Keevers", Forum for Contemporary
Art,
St. Louis, MN
"Surf Culture: The Art
History of Surfing", Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
"The Story Is in the
Telling", Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA
"Bay Area Printmakers:
Works from Trillium Press, Kala Art Institute, made In CA, &
Paulson Press", The Museum of Modern Art, San
Francisco, CA
"Raw Draw", Pasadena
City College, Pasadena, CA
"Los Angeles: Gates of
Hell", The Advocate Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"Post-Landscape: Between
Nature and Culture," Pomona College Museum of Art,
Claremont, CA
16th National Biennial, LA
Printmaking Society, Laband Art Gallery,
Loyola Marymount University, LA, CA
"Representing L.A.,"
Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; traveling to: Art Museum of S. Texas,
Corpus Christi, TX; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach,
CA
"C.O.L.A. Individual
Artists Grants, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
“Los Angeles Printmaking
Society 16th National Biennial,” Laband Art Gallery,
Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA
2000 “C2C,” New Langton Arts, San Francisco,
CA
"Surf Trip," Track
16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
“Made in California:
1900-2000,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LA, CA
“Drawings V,”
Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“Fact or Fiction: Contemporary
Art that Walks the Line,” SF MOMA, SF, CA
1999 “Surfin’ Art,” South Texas
Institute for the Arts, Corpus Christi, TX
"Drawing the Line,"
Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
"Circular Logic,”
I-5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"Storytellers,”
Art Institute of Southern California, Laguna Beach, CA
"Courting the Muse: Contemporary
Paintings, Historical Influences,” CSU Fullerton, CA
"When Borders Migrate-Reflections
on the 150th Anniversary of The Treaty of
"Guadalupe Hidalgo,”
The Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
1998 "Life Lessons: How Art Can Change Your
Life,” Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
"Drawings IV,”
Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"Skate Lore: California
Skate(board)ing Index to Concepts, Forms, Life,”
Santa Barbara Contemporary
Arts Center, Santa Barbara, CA
“Contingent Reality,”
Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
"Tribute to La Luz de
Jesus Gallery,” (catalog), Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica,
CA
"No More Scapegoats,”
Nourse Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
"Kavalera Kustom,”
Merry Karnowski Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"Human Conditions, The
Figure,” Cerritos College Fine Arts Gallery, Norwalk, CA
"When Bodies Migrate,”
(150th Anniversary of the Treaty of Guadalupe- Hidalgo)
San Francisco Arts Commission,
San Francisco, CA
1997 “L.A. Current: New View,” UCLA/Hammer
Art Rental and Sales Gallery, LA, CA
"Lineas de Correspondencia,”
Galeria Jose Maria Valesco,
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, D.F., Mexico (catalog)
"No More Red Ribbons,”
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1996 "Paintings of the New Landscape,”
Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
"A Tribute to Von Dutch,”
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Hollywood, CA
"Figureheads and Red
Herrings,” Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"Consumption,”
Catherine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA
"Melody Makers,”
Gallerie Torta di Miele, Bologna, Italia
“It’s Only Rock
& Roll,” Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
“New Faces,” Irvine
Valley College, Irvine, CA
“RE: Masters, New Images
from Old Sources,” Rancho Santiago College, Santa Ana, CA
"Drawn Conclusions,”
Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
"Drawn From L.A.,”
The Armory Center for The Arts, Pasadena, CA
"Hand, Eye, Heart, Mind:
Figurative Drawings,” Golden West College,
Huntington Beach, CA
1995 "It's Only Rock & Roll,” Phoenix
Museum of Art, Phoenix, AZ; Tacoma Art Museum,
Tacoma, WA; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH & others
"Formulations: Quotations
from the Source,” Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
"Social Engagements:
Observations & Personal Narratives,” Municipal Art Gallery,
Barnsdall Art Park, Los Angeles, CA
1994 "California: The Cutting Edge",
Downey Museum of Art, Downey, CA
"Night of the Masque",
Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
"DADA Monica", The
Sam Francis Gallery, Crossroads School, Santa Monica, CA
"Crossing the Line: Civil
Disobedience in the '90's,” Delta Axis Contemp. Arts Center,
Memphis, TN
"The Innovators,”
Michael Epstein Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
1993 "Custom Grafix,” The Works Gallery,
Costa Mesa, CA
"Surf Show,” Julie
Rico Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
"Kustom Kulture,”
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
1992 "New Work from Los Angeles,”
Anthony Ralph Gallery, New York, NY
"East Meets West,”
Speedway Gallery, Boston, MA
"I Thought California
Would Be Different,” Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
1991 "Post-Pop and Beyond,” Bess Cutler
Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
"Contemporary Visions
of the Virgin of Guadalupe,” Downey Museum of Art, Downey,
CA
"Synthetic History,”
Parker-Zanich Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“The Edge of Night,”
Muckenthaler Cultural Center, Fullerton, CA
1990 “Heal the Bay' Surfboard Invitational,”
James Corcoran Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
“Surfin' Bird,”
La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
PUBLIC
COLLECTIONS:
Harvard University Art Museum,
Cambridge, MA
De Young Museum – Legion
of Honor, San Francisco, CA
The Getty Center, Los Angeles,
CA
Arizona State University Art
Museum, Tempe, AZ
New York Historical Society,
New York, NY
Cornell University Library,
Ithaca, NY
Pomona College Museum of Art,
Claremont, CA
San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art, San Francisco, CA
San Jose Museum of Art, San
Jose, CA
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna,
CA
Rene di Rosa Foundation, Napa,
CA
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
2004 Dunn, Jancee, “Hot Artist; Sandow Birk
paints California prisons like a landscape master”,
Rolling Stone, Aug. 19, p. 86
DeLuca, Dan, “Modern
‘Inferno’ sends big names to Hell’, The Philadelphia
Inquirer, May 5
Kipen, David, “Birk’s
witty, angry ‘Inferno’ shows the hell all around us”,
SF Chronicle,
Apr. 20
Bing, Alison, “Viewpoint”,
Artweek, Vol. 35, Issue 2, March
2003 Cheverton, Richard E., “L.A.’s
‘Inferno’” LA Times Magazine, Feb. 16
Zone, Ray, “Sandow Birk,”
Artscene, March
Lloyd, Robert, “Sandow’s
Inferno,” LA Weekly, Feb. 28 – March 6
Pring, Dawnya, "Good
vs. Evil: Painter Sandow Birk examines America's character after
9/11",
Brentwood magazine, Feb.
2002 "This War Never Happened: An interview
with Sandow Birk about painting new things
in a new way", McSweeney's Quarterly, vol. 8, New York
Henley, Patricia, "It
was war: Museum's re-opening exhibit features mythical 'War of the
Californias", The Sonoma Index Tribune, June 25
Hom, Lisa, "The North
and the South" San Francisco Weekly, June 19-25
2001 Woodard, Josef, "Up the Lazy River,"
Santa Barbara News-Press, July 20
Gipe, Lawrence, "On Prisons
and Painting: A Conversation with CAF Artist Sandow Birk",
The Santa Barbara Independent, Aug. 16
Kipen, David, "California
Dreamscapes with Prisons", San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 12
Sheets, Hillarie, "Reinventing
the Landscape", Art News, March
Rosenberg, Jeremy, "Prisonation:
Sandow Birk at Koplin Gallery", d'Art International, Spring
Mead, Alyson, "The Battle
of Sandow Birk," LA Tribe.com , March 13
Housley, Mark, "Sandow
Birk's California Landscapes", Coagula Art Journal, March
2000 Amiran, Eyal, "California Dreaming",
West Hollywood Independent, Nov.
Frank, Peter, "Art Picks
of the Week: Sandow Birk, Dan Douke", LA Weely,
Nov. 24-30, p. 147
Pincus, Robert, "Smog.
Vs. Fog: Fantasy War Pits Northern against
Southern-Calfornia that Is", The San Diego Union-Tribune, June
11
Meyers, Holly, "Smog
and Thunder and Really Big Eyes: Sandow Birk and
Margaret Keane in Laguna", LA Weekly, Sept. 29-Oct. 5
Fillmore, Mallard, “War
of the Californians,” Orange County Register- Opinion Sec.,
June 9
Feature/ Interview on national
public radio, “Sandow Birk’s ‘Great War of the
Californias’
at Laguna Art Museum, CA,” KCRW Los Angeles and nationwide,
May 23
Feature/ Interview on, “Life
and Times with Warren Olney,”
PBS Televsion & KCET, LA, May 16
Kipen, David, “Birk’s
Satirical War a Clever Lampoon”, Book Review,
San Fran. Chronicle, June 7
Ollman, Leah, “‘Great
War of Californias’ Built on a Fertile, Clever Imagination,”
LA Times, May 2
Roug, Louis, “California
Goes to War,” Orange County-LA Times, Calendar, Mon, May 1
Schoenkopt, Rebecca, “Let
the Bastards Burn!,” Art Section, Contents, April 28 - May
4
Wolf, Sara, “History
and Art Merged,” Encore, The Orange Co. Register,
Sun, April 23, 27-28
Carasso, Roberta, “Art
Lessons to be Learned in ‘Smog and Thunder’,”
Art Waves,
Laguna News-Post, Thurs., April 20
Tessa De Carlo, “Laying
Bare the Uncertain Underside of the Truth,” NY Times- Arts
&
Leisure, 04/9
Robertson, Jean and McDaniel,
Painting as Language, Harcourt Brace College Publishing,
Fort Worth, TX
1999 Alexander,
Zoe, "Sandow Birk", NoHo News, April
Marcus, Greil, “Pop
against Art,” Speak Magazine, Summer, SF, CA
“Who’s Who in
American Art,” 23rd Edition. New York, Aug.
Portfolio, "Sandow Birk,"
Poliester, Vol. 7/ No. 25, primavera-verano. Printed in Mexico
Hickson, Patricia, "
Carioca: A Year Among the Natives of Rio De Janeiro,"
Frameworks, Fall, Vol. 5/ No. 4, San Jose Museum of Art
Schoenkopf, Rebecca, "Architect
of War: Sandow Birk Paints a Future Past,”
OC Weekly, Jan. 29-Feb. 4
Turner, John, “Leeteg
of Tahiti-Paintings from the Villa Velour,”
Last Gasp Press, San Fran.,CA
1998 Anderson, Ross, "War of Californias,”
Panik Magazine, issue No. 6
Lenkert, Erika, "L.A.
to Z,” Los Angeles Magazine, Dec.
Ise, Claudine, "Sly Scenes
Picture a California Engulfed in Civil War,” LA Times, Oct.
16
Cantor, Judy, "The Return
of Art Rock", The Miami New Times, Jan. 15
Scherr, Apollinaire, "Sandow
Birk's In Smog and Thunder: Historical Works from the
War of the Californias,” San Francisco Express, Sept. 4
Clark, Orville, Jr., ArtScene,
September Preview
Ribiero, Vava, "Surf
e Golf, Ltd.,” Trip Magazine, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Vol. 10,
#62
Turner, Frederick” The
Landscape of Disturbance,” The Wilson Quarterly,
Washington, D.C., Spring
Marcus, Greil, "Flotsam
and Jetsam of the CA State of Mind,” New York Times, March
30
Hefland, Glen, "When
Borders Migrate,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, Feb. 4
Berry, Colin "When Borders
Migrate,” The Herald, San Francisco, CA, Jan. 29
1997 Curtis, Cathy, "A Couple of Views",
LA Times, Nov. 4
Arch, Andrew,” Sandow
Birk-Connected to the Canvas,” Orange County Register, Nov.
9
Schoenkopf, Rebecca”
Laguna Museum Bounces Back,” OC Weekly Magazine, Nov. 7
Brisick, Jaime, "God
is Brazilian,” Surfing Magazine, Nov.
anonymous, "Salada-Carioques,”
Trip Magazine, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Vol. 10 #57
Ribiero, Vava, "A Perigosa
Verdade,” Trip Magazine, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Vol. 10 #56
Mathies, Eric” Sandow
Birk at Spruce Street Forum,” Giant Robot Magazine,
Issue # 9, Winter
Madjczyk, Tony, "Rock
Once Removed,” Charlotte Herald newspaper,
Charlotte, NC, July 18
Menconi, D., "Deadpan
Humor Enlivens Rock Exhibit,” The News Observer,
Raleigh, NC, July25
1996 Brisick, Jamie, "Paint by Fate,”
Surfing, April
1995 Curtis, Cathy, "Framed in Controversy,”
Orange Ct. Calendar, LA Times Orange Ct, Oct. 17
Chattopadhyay, Colette, "Three
Perspectives on Drawing & Paper,” Artweek, Oct.
Rodriguez, L., "Sandow
Birk and the Streets of Los Angeles,” Torta di Miele, Italy,
Feb.
Sherrat, Holly, "San
Francisco Review: Sandow Birk at Morphos,” Coagula, #17
"Art,” reproduction,
San Francisco Chronicle, April 9-15
1994 Beller, Miles, "Street of Dreams,”
Artweek, Oct. 6
Kandel, Susan, "Art Reviews,”
LA Times, Sept. 29
"What's On", reproduction,
The Argonaut, Sept.
Stamets, Bill, "Painters
Put Slant on News,” Chicago Sun-Times, April 16
"Art,” The Commercial
Appeal - Memphis, Feb. 19
1993 Urban, Hope, "Riot Repair,” Los
Angeles Reader, May 21
"The Top 100 Collectors,”
Art & Antiques, March
Scarborough, James, "Los
Angeles, Prophet and Loss,”
Art Press 184 Int. Magazine, Paris, Oct.
La Brecque, Eric, "L.A.
Aftermath,” The Graphic Response to the L.A. Riots,
Print Magazine, Sept./Oct.
Urban, Hope, "Art 'n'
the Hood-Paintings Of and By the Street Youth of LA,”
VISIONS Art Quarterly, Winter
Miller, Penny, "Birk
and Ocampo: City Beat,” COAGULA Art Journal, Summer
Scarborough, James, "Kar
Kulture: 'Kustom Kulture' at the Laguna Art Museum,
”Artweek Mag., Aug. 15
Greenfield, Karl Taro, "High
and Low Culture in La-La Land,” Wingspan Magazine,
Seoul, Korea, Aug.
anonymous, "Ten to Watch
in 1993,” Details Magazine, Jan.
Littlefield, Kinney, "A
Klassy, Kustomized Look Back,” The Orange County Register,
July 30
1992 Gleason, Mat, "Los Angeles Review,”
Coagula, Aug.
Kandel, Susan, "Historical
Violence,” LA Times, April 2
Willet, J.M.S., "Bad
Boys/Good Boys - Sandow Birk and the Killing of Los Angeles,”
cover story, VISIONS Art Quarterly Magazine, Fall
Curtis, Cathy, "The More
Things Change...Sandow Birk Looks Back to the Present,”
LA Times, Sept. 17
Dubin, Zan, "Peering
Through the Gates of Hell - Artist Chronicles Urban Landscapes
with Historical Twist,”LA Times, Sept. 4
Lam, Frances, "Dreamed
Deferred - The Mean Streets as Seen By Sandow Birk,”
URB Magazine, July
anonymous” Sandow Birk
at Bess Cutler Gallery,” L.A. Style Magazine, April
Colburn, Bolton, "In
the Heroic Tradition - Sandow Birk,” Surfer's Journal Magazine,
Fall
Geer, Suvan, "Sandow
Birk's Velvets,” L A Times, Sept. 1
1990 Sawahata, Lesa, "New Velvet - Sandow
Birk at McGrath Gallery,” EXPOSURE Magazine, Dec.
1989 Geer, Suvan, "The Galleries,” LA
Times, Sept.
PUBLIC
PROJECTS:
2004 “Metro Rapidway – Tarzana Station
Terrazza Designs”, Metro. Transit Authority, LA, CA
2002 “The Discovery of the City of Long Beach”,
2 ceramic tile murals, 600 sq. ft.
City Place Shopping
Center, Long Beach, CA
