JOEL KYACK
Lives and works in Los Angeles
EDUCATION
2008 M.F.A., University of Southern California, Los Angeles
2004 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, East Madison, Maine
1995 B.F.A., Printmaking, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
1994 European Honors Program, Rhode Island School of Design, Rome, Italy
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017 Hold On Tightly / Let Go Lightly, Workplace, London, UK
Black As Night And Thicker Still I Surrender To This Hill My Will, Campbell Hall, Los Angeles, CA
2016 On the Floor in the Cave of Skulls, Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Circle of Hell / Ringer of Bell, Art Basel, Discoveries, Hong Kong
2015 The Very First Day, Workplace, Gateshead, UK
Crybaby, The Independent solo presentation w/ Praz-Delavallade, New York, NY
2014 Old Sailors Never Die, François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, CA
We Can Be Who We Are, FIAC solo presentation w/ François Ghebaly, Paris, France
2013 Point at The Thing That's Furthest Away, Praz-Delavallade, Paris, France
Terms / Proposals / Demands, SSZ Sued, Cologne, Germany
2011 Escape to Shit Mountain, François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, CA
River / Stream / In-Between, Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY
2010 Flow, River, Flow! solo presentation at NADA Art Fair, Miami, FL
Superclogger, Hammer Museum & LA><ART public project, freeways of Los Angeles, CA
2009 The Knife Shop, Kunsthalle LA, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Design a Future or Fuck It, USC Roski Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2007 Proposition for a New Mountaineer, USC Roski Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2016 The Dirty Poke, w/ Matt Johnson, The Meow, Los Angeles, CA
2015 Eric Bainbridge & Joel Kyack, Workplace, London, UK
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 Schmaltz, Guimarães, Vienna, Austria
2017 Top Five Buddy Cop Films, curated by Santi Vernetti, Steve Turner, Los Angeles, CA
I Love LA, Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles, CA
2015 Dot Dot Dot Dash, Workplace, Gateshead, UK
Under Construction, Paramo, Guadalajara, Mexico
Cool as a State of Mind, MAMO, Marseille, France
2014 On Stage, Karst, Plymouth, UK
2013 Always Yours, Des Objets Manqués, Des Monuments, Balice Hertling, Paris, France
Cave 2, Ramiken Crucible, New York, NY at New Cueva Archillas, Puerto Rico
True Believers, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
Painting Party, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA, US
2012 Frieze Special Projects, curated by Cecilia Alemani, New York NY
Your History Is Our History, Praz-Delavallade, Paris, France
Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Workplace, Gateshead, UK
Cave-IN, Ramiken Crucible, New York, NY at Cueva Archillas, Puerto Rico
Contemporary Tendencies, Helene Bailly Gallery, Paris, France
2011 American Exuberance, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL
Trespass / Parade, West of Rome, Los Angeles, CA
Adult Contemporary / Family Romance, Kavi Gupta, Berlin, Germany
God Only Knows Who the Audience Is, CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco, CA
The Shortest Distance Between Two Points is Often Intolerable, Brand New, Milan, Italy
Synthetic Ritual, Pitzer Art Gallery, Pitzer College, Claremont, CA
2010 Who Is Your Audience, curated by Lorenzo Bruni, Astuni Public Studio, Bologna, Italy
2009 Not Los Angeles, Fellows of Cotemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Perform! Now!, performance festival, Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA
Material Boundaries, Deborah Page Projects, Austin, TX
2008 California Biennial, High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA
Allan Kaprow-Art as Life, Graft re-Happening, MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
The Silence of Infinite Space, Glendale College Gallery, Glendale, CA
One Shot: 100><100, La><ART, Los Angeles, CA
Host, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2007 My Buddy, Wight Gallery at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
I Do You Do Me, USC Roski Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006 I Never Meant to Hurt You, Buzzer Thirty, Queens, NY
Material Matters, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD
Make Over, Tastes Like Chicken, Brooklyn, NY
Wunderground, RISD Museum of Art, Providence, RI
2004 High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA
re:source, Art in General, New York, NY
Skowhegan Projects, Skowhegan State Fair, ME
Rowdy Remix, ATM, New York, NY
PERFORMANCES
2016 Dos Mega, 356 Mission. Los Angeles, CA
The Dirty Poke, The Meow, Los Angeles, CA
2015 Your Optimism Fills Graves, Workplace Gallery, London, UK
All the Instruments Agree, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2014 Portrait that may look like you, public craft fair, Los Angeles, CA
Buy What I Say, FIAC, Paris
The Dirty Poke Ain’t No Joke, Greystone Gala, LA><ART, Los Angeles
2012 Most games are lost, not won, Frieze Special Project, Frieze Fair, New York, NY
Landed w/ Dawn Kasper, Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY
2011 Growing Pains Leave Stains, Kaleidoscope ARENA, Macro Testaccio, Rome, Italy
Wattis Up with this Guy?, Wattis Institute, San Francisco, CA
Cowboys Don't Care, Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy
2010 Crossing the Line, Piazza de Nettuno, Bologna, Italy
2009 Hill Street Blues, Perform! Now! festival, Francois Ghebaly, Los Angeles, CA
Knifemasters 2009, The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
2008 Genesis Project 2008, workshop, Sea and Space Explorations, Los Angeles, CA
Feel the Love 2008, Machine Project, Los Angeles, CA
CURATION
2016-present Operating and curating The Meow with Lisa Anne Auerbach, Los Angeles, CA
RESIDENCIES & COMMISSIONS
2012 Frieze Special Projects, Frieze Art Fair, New York, NY
2011 Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2009 The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
2002 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2024 Associate Professor, Art, West Los Angeles College, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Introduction to 3-D, LA Mission College, Sylmar, CA
Art Appreciation, East Los Angeles College, Monterey Park, CA
2018 Objects of Performance, Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles, CA
Sculpture 1, LA Mission College, Sylmar, CA
Introduction to 3-D, LA Mission College, Sylmar, CA
Art Appreciation, East Los Angeles College, Monterey Park, CA
2017 Maximalism, Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles, CA
Art Appreciation, East Los Angeles College, Monterey Park, CA
Introduction to 3-D, LA Mission College, Sylmar, CA
2016 Drawing 1, East Los Angeles College, Monterey Park, CA
2014 Sculpture 1, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
Independent Studies, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
Open Critique, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
2013 Visiting Artist Faculty, Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI
2007 Teaching Assistant, Graphic Design 3, University of Southern California, Los Angeles CA
Teaching Assistant, Photography 3, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Teaching Assistant, Sculpture 1, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
LECTURES / VISITING CRITIC / PANELS
2023 Visiting Critic and Lecturer, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA
2019 Visiting Critic, Syracuse University, Graduate Residency Program, San Pedro, CA
2017 Visiting Lecturer, Campbell Hall, Los Angeles, CA
2016 Visiting Critic, California State Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
2015 Visiting Lecturer w/ Shawn Greenlee, Pomona College, Claremont, CA
Visiting Lecturer and Critic, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxvile, NY
2014 Visiting Lecturer and Critic, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
Visiting Lecturer, Pomona College, Claremont, CA
Visiting Lecturer, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
2013 Visiting Lecturer, Pomona College, Claremont, CA
Visiting Lecturer and Critic, California State Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
2012 Visiting Lecturer, New Genres, UCLA, Los Angeles
2011 Visiting Lecturer, Ecole Supérieure d'Art de l'Agglomération d'Annecy, Annecy, France
Visiting Lecturer, Pomona College, Claremont, CA
2010 Panelist, Super Public: Performance en route, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Visiting Lecturer / Graduate Sculpture Critic, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Visiting Lecturer, Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Visiting Lecturer, Oakwood Academy, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Visiting Lecturer, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Black As Night And Thicker Still I Surrender To This Hill My Will, Campbell Hall, 2018
Breaking Point, Joel Kyack, 2nd Cannons Publications, 2014
American Exuberance, Rubell Family Collection, 2011
Synthetic Ritual, Pitzer College, 2011
A chi ti stai rivolgendo, MAT edizioni, Astuni Public Studio, 2010
High Desert Test Sites CB08, 2008 California Biennial, 2008
Design a Future or Fuck It, University of Southern California, 2008
Material Matters, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD, 2006
Don’t Cry Mr. Robot, chap book, 2003
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Thorp, Eric, “Interview: Joel Kyack – Hold on Tightly / Let Go Lightly, FAD, January 14, 2018
Higgs, Matthew, “The Meow”, Top 10 of 2017, Artforum, December 2017
Taft, Catherine, “Michael Decker at The Meow”, Artforum, February, 2017
Mizota, Sharon, “Joel Kyack's kinetic sculptures: The cycles of life in water bottles, buckets and a record player”, Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2016
Griffin, Jonathan, “Joel Kyack: Old Sailors Never Die”, ArtReview, April, 2014
Owens, Laura, “Every Rough Edge is Gone”, Flash Art, January / February 2014
Williams, Maxwell, “An Artist’s Exploration of The Various Points of Decay”, Flaunt, July 2012
Gopnik, Blake, "At art's cattle market, Joel Kyack provides simple pleasures", The Daily Beast, May 4, 2012
Nathan, Emily, "Frieze Projects 2012", artnet, May 2012
McLean-Ferris, Laura, "Frieze: London's finest art fair goes stateside," The Independent, May 7, 2012
Schonberger, Nick, "Joel Kyack's 'Most games are lost, not won'", Complex, May 7, 2012
Wetzler, Rachel, "Frieze New York: The Art Outside the Tent", Rhizome, May 9, 2012
Jovanovic, Rozalia, "At Frieze Projects, Toss a Ball, See Tumbleweeds", GalleristNY, May 4, 2012
Williams, Sarah, “Virtual Walkthrough of ‘Escape to Shit Mountain, ForYourArt, September 15 2011
Goldstein, Andrew M., "Editor's Picks", Artinfo.com, May 5, 2011
Birnbaum, Brent, "Featured Artist: Joel Kyack", Artcards, Feb. 8 2011
“NADA Best Booth Prize Awarded to Two Galleries”, ArtInfo, December 2 2010
Hanks, Douglas, “A sandwich that’s a fountain and more good ideas at NADA”, The Miami Herald, December 2, 2010
Pacoda, Pierfrancesco, “Tra pubblico e privato, Kyack ci mette una fontana”, Il Resto di Carlino, October 13, 2010
Holte, Michael Ned, “Best of 2010 – #1 Superclogger”, Artforum, December 2010
“Tra pubblico e privato, Kyack ci mette una Fontana”, Bologna Italy Newspaper, October 2010
Berardini, Andrew, “Joel Kyack: Superclogger”, Art Review, Issue 44, September 2010
Ulaby, Neda, “’Superclogger’: Free Theater on L.A.’s Freeways”, All Things Considered, National Public Radio (NPR), August 11, 2010
Harvey, Steve, “In search of a monument that says ‘LA’ ”, Los Angeles Times, July 10,2010
KTLA Feature, July 2010
Mizota, Sharon, “’Superclogger’: Puppet shows for the congested freeways of L.A.”, Los Angeles Times, June 11, 2010
Off-Ramp, “Puppets on the 405: Joel Kyack’s Superclogger”, KPCC, NPR Southern California
Myers, Holly, “Drive-By Spectacles”, Los Angeles Times, June 6, 2010
Berardini, Andrew, “The Infinitude of the Private Man”, Mousse Magazine, Issue 23, March 2010
Berardini, Andrew, “The Masculine Mystique”, Angeleno, April 2010
Cotter, Holland, “Art in Review; 'I Never Meant to Hurt You'”, New York Times, May 5, 2006
Stillman, Nick, "Rowdy Remix", Artforum.com Online Picks, June 10, 2004