Libby Black

Libby Black (born in 1976, Toledo, Ohio) is an American contemporary artist working primarily in drawing, painting, and sculpture. Black lives and works in Berkeley, California.

Education

Black holds a B.F.A. in Painting from Cleveland Institute of Art, (1999) and an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from the California College of the Arts (2001).

Work and Themes

Through painting, drawing and sculptural installation, Blacks work explores the course of her personal history and broader cultural contexts, examining the intersection of feminism, LGBTQ+ identity, politics, consumerism, notions of value, and desire.

Black's sculptural representations are life sized re-creations of objects which she makes from paper, hot glue, and acrylic paint. In some exhibitions she arranges her sculptures of domestic objects, books, magazines, handbags, and shoes into still life arrangements, creating installations blending the real and the imaginary. Her two-dimensional paintings and drawings are based on imagery gathered from various sources such as fashion magazines, newspapers, and books.

Exhibitions

Solo

• 2005 “Caught Up In The Moment,” Heather Marx Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
• 2008 “In Between Things,” University of Georgia, Broad Street Gallery, Athens, GA.
• 2009 “Timeless,” Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
• 2010 “Be Here Now,” Marx & Zavattero, San Francisco, CA.
• 2010 “If Nothing Else Matters,” PEEL, Houston, TX.
• 2010 “Work Out,” San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA.

Group

• 2004: “2004 California Biennial,” Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA.
• 2005: “The Superfly Effect,” Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ.
• 2007: “Artist of Invention: A Century of CCA,” Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA.
• 2015: “Misappropriations: New Acquisitions,” Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA.
• 2017: “Sanctuary City: With Liberty and Justice for Some,” San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA.
• 2017: “With Liberty and Justice for Some,” Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA.
• 2017: “Detritus,” San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA.
• 2017: “Pulped Fictions,” The Torrance Museum, Torrance, CA.
• 2018: “California Love,” Galerie Droste, Wuppertal, Germany.
• 2018: “Vanity of Earthly Achievements,” Orth Contemporary, Tulsa, OK.
• 2018: “Superset,” Fused, San Francisco CA.
• 2018: “Art Is Where The Heart Is,” Galerie LJ, Paris, France.
• 2024: "Turning the Page," Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco, CA.

Publications

Publications with contributions by Black

• 2004 California Biennial. New Port Beach: Orange County Museum of Art, 2005.
• Bay Area Now 4. San Francisco: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 2006, pages 16–17.
• Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, by Dana Thomas. London: penguin press, 2007, page 170.
• Artist of Invention: A Century of CCA, San Francisco: California College of the Arts, 2007.
• New Image Sculpture, by Eleanor Heartney, and Rene Paul Barilleaux. San Antonio: McNay Art Museum, 2011, pages 32–39.
• Beautiful Decay, Book 9: The Seven Deadly Sins, by Amir H Fallah. Los Angeles: Beautiful/Decay, 2012.
• One Painting a Day,by Timothy Callaghan. Beverly: Quarry Books, 2013.
• Boxed: A Visual History and the Art of Boxing, by Franklin Sirmans. New York: Damiani/Paul Kasmin Gallery, 2014, pages 64–65.
• Quiet Please: The Mental Game of Art and Tennis, by Ann Trinca. Berkeley: Berkeley Art Center, 2016, pages 1–20.
• Much Love and Respect. San Francisco: Gallery 16, 2019.
• Find Your Artistic Voice, by Lisa Congdon. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2019, pages 86–91

Collections

Black's work is held in the following public and private collections:

• Cantor Arts Center, Stanford, CA.
• Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX.
• Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA.
• Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA.
• Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco, CA.
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA.
• The West Collection, Philadelphia, PA.

Awards

• 2020 Marcus Early Career Research Award

References