Biography
Born in San Diego County and raised in the dusty, rocky hills of its most Southeastern edge, Sean Duffy was raised by Labrador retrievers and teenage girls.. He spent his days listening to overlapping radio stations and repairing his second-hand dirt bikes while trying to be new wave. In 1988 he graduated from UC San Diego with BAs in Visual Art and Political Science, and in 1992 received an MFA from UC Irvine. After many years of living and working in a Southern California suburb, reminiscent of the setting of an early Spielberg movie, he currently lives in spooky forrest in Massachusetts with his adoring wife, two wonderful boys and Labrador retriever.
Selected Solo Exhibitions and Projects
2020 Alone Now, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
2014 Paintings, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
2012 Car 23, NORRA Mexican 1000, Mexicali to San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico
2011 Garage Sale, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
2010 Searcher, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna, CA (essay)
2009 Can’t Stop It, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
2008 Hilites, Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL (essay)
2007 Group Show part 3, Howard House, Seattle, WA
Group Show part 2, Susanne Vielmetter Berlin Projects
The Grove, Luckman Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, travelled to Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe and Arcadia University Art Gallery, Glenside, PA
2006 Group Show, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
2005 Casual Friday, 101 California Street Lobby, San Francisco, CA
2004 Temporary Worker, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
2003 Bakersfield Smoker, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
Sorry Entertainer, Howard House, Seattle, WA
Greatest Hits; Volume 2, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
2001 cream, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
mod2, Howard House, Seattle, WA
2000 Game Over, George’s, Los Angeles, CA
Endless Sunday, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Miramar Artist Project Space
mod, Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA
1999 first wave, Quotidian Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998 teach me to love, Deep River, Los Angeles, CA
1995 Go Captain Baby Vol. 2, LACE, Los Angeles, CA
1994 Go Captain Baby Vol. 1, Lemoyne Kennels, Los Angeles, CA
1992 Lump-o-coal, LACE Bookstore, Los Angeles, CA
Enough Rope, UCI Fine Arts Gallery, Irvine, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 MOM, Vesta, Silverlake, CA
2021 20 years, Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, cA
2019 Friends & Family, Peter Mendenhall Gallery, Pasadena, CA
Inaugural Exhibition, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects
Faster, Faster!, Wignal Museum, Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
2018 Conceptual Craft II, DENK Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Tomorrowland, CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
grâce du dessin, Art Mûr, Montréal, Québec, Canada
2017 Pivotal: Highlights from the Collection, Orange County Museum of Art,
2016 The Gildless Age, The Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
2015 GPS, Perez Art Museum, Miami, FL
Off Road Expo, High Desert Test Sites and Machine Projects, El Mirage OHV Park, CA
2014 Ex nihilo, ESXLA, Los Angeles, CA
Transmogrifications of the Ordinary, Angles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Reverb, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
2013 Reverberations, Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA
Essential: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Sweeney Art Gallery, UCR, Riverside, CA
2012 HOLODECK, Post, Los Angeles, CA
Pairings; Chris Burden and Sean Duffy, The Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
First Contact, Field Projects, New York, NY
2011 Tel-art-phone, Beacon Arts Building, Inglewood, CA
The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC, curated by TrevorSchoonmaker and travelling to: ICA Boston, Boston, MA (April 15 - September 5, 2011); Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL (March 18 – June 10, 2012); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA (July 14 – October 7, 2012) (catalogue)
Goldmine; Contemporary Works from the Collections of Sirje and Michael Gold, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, CA (catalogue)
Resounding, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA (part of Prospect1.5)
2010 ReCycle, UC Riverside Sweeney Art Gallery, Riverside, CA
New Art for a New Century: Recent Acquisitions 2000-2009, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
COLA, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Art Park, Los Angeles, CA (catalogue)
Rewind Remix Replay; Design, Music & Everyday Experience, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ
2009 Because I say so..., Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, Florida
2008 Noise, SiteLA, Los Angeles, CA
Like Lifelike:Painting in the Third Dimension, Sweeney Art Gallery, UC Riverside, Riverside, CA (catalogue)
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, World Class Boxing, Miami, FL (essay)
GIMME; From Inspiration to Appropriation, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA
Something from Nothing, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
2007 Soundwaves: The Art of Sampling, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Sculptor’s Drawings: Ideas, Studies, Sketches, Proposals, and More”, Angles Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Time Machine, High Energy Constructs, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Greetings from the American Dream, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
Back Room, Kinkead Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2005 Drive Time, Wignal Museum, Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Lost in Music, JCCC Gallery, Overland Park, KS
2004 The Realm of the Senses, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY
California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA (catalogue)
"kurzdavordanach", Photographische Sammlung / SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne, Germany
New, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2003 Black Belt, Studio Museum inHarlem, New York, NY – travelled to Santa Monica Museum of Art, CA (catalogue)
Hot Summer in the City, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, NY
Remix/Experimenter, Museum of Modern Art, San Salvador, El Salvador
2002 Artforum Berlin, with Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Berlin, Germany
21 Paintings from LA, Robert V. Fullton Art Museum, Cal State San Bernadino, San Bernadino, CA
2001 LIST 01, with Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Basel, Switzerland
Art Frankfurt, with Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Frankfurt, Germany
Demolition Derby, Artis, Den Bosch, The Netherlands
Painting Beyond Painting, Cristinerose Gallery, New York, NY
2000 Bestiary, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA (catalogue)
Pleasure Seekers, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO
1999 Game Show, Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA
What On Earth, Nevada Institute for Contemporary Arts, Las Vegas, NV
Happy Trails, College of Creative Studies, UC Santa Barbara, Sant Barbara, CA
Real Deal, Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Orange, CA
1995 Neotoma, Otis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1994 Playfield, Rio Hondo College Art Gallery, Whittier, CA
Public Collections
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Luckman Art Gallery, CSULA, Los Angeles, CA
Miami Art Museum
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, UT
Orange County Museum of Art
Awards/Grants/Fellowships
2011 United States Artist Project, Car 23 (funded),
2010 California Community Foundation Fellow for Visual Artists, Los Angeles, CA
City of Los Angeles (COLA) Fellowship in Visual Arts, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL
2006 Durfee Foundation, ARC (Artists’ Resource for Completion) Grant, Santa Monica, CA
Selected Catalogue Essays
Doug Harvey, Veronica Fernandez, “Sean Duffy”, Front 40 Press (2011)
Doug Harvey, COLA 2010, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (2010)
Brad Spence, “Like Lifelike”, UCR Sweeny Art Gallery (2008)
Desire Cronk, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”(interview with Sean Duffy), World Class Boxing (pamplet), (2008)
Peter Boswell, “Sean Duffy - Hilites”, Miami Art Museum (2008)
Peter Frank, “Greetings from the American Dream”, Riverside Art Museum (2007)
Doug Harvey, “Lost in Music”, Johnson County Community College Gallery of Art (2005)
Elizabeth Armstrong and Jane Simon, 2004 California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art (2004)
Christine Y. Kim, “Black Belt”, The Studio Museum in Harlem (2003)
James Gobel and Christopher Miles, “21 Paintings from LA” ,Robert V Fullerton Art Museum (2002)
Claudine Ise/ and Mary-Kay Lombino, “Bestiary”, Armory Center for the Arts (2000)
Selected Articles & Reviews
Christopher Knight, “The Gildless Age ; A different tale of the 1 percent at the Torrance Art Museum”, Los Angeles Times (September 23, 2016)
Enholm, Molly, "2014 Top Ten List Los Angeles," art ltd (January 2015)
Wood, Eve, "Review: Sean Duffy at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects," Artillery, (September October 2014)
Knight, Christopher, "Taking a Shot at a New Method," Los Angeles Times (July 16
2013)
Mahbubani, Rhea, "Sculpture with a Vibe," Los Angeles Times (October 2, 2013)
Mary Duffy, “Cenizas a Polvo”, Toyota Trails (December 2012)
Marty Fiolka, “La Carrera Mas Feliz del Mundo”, Dirt Sports (June 2012)
Constance Mallinson, “Inside the Artists Studio – Sean Duffy”, timesquotidian.com (March 5, 2012)
Liz Armstrong, “Garage for Sale”, Vice.com (November 2011)
H Blonde, “I Never Got to Race with my Dad, but My Sisters Did – Sean Duffy”, Intersections (Issue 20, 2011)
Geoff Edgers, “Groove is in the Art”, Boston Globe (April 15, 2011)
Jonathan Donaldson, “ICA’s ‘Record’ gets into groove”, Boston Herald (April 15,2011)
Stephen Maine, “Sean Duffy”, Art in America (March, 2010)
Ed Schad, “Sean Duffy, Can’ Stop It”, Art Review (March 2010)
Doug Harvey, “Signs of Intelligent Life”, LA Weekly (December 2, 2009)
Christopher Knight, “Sean Duffy at Susanne Vielmetter”, Los Angeles Times ( November27, 2009)
Marian Liu, “Borrowing from pop culture to create art”, The Seattle Times (September, 5, 2008)
Laura Schlessner, “Vinyl is Back”, xymara.com (September, 2007)
Scott Andrews, “Sean Duffy: The Grove Asu Art Museum”, Java Magazine (July/August, 2007)
Regina Hackett, “The Valuable and Obscure on Top” Seattlepi.com (July 22, 2007)
Rene Gutel, “Step into the Grove”, KJZZ 91.5 NPR Phoenix (July 19, 2007)
Kristy Tassoni, “what’s that noise?”, 944 Phoenix (July 2007)
Christopher Miles, “Sean Duffy: The Grove”, Flaunt (No. 84)
Tommy Freeman, “Sean Duffy at the Luckman Gallery”, Artweek (April 2007)
Jody Zellen, “Sean Duffy; Luckman Gallery”, Artillery (March 2007)
Shana Ting Lipton, “One good turntable deserves another”, Los Angeles Times (Febuary 1, 2007)
Peter Frank, “Sean Duffy”, ARTnews (October 2006)
Chris Balaschak, “Sean Duffy; Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, USA”, Frieze (September, 2006)
Christopher Knight, “One artist enough for the ‘group’”, Los Angeles Times (April 21, 2006)
Michael Duncan, “Sean Duffy at Suzanne Vielmetter LA Projects”, Art in America (September 2005)
Neha Choksi, “An Ode to the Universal Worker”, X-TRA Contemporary Art Quarterly (Volume 7, Number 4)
Jan Tumlir, “California Biennial”, Artforum (Febuary 2005)
Johanna Di Blasi, “Dem Bild unter den Rock geschaut”, Koelner Stadtanzeiger (October 23, 2004)
Christopher Bollen, “Sculpture Culture – Sean Duffy”, VMAN (Issue #3, Fall/Winter)
Mat Gleason, “Sean Duffy: Greatest Hits Volume II” Modern Painters (Summer 2003)
Lilian Martinez, “Scratch Visual” El Dario de Hoy (Febuary 6, 2003)
Gerhard Charles Rump, “Kunst ab Fuenf Euro: Art Forum Berlin” Die Welt (September 26, 2002)
“Gucken and Kaufen” Berliner Morgenpost (September 26, 2002)
Peter Lunenfield, “Anthropomorphometrics” artext (Spring 2002)
Charles LeBelle, “Sean Duffy” Biujutsu Techo Magazine (January 2002)
Doug Harvey, “Synthetics” LA Weekly (November 16, 2001)
Christopher Knight, “Art History and Pop Culture:Just a Couple of His Targets” Los Angeles Times (November 2, 2001)
Frances DeVuono, “Sean Duffy at Howard House” Artweek (May 2001)
Katie Kurtz, “It’s a ‘mod’ world of art and furniture” Seattle Times (March 23, 2001)
Doug Harvey, “Non-Museum Top 10 - 1998 Year in Review” LA Weekly (January 8, 1999)
Doug Harvey, “Sean Duffy at Deep River” Art Issues (Summer 1998)
Radio/Television
Lee Austin, “Access Utah – Interview with Sean Duffy”, Utah Public Radio (Febuary 9, 2009)
Rene Gutel, “Step into the Grove”, KJZZ 91.5 NPR Phoenix (July 19, 2007)