Siri Kaur is an artist/photographer who lives and works in Los Angeles, where she also serves as associate professor at Otis College of Art and Design. She received an MFA in photography from California Institute of the Arts in 2007, an MA in Italian studies in 2001 from Smith College/Universita’ di Firenze, Florence, Italy, and BA in comparative literature from Smith College in 1998. Kaur was the recipient of the Portland Museum of Art Biennial Purchase Prize in 2011. She regularly exhibits and has had solo shows at Blythe Projects and USC's 3001 galleries in Los Angeles, and group shows at the Torrance Museum of Art, California Institute of Technology, and UCLA’s Wight Biennial. Her work has been reviewed in Artforum, art ltd., The L.A. Times, and The Washington Post, and is housed in the permanent collections of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the University of Maine.
Solo exhibitions SHE TELLS ALL, Eric Buterbaugh Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2019 Upper Layers, El Clasificado, Los Angeles, CA and Venice, Italy, 2019 Crow’s Field, Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT, 2018 Urban Lights: 10th Anniversary Portraits, Art Catalogs LACMA, Los Angeles CountyMuseum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2018 Crow’s Field, Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA,2017. This Kind of Face, Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2015. This Kind of Face, 99¢ Plus, New York, NY Rob and Heather and Chris and Otto and Koral…, Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT Know Me for the First Time, Blythe Projects, Los Angeles, CA (catalog), 2013. Field Trip, 3001 Gallery, Roski School of Art, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 2013. More Than or Equal to Half of the Whole (with Kate Johnson), Garboushian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA, 2013. I too was in Arcadia, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA, 2008 Cruiserweight, D300 Gallery, California Institute of The Arts, Valencia, CA, 2007. The Collectors, L-Shape Gallery, California Institute of The Arts, Valencia, CA, 2006.
Selected group exhibitions 2022 Golden Hour: California Photography from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California State University, Northridge, Art Gallery, Northridge, CA, curated by Eve Schillo 2021 Garden, Ladies' Room, Los Angeles, CA Golden Hour: California Photography from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Vincent Price Art Museum, East Los Angeles College, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Eve Schillo Golden Hour: California Photography from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA, curated by Eve Schillo Golden Hour: California Photography from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Lancaster Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA, curated by Eve Schillo Every Woman Biennial, Superchief Gallery, New York, NY 2020 Men of Steel, Women of Wonder, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA 2019 Men of Steel, Women of Wonder, San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX A Secret, River Gallery, Los Angeles, CA and Berlin, Germany Every Woman Biennial, Bendix Building, Los Angeles Men of Steel, Women of Wonder, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR Keeping up with the Gagosians, El Clasificado, Los Angeles, CA 2018 Super Radiance, The Nook Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Anti-Nostalgia, The Carrack Modern, Durham, NC Covers, The Bloke, Pasadena, CA (curated by Justin Cole) 2017 Back to School, Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, CA Greetings From, The Art Barge, Amagansett, NY 2016 INFOCUS: Second Triennial of Self-Published Photobooks, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ Postage Required, Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT The Last Four Years, Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA To Whom it May Concern, 99¢ Plus, New York, NY 2015 Directors’ Cut: Selections from Maine Art Museums, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME Neo-Pre-Post-Contra-Para-Anti-Hyper-Pro-Trans-Ultra-Photography, Spectre Arts, Durham, NC 2014 INFOCUS: Self-Published Photobooks, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ Of the Afternoon, Darnley Gallery, London, UK Summer Open, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY 99¢ Plus!, 99¢ Plus, New York, NY 24/7 (still life), Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA A Forest: Cathy Ackers, Annie Buckley, Anita Bunn, Siri Kaur, 2A Gallery, Los Angeles, CA From Her, El Pueblo Historical Monument, Los Angeles, CA 2013 Influenced by the Sun, Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Staking Claim: The California Triennial of Photography, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA Falling From Great Heights: Siri Kaur, John Knuth, Heather Rasmussen, Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Out of Thin Air, LAX, Los Angeles, CA 2012 Siri Kaur, Soo Kim, and Christina Ondrus, Woodbury University Gallery, Hollywood, CA 2011 Pissed Elegance, Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Cosmic Prom, Vortex Immersion Dome, Los Angeles, CA Chain Letter, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Too True, POST, Los Angeles, CA (catalog) Nuove Opere, U-Skill Gallery, Rome, Italy The Series, The Standard Hotel, Los Angeles, CA Fuck Pretty, Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA Redefining Hollywood, The Factory at Fabrik Magazine, Los Angeles, CA Play Time, See Line Gallery at the Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA Sing Me to Sleep, Angles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Curious Silence, Brand Library Gallery, Glendale, CA (catalog) 2011 Biennial, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME (catalog) 2010 (Por)trait Revealed, RayKo Photo Center, San Francisco, CA See-Thru, Gallery 825 and The Icon, Los Angeles, CA (catalog) Altimetry, curated by Mark Steven Greenfield, LAX and Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Contemporary Art RUHR Projects, Ruhr, Germany Outside the Project, curated by Jess Minckley, RAID Projects and Light & Wire Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (catalog) Curious Silence, curated by Renee Martin & Heather Rasmussen, SOIL Gallery, Seattle, WA Perspective, curated by Paula Tognarelli, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO More with Less, curated by Kristina Newhouse & Robert Brander Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA 2008 Truth or Dare, curated by Craig Krull, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA In the Bedroom, curated by Marty Weiss, Meter Gallery, New York, NY Members Only, curated by Keith Carter, Dishman Art Museum, Beaumont, TX Everyone’s a Curator, Telic Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Conventions and Attitudes, curated by Karen Atkinson, Trade & Row, Los Angeles, CA Projection, curated by Maria Jenson, Salon Oblique, Santa Monica, CA 2007 All In, curated by Lorraine Molina, Torrance Museum of Art, Torrance, CA My Buddy, UCLA Wight Biennial, curated by Russell Ferguson, UCLA Wight Gallery, Los Angeles, CA You are Beautiful, Hayworth Gallery, Los Angeles, CA For Ever, curated by Eungie Joo, 915 Mateo, Los Angeles, CA Making Meaning, curated by Howard Fox, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA 2006 Mid-Residency Show, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA Open Show, curated by Ann Philbin, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA I Would Be You, Newspace Gallery, Portland, Oregon Photography Now, curated by Natasha Lunn, 401 Projects & Center for Photography at Woodstock, New York, NY & Woodstock, NY 2006 NOW, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY 2005 Nothing to See Here, curated by Walead Beshty, Art 2102, Los Angeles, CA New Photography, Riverside Metropolitan Art Museum, Riverside, CA Beauty, Women in Photography International, New York, NY In Focus: Photography Techniques and Trends, Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA Photography Now, Newspace Center for Photography, Portland, OR The Image is the Message, DreamBox Photo Gallery, Chicago, IL National Women’s Show, Washington Gallery of Photography, Bethesda, MD 2004 Virtual*Visual, Women in Photography International, New York, NY/ Los Angeles, CA
Collections Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Los Angeles County Museum of Art Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C. Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME University of Maine Art Museum, Orono, ME Washington Gallery of Photography, Washington, D.C. Collection of Lawrence Gagosian Collection of Oprah Winfrey
Awards and grants Charcoal Publishing Prize, 2020 COLA Grant Artist Portraits, 12 portraits for COLA grants catalog, 2012 Center for Cultural Innovation/ Durfee Grant, 2011 Portland Museum of Art Biennial Purchase Prize, 2006 California Institute of the Arts Merit Scholarship, 2006 Critical Mass Publishing Prize Finalist, 2005
Residencies The Arctic Circle, Svalbard, Greenland, 2023 Bonfire, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2022 Bakery Photographic Collective, Westbrook, ME, 2009
Bibliography
Delaney Hoffman, “SHE TELLS ALL: Practice and Portraiture”, photoeye.com, Feb. 3, 2022 Johanna Drucker, “Illuminating Images: Liquid Light and Golden Hour and the Affective Force of Non-Didactic Art”, Riot Material, Jan. 7, 2022 Jessica Hundley and Pam Grossman, “Divination: Seeing Within,” in The Library of Esoterica: Witchcraft, Jessica Hundley and Pam Grossman, ed., (Taschen, 2021): 424-425 Harriet- Lloyd-Smith, “The Every Woman Biennial is a transatlantic triumph,” Wallpaper Magazine, June 14, 2021 Aline Smithson, “Siri Kaur: SHE TELLS ALL,” Lenscratch, Mar. 19, 2020 Nate Rynaski, “Siri Kaur, SHE TELLS ALL,” Flaunt Magazine, Oct. 29, 2019 Shana Nys Dambrot, “Meet an Artist Monday: Siri Kaur,” LA Weekly, Oct 28, 2019 “Art & Life with Siri Kaur”, Voyage LA Magazine, January 2, 2019 Serena McKay, “Crystal Bridges exhibit aims to lasso truth of heroes’ roots,” Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Little Rock, AR, Feb. 9, 2019 Peter Saenger, “Supermen and Wonder Women: Artists reimagine comic-book heroes with admiration and irreverence”, The Wall Street Journal, New York, NY, January 19-20, 2019. C14 Caleb Talley, “Men of Steel, Women of Wonder,” About You Magazine, Jan. 24, 2019 Rebecca Morse, “Institutionally Antiestablishment,” in 27 L.A. Photographers, Rebecca Morse, ed., (Los Angeles County Museum of Art Press, 2018): 6-12, 30-31 Gwynedd Stuart, “LACMA Celebrates 10 Years of Urban Light with a Beautiful Photo Series,” Los Angeles Magazine, February 9, 2018 Taylor Curry, “Siri Kaur,” Ain’t Bad Magazine, January 28, 2018 Genie Davis, “Siri Kaur and Rebecca Bird at Kopeikin Gallery,” Art and Cake, April 16, 2017 Josh Hagler, “Other Faiths, Part 1 + 2” Venison Quarterly, Spring 2017 Holly Hughes, “Memories of Crow’s Field,” Photo District News, March 13, 2017 Aline Smithson, “Siri Kaur: Crow’s Field, “Lenscratch, March 11, 2017 Kristen Osborne-Bartucca, “Siri Kaur,” Artillery Magazine, Jan/ Feb 2015, p. 70 Shana Nys Dambrot, “Top Ten Critic’s Picks of 2014,” art ltd., Jan/ Feb 2015, p. 51 Catherine Opie, “Vanity: a special section curated by Catherine Opie,” Musee Magazine, Issue 11, April 2015, p. 290-291 Matthew Stromberg, “Photo LA,” Hyperallergic, Jan. 19, 2015 Ken Weingart, “Interview with Photographer Siri Kaur,” petapixel.com, February 19, 2015 Christine Santa Ana and Phil Anderson, Of the Afternoon, Issue 6 (September 2014): 30 Christina Procter, “Zealous Eyes,” Trend art +design +architecture Magazine, Issue 1, June 2014, p. 18 Thea Traff, “Seeing Double,” The New Yorker, November 26, 2014 Bill Bush, “Falling From Great Heights,” Huffington Post, March 26, 2013 Paul Caridad, “Film Photography of Galaxies through a Telescope,” Visual News, May 14, 2013 Amanda Gorence, “Ethereal Photos of Distant Galaxies,” Feature Shoot, May 14, 2013 Nicholas Grider, “Crow’s Field,” Public Display Magazine, March 2013 Catlin Moore, “Emergent Presence: Siri Kaur” in Eight LA Artists You Should Know, Fabrik Magazine, Issue 20, April 2013. 44-45 A. Moret, “Siri Kaur,” Installation Magazine, “California” Issue (July 2013): 8 Holly Myers, “Photographs that Say ‘yes/and’,” The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, April 26, 2013. D16 Bianca Rocco, “Siri Kaur Captures the Galaxies: Telescope Photography,” Quixote, August 14, 2013