Ken Tisa

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Ken Tisa
Born1945 (age 78–79)[1]
Philadelphia, PA[1]
EducationYale School of Art and Architecture (MFA)[1]
Alma materPratt Institute (BFA)[1]
Known forTextile art, assemblage, painting

Ken Tisa is an American artist.

Early life and education[edit]

Ken Tisa was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1945. After receiving his BFA from Pratt Institute in 1968, he went on to receive his MFA from Yale School of Art and Architecture in 1971.[1]

Career[edit]

Tisa is well known for his beaded and embroidered wall-mounted tapestries. His textile works bear some resemblance to drapo Vodou.[2] Most frequently he creates portraits of a single subject, depicted from the chest up, utilizing glass beads or sequins to compose a form out of contrasting fields of color.[3][4]

Tisa has also displayed work that is an archive of objects, displayed alongside his work. His 2017 exhibition, Objects/Time/Offerings, at Gordon Robichaux Gallery led to Svetlana Kitto's oral history of Sara Penn's Knobkerry in large part due to Tisa's eclectic display of objects and Penn's influence on his work.[5] The exhibition included an installation of puppets, dolls, masks, ephemera, and collectibles from his personal collection.[6]

Public collections[edit]

Ken Tisa's work is included in the public collections of the La Salle University Art Museum.[7]

A series of artist's books that was made in collaboration with Kenward Elmslie and contains unique drawings by Ken Tisa is included in the National Gallery of Australia.[8]

Notable exhibitions[edit]

Ken Tisa was included in the Whitney Biennial 1975: Contemporary American Art.[9]

Tisa was included in the Museum of Modern Art's 1981 exhibition New York/New Wave.[10] In 1989, his work was included in Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing curated by Nan Goldin at Artists Space. The exhibition was organized in response to the ongoing AIDS epidemic and included work by Vittorio Scarpati, Greer Lankton, and others.[11] The exhibition became the subject of public debate when John E. Frohnmayer, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts revoked the $10,000 grant awarded to the nonprofit gallery, a decision Frohmayer claimed was due to the overtly political nature of David Wojnarowicz's catalogue essay.[12]

Published in 2021, Tisa was interviewed and discussed prominently in Svetlana Kitto's oral history of Sara Penn's Knobkerry, accompanying an exhibition at SculptureCenter focusing on Penn's legacy and her multipurpose business. Kitto began her oral history after researching a catalogue for Tisa's 2017 exhibition at Gordon Robichaux Gallery, Objects/Time/Offerings. During her research Kitto frequently came across Penn's name and mentions of Knobkerry.[13]

In 2013, Tisa's work was part of a group show at Kate Werble Gallery commemorating Village Voice writer and lesbian separatist, Jill Johnston–the exhibition was titled in the hopes of not being considered.[4]

Reception[edit]

Tisa's work has received critical attention and has been reviewed in Artforum magazine[6] and the New York Times.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e "KEN TISA". katewerblegallery.com. Retrieved 11 Jul 2023.
  2. ^ Korman, Nina (1 July 1999). "Night & Day". miaminewtimes.com. Retrieved 12 Jul 2023.
  3. ^ Russeth, Andrew (7 December 2017). "34 Artworks I Would Like to Acquire from NADA Miami 2017". artnews.com. Retrieved 12 Jul 2023.
  4. ^ a b Small, Zachary (3 August 2013). "A Queer Homage to a 1970s Lesbian Separatist". hyperallergic.com. Retrieved 12 Jul 2023.
  5. ^ a b Cotter, Holland (6 April 2017). "What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 Jul 2023.
  6. ^ a b Krasinski, Jennifer (June 2023). "Ken Tisa". artforum.com. Retrieved 12 Jul 2023.
  7. ^ "Browse the Collection". lasalle.edu. Retrieved 14 Jul 2023.
  8. ^ "Whitney Biennial 1975: Contemporary American Art". whitney.org. Retrieved 14 Jul 2023.
  9. ^ "New York/New Wave". moma.org. Retrieved 11 Jul 2023.
  10. ^ Muchnic, Suzanne (16 November 1989). "NEA and the Arts: The Turmoil Continues : ART REVIEW : 'Witnesses' Show Presents AIDS as a Complex Issue". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 11 Jul 2023.
  11. ^ Glueck, Grace (19 November 1989). "Border Skirmish: Art and Politics". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 Jul 2023.
  12. ^ Trebay, Guy (October 21, 2021). "An East Village Boutique Where the Avant-Garde Gathered". The New York Times. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
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