Greg Stimac

Greg Stimac (born 1976) is an American artist who lives and works in California. His work is held in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Photography and Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Education and background
Greg Stimac was born a first-generation Croatian-American in Euclid, Ohio. His interest in photography matured in Linda, California, while attending Yuba Community College (1997–2002) where he practiced traditional darkroom processes.

In 2002, his work was included in the Crocker-Kingsley: California's Biennial at the Crocker Art Museum, (Sacramento, California) juried by artist Gladys Nilsson.

He relocated to Chicago to finish his undergraduate education at Columbia College Chicago (2003–2005) and found employment at both the Museum of Contemporary Photography and the Croatian Ethnic Institute. From 2011 to 2013 Stimac attended graduate school at Stanford University.

Artistic practice


Stimac first gained attention for his serial photographic series titled "Recoil" (2005), a project made in collaboration with gun enthusiasts at unregulated shooting ranges in California and Missouri. Other subjects from this period include; lawn mowing, unattended campfires, urine-filled bottles at the roadside, and cars peeling out.

In 2009 Stimac collected ephemera on plexiglass plates attached to the grill of his car between destinations, then scanned them at road-side with a flatbed scanner. This work became a series loosely referred as "Driving Photographs" and served as a departure from his traditional photographic practice. Each individual image is titled with the point and destination.

In recent work, Stimac continues to investigate myth and reality of American identity through its landscape, cultural traditions, folk heroes, and histories, with subject matter including the Golden Spike, Old Faithful, the Flag of the United States, and America's Independence Day (the 4th of July).

Solo exhibitions

 * 2007 Self-Titled, Museum of Contemporary Art, 12 X 12, Chicago, Illinois, 2007

Group exhibitions

 * 2002 Crocker Kingsley Biennial Art Exhibition (juried by Gladys Nilsson), Crocker Art Museum Sacramento, California
 * 2004 Ultimatum, The Zoo, Chicago, Illinois
 * 2005 Chicago Art Open, Chicago, Illinois
 * 2006 In Sight, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois
 * 2007 Photocentric, MNCP, Minneapolis, Minnesota
 * 2008 This Land is Your Land, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois
 * 2008 Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
 * 2008 Lawn Nation: art and science of the American lawn, Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago, Illinois
 * 2008 Beyond the Backyard, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinoid
 * 2008 Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes, Heinz Architectural Center, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
 * 2008 USA Today, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
 * 2010 Faraway Nearby, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Kansas
 * 2010 FAMILIAR: Portraits of Proximity, Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art
 * 2011 Is This Thing On? / Screen Test, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
 * 2012 Self-Help Book Club, Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford, California
 * 2013 The 7 Borders, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, Kentucky

Collections

 * Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
 * Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois