BIO
Nancy Popp
(b. 1971, Los Angeles, California)
Lives and works Los Angeles, California
Nancy Popp is a Los Angeles-based artist who creates performances, videos, drawings and photographs. Her work draws upon the rich traditions of durational, corporeal performance and political intervention to explore relations between body as site, the context of site that envelopes the body, and the constant fluctuations that connect the two. She frequently engages architectural and public space, wrestling with political and social boundaries of geography and identity through risky, playful and often confrontative interventions.
Popp’s interest lies in creating ruptures between sites of body and place that call forth the physical psychological and social limits of both, critiquing interior and exterior architectural spaces as nested systems of power and order and puncturing and perforating their rigid boundaries to reveal and inhabit new spaces. Through these actions and installations she upends gendered spatial codes and power hierarchies via the insertion of a body and its unique experience, assertion of presence, interactivity and playful response to site.
Popp’s projects have been exhibited at the Istanbul Biennial (Parallel Projects), the Manifesta 9 Biennial, the 2014 Dallas Biennial, the Getty Center, the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, Rowan University, SUNY University in New York, as well as galleries in Los Angeles, Düsseldorf, Belgrade, and Tijuana. She is a recipient of a 2011 California Community Foundation Visual Arts Fellowship and a Lucas Artist Fellowship from Montalvo Arts Center. She holds degrees from Art Center College of Design and San Francisco Art Institute.
Education
| 2007 | MFA, Photography/New Genres, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California |
| 1997 | BFA, Fine Art, Photography, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California |
| 1992 | Fine Arts, California State University, Northridge, California |
Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
| 2017 | Mason Line Hammocks, Side Street Projects, Pasadena, California |
| 2016 | Zona Maco, Klowden Mann, Mexico City, Mexico |
| 2014 | Nancy Popp, Klowden Mann, Culver City, California Inside/Outside, Lynden Sculpture Gardens, Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| 2013 | Strung Broad, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, California |
| 2011 | A Little Louder: Performance in Conversation, Kristi Engle Gallery, Los Angeles, California |
| 2010 | Nancy Popp/Moment Trigger, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California |
| 2009 | Untitled (Street Performances), the contemporary, Atlanta, Georgia |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| 2018 | Here, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California If Only it Were That Easy, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA Performance, 18th Street Arts Center, Los Angeles, California |
| 2017 | 2017 California-Pacific Triennial: Building As Ever, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California |
| 2016 | Sahara Nights, Largo das Artes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| 2015 | Lawn Ornaments, Outside Gallery, Los Angeles, California New Performances, Christine Wang Studios, Los Angeles, California Feed the Weed, NewTown 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Pasadena, California Second Sight: New Representations in Photography, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, California |
| 2014 | Dallas Biennal (DB14), Dallas, Texas Thaumatrope: A Visual Dialogue, First Street Gallery, Claremont, California Project LALO, studio 1:1, London, UK, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, California I+We (in collaboration with Robby Herbst), Human Resources, Los Angeles, California |
| 2013 | Ground Truths, Luckman Gallery, CSU Los Angeles, California Occupy the Museum, Wignall Museum, Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga, California Narrative Space, Venice Arts Center, Los Angeles, California Confusion is Sex #3, Sepulveda Dam Recreation Center, Los Angeles, California Come In, We’re Open, Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles, California Mexicali Biennial 3, Vincent Price Art Museum, Los Angeles, California |
| 2012 | Nothing Comes Out of the Ground Straight, curated by Rebecca Niederlander, Andi Campognone Projects, Pomona, California Spirit Resurrection Performance Night, LA Goes Live, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles California Hotel de Immigrantes, curated by Tomesz Wendland, Poznan Biennial, Poland, Manifesta 9, Belgium Spirit Resurrection, Pacific Standard Time Performance Art Festival, Black Box, curated by Liz Glynn, Los Angeles, California |
| 2011 | Trespass Parade, curated by Emi Fontana, West of Rome Projects, Los Angeles California Parallel Projects, Untitled (12th Istanbul Biennial), sponsored by Outpost for Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California and PASAJist, Istanbul Irrational Exhibits 8, curated by Deborah Oliver, Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, California Narratives of the Perverse II, curated Tom Jancar and Maya Luhan, Jancar Gallery, Los Angeles, California Acting Out, curated by Stuart Horodner, Rowan University Art Gallery, Glassbro, New Jersey TBA: A Group Video Exhibition in Seven Parts, Kristi Engle Gallery, Los Angeles, California |
| 2010 | Crisscrossing, curated by John O’Brien, Kellogg Art Gallery, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California Obsession Obsessive Obsessed, Summercamp Project, Los Angeles, California PERFORM! NOW! 2nd Annual Performance Festival, Chinatown, Los Angeles, California You Don’t Bring Me Flowers: an Evening of Re-Performances, curated by Carol Cheh, PØST, Los Angeles, California Security, curated by Serena Wellen and Stephanie Ellis, Root Division, San Francisco, California Performing Public Space, curated by Janet Owens-Driggs and Matt Driggs, Casa Del Tunel, Tijuana, Mexico |
| 2009 | Three Women, Artist Curated Projects, Los Angeles, California Practicing Moving, Fritz Haeg’s Sundown Schoolhouse, Eagle Rock Center for the Arts, Los Angeles, California eros/thanantos, PØST, Los Angeles, California, Project Space Kreuzberg, Berlin Claim, South Seattle Community College Gallery, Seattle, Washington Leave the Capital, Root Division, San Francisco, California Favorite This!, Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, California Emergence Enchanted, Phantom Galleries, The Pike at Long Beach, California Video Cocktail, College Art Association, Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles, California |
| 2008 | Documental, Nüans and Pilot Projekt, Düsseldorf, Germany, Chapman University, Orange, California Overflow, a re-interpretation of Allan Kaprow’s FLUIDS, The Getty Museum and MOCA, Los Angeles, California The Audacity of Desperation, Independent Media Center, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, PS 122 Gallery at DEMO Space 122, New York, New York, Sea and Space, Los Angeles, California LAAGAFBLA08 (with the LA Art Girls), Phantom Galleries, Los Angeles, California Northwest Passages, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, California |
| 2007 | Grounded!, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California Boys for Girls (with the LA Art Girls), Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood, California PINK! (with the LA Art Girls), Arena One, Santa Monica, California Drip Event, for George Brecht, PawnShop Gallery, Los Angeles, California SFAI Vernissage, Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason, San Francisco, California The Encaustic Invitational, Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, Arizona |
| 2006 | Draw A Line and Follow It (with the LA Art Girls), Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California Irrational Exhibitions 5, Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles, California An Evening of Short Performances, The Getty Center, Los Angeles, California Travertine (with the LA Art Girls), The Getty Center, Los Angeles, California Dancing Convention, Fritz Haeg’s Sundown Salon #29, Los Angeles, California |
Lectures and Panels
| 2017 | Artist Talk, The Community Museu, Klowden Mann, Culver City, California Cinema na Vila Autodromo, Film Screening and Panel Discussion, Klowden Mann, Culver City, California Cinema na Vila Autodromo, Film Screening and Panel Discussion, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California |
| 2016 | Self Organized Education as a Call to Action Workshop, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California Artist Lecture/Panel Discussion, UERJ, Galeria Candido Portinari, Rio de Janiero, Brazil |
| 2015 | Visiting Artist Presentations/Workshops, Chandler School, Pasadena, California artWorxLA, Guest Artist Visit/Lecture, Tri-Community School, Los Angeles, California |
| 2014 | Visiting Artist Lecture, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California Visiting Artist Lecture, Art Institute of California, Hollywood, California Artist Lecture- Dallas Biennial (DB14), The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas Visiting Artist Lecture, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Wisconsin Visiting Artist Lecture, School of Art and Art History, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California I+We (in collaboration with Robby Herbst), Human Resources, Los Angeles, California Visiting Artist, Photo and Media Studies, CalArts, Valencia, California |
| 2013 | LA Art Girls- Performance and Discussion, Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga, California |
| 2012 | Art, Technology and Impact, MindShare 50 Conference, The Hub, Los Angeles, California Re/Locating Learning: Public Practices as Art, Otis College of Art and Design, Public Practices Program, College Art Association Conference, Los Angeles, California Performing Space (Panel Chair), College Art Association Conference, Los Angeles, California |
| 2011 | Untitled (Street Performances), Pasajist Independent Art Space, Istanbul, Turkey |
| 2010 | Imagining Equality: Women’s Art and Activism (with the LA Art Girls), Bellarmine Forum, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California |
| 2009 | Untitled (Street Performances) Public Lecture Series, Outpost for Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California Displacements in Architectural Space (paper/performance), Performance Studies International Conference #15, Zagreb, Croatia. Untitled (Street Performances) Public Lecture, the Contemporary, Atlanta, Georgia College Art Association Conference, Torture, Extraordinary Renditions, and the Aesthetics of Invisibility (Panel Chair), Los Angeles, California |
| 2008 | Visiting Artist Lecture, Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf, Germany G(jest)tures in the City: Building Bridges in the City and Beyond, University of Baltimore, Maryland Trade Talk: The LA Art Girls discuss OVERFLOW, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California |
| 2007 | Visiting Artist Lecture, Graduate School of Art, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California |
| 2006 | Works in Progress (with the LA Art Girls), Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, California Torture and the Arts (panel, video screening), Torture and the Future Conference, University of California, Santa Barbara String Theory, Following the Threads of Feminism (with the LA Art Girls), Strange Angels, KBCH Radio, California State University, Long Beach |
| 2002 | Visiting Artist, Graduate School of Art, University of Redlands, California |
Curatorial Experience
| 2011 | Curatorial Advisory Panel, Interviewer, Pacific Standard Time- Los Angeles Goes Live, 1970-1983, Los Angeles, Califonia Contemporary Exhibitions, Curatorial Advisory Panel, Interviewer |
| 2008 | Curator, Violations and Obfuscations, 2002-2007 (video screening), Sea and Space Explorations, Los Angeles, California, as part of Habeus Lounge, James Gallery, City University New York Graduate Center |
| 1998 | Assistant Curator, Jim Shaw: Everything Must Go, 1974-1999, Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg and Musée d’Art and Moderne et Contemporain, Geneve, Switzerland, assistant to curators Noellie Roussel and Fabrice Stroun (catalogue) (through 1999) |
| 1997 | Assistant Curator, Splice, Side Street Projects, Santa Monica, California (catalogue) |
Awards and Grants
| 2016 | Artist-in-Residence, Despina Largo das Artes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Pasadena Art Alliance/Side Street Projects |
| 2013 | Artist-in-Residence, Lynden Sculpture Gardens, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (through 2014) |
| 2012 | Creative Capital- Selected Applicant, Emerging Fields, Literature and Performing Arts |
| 2011 | Creative Capital- Selected Applicant, Film/Video and Visual Arts Lucas Artists Fellow, Montalvo Arts Center, Sarasota, California California Community Foundation, Emerging Artists Grant |