Kori Newkirk
Artist and Sculptor
Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Multidisciplinary artist Kori Newkirk’s self-described “ghetto-fabulous conceptualism” is based upon transforming modest materials into a rich miasma of loaded signifiers whose symbolic possibilities are always matched by their formal elegance. His multimedia paintings, sculptural installations, and photographs explore the formal properties of materials, the politics of identity, and the artist’s personal history. Newkirk’s use of hair pomade, plastic pony beads, neon lights, photographs and other materials deftly blends medium and message.

Kori Newkirk was born in New York in 1970 and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. He received his BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993 and his MFA from the University of California at Irvine in 1997. His solo exhibitions include his current ten year retrospective, Kori Newkirk: 1997-2007 at The Studio Museum in Harlem as well as shows at The Project in New York City, Locust Projects in Miami and Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego. In 2004 he won the William H. Johnson Prize.