Arnold J. Kemp was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2012. His work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Berkeley Art Museum, among others. His solo shows include the Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco, esp, San Francisco, Debs & Co., New York, envoy, New York and Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco. In 2000, he exhibited work in the Studio Museum in Harlem’s groundbreaking exhibition “Freestyle.” In 2007, The Portland Institute of Contemporary Art commissioned a major installation of paintings and sculpture by Kemp. His work has been seen recently in Portland, OR at Fourteen30 Contemporary, in Los Angeles at Sister Gallery and in New York at Postmasters Gallery and at Printed Matter Inc. His work has been exhibited internationally including exhibitions at Chisenhale Gallery, London, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, Hyére Festival, Hyére, France, and at Art Caucasus National Gallery, Tbilsisi, Georgia.

Kemp is a visual artist and writer with a Master of Fine Arts from Stanford University. He is also a former associate curator (1993 – 2003) at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

His poetry and prose has appeared in CALLALOO, THREE RIVERS POETRY JOURNAL, AGNI REVIEW, MIRAGE #4 PERIOD(ICAL), RIVER STYX, NOCTURNES, and ART JOURNAL. In 2005 and 2007 SMALL PRESS TRAFFIC commissioned two of his plays/performances for the SAN FRANCISCO POETS THEATER. Kemp is preparing a chapbook forthcoming from PORTABLE PRESS AT YO-YO LAB.

ARNOLD J. KEMP was recently named Chair of the Master in Fine Arts in Visual Studies Program at Pacific Northwest College of Art. He recently received one of the first awards from Printed Matter, Inc. to produce an artist book. He also received a travel grant from Art Matters.

EDUCATION
MFA, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
BA/BFA, English Literature/ Studio Art Tufts University, Medford, MA and School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013
Louis B. James, New York, NY
WHEN WILL MY LOVE BE RIGHT, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR

2012
For Heaven's Sake, ME∑(s)A Project Space, Portland, OR
HOW TO MAKE MIRRORS, 2nd Floor Projects, San Francisco, CA

2011
Callicoon Fine Arts, Callicoon, NY
Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, OR

2010
DAYDREAM NATION, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR

2009
This Quiet Dust Ladies and Gentlemen, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR

2007
Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, OR

2006
Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2004
CCSRE, Stanford, CA

2002
Quotidian Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2001
Debs & Co., New York, NY

2000
Luggage Store, San Francisco, CA

1998
Gallery ESP, San Francisco, CA

1991
San Francisco African American Historical Society, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012
Portland2012: A Biennial of Contemporary Art, Disjecta, Portland, OR
Clouds Inclose Comets: The Envelope, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR

2011
You Can Never Go Home Anymore, Louis B. James, New York, NY
Here/Now, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR

2010
Collected. Black & White, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
A Perverse Library, Shandy Hall, Coxworld, England
Hauntology, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkely, CA
Darkness: A Show to Winter, Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, OR

2009
We Do What We Have to Do: Printed Matter's Award for Artists 2009, Printed Matter, NY, NY
Amsterdam Biennale 2009, Mediamatic Bank, The Netherlands
A Sense of Place de Saisset, Museum of Art at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA

2008
Hyères 2008 Festival, Hyères, France
A Dead Serious Group Show, Sister, Los Angeles, CA
In the Fullness of Time, Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Before and After, And/Or Gallery, Dallas, TX

2007
Crooked Mirror, envoy, New York, NY
Space is a Place, PICA, Portland, OR
Refresh (Before and After), Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY

2006
Collection in Context, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

2005
Poets Theater, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2004
Poetry and Its Arts, California Historical Society, San Francisco, CA
Continuities, curated by Renny Pritikin UC Davis, The Nelson Gallery, Davis, CA
I Love Music, Creative Growth Art Center, Oakland, CA
The Gray Area — Uncertain Images, Curated by Matthew Higgs, The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA
Un/Familiar Territory, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA

2003
Rendered, Works on Paper, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY
I am a Curator, Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK
Real Unreal, Sheppard Fine Arts, Las Vegas, NV

2001
Freestyle, Curated By Thelma Golden, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City and Santa Monica Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Marked, curated by Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, Hunter College Art Gallery, New York, NY, Berkeley Art Museum, MATRIX Curator

2000
SF Drawing Show, curated by Chris Johanson and Alicia McCarthy, New Image Art, Los Angeles, CA

1998
Bottoms Up, The Lab, San Francisco, CA

1997
Stirred Not Shaken, Refusalon, San Francisco, CA

1996
Luscious, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA

1995
Obsession, Southern Exposure curated by Gary Garrels, Chief Curator, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA

1994
Bong, Kiki, San Francisco, CA and Alleged, New York, NY

1993
Science Fair, Southern Exposure Pop Life, New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA
Hypothalmic In[queer]ies, San Francisco Camerawork , San Francisco, CA

SELECTED PERFORMANCES
2013
INARMS, PDX Contemporary Art, Portland, OR

2008
INARMS, California College of the Arts, produced by Small Press Traffic

2006
THE GIRL IN THE PARK, California College of the Arts, produced by Small Press Traffic

SELECTED PRIVATE AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The University of California Berkeley Art Museum/ Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
JP Morgan Chase Art Program, New York, NY
Thorn EMI, Inc., Boston, MA
Thorn EMI, Inc., Boston, MA
Kika Borghese
Rena Bransten
Dr. Austin Conkey
Nick Debs
Ann M. Hatch
Judy Moran
Dorothy Lemelson

GRANTS, AWARDS, & RESIDENCIES
2012
Guggenheim Fellow in Fine Arts

2009
Art Matters Grant
Printed Matter Award for Artists

2005
Cite International Des Arts, Paris Residency

2003
Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant

2001
Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship
The ArtCouncil Grant

1993
Pen Writers Grant

1991
Magna cum Laude
Phi Beta Kappa
Tufts University Poetry Prize,

1989
Academy of American Poets Prize

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2001 Freestyle Catalog by Studio Museum in Harlem

ARTIST WRITINGS
2009 Surface Space Prosthetic, by Publication Studio
2004 Nocturne, edited by Giovanni Singleton
2001 Art Journal, edited by Michelle Lee White
2001 Nocturne, edited by Giovanni Singleton
2000 STEP INTO A WORLD, edited by Kevin Powell for John Wiley and Sons
1998 Spirit and Image, by Arnold J. Kemp
1997 Touch (CD), by Southern Exposure
1996 Merry Christmas, Baby by Harper Collins
1995 River Styx , by Quincy Troupe
1994 Mirage #4/ Period(ical), by Kevin Killian and Dodie Bellamy
1994 On the Verge, by Faber & Faber
1993 Agni Review, by Boston University
1992 Callaloo, by John Hopkins University
1991 Callaloo, by John Hopkins University
1990 Three Rivers Poetry Journal, by Carnegie Mellon University

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION
2009 - present
Chair of the Master's of Fine Arts in Visual Studies Program, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR

1993 – 2003
Associate Visual Arts Curator, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

SELECTED SHOWS CURATED
2011
Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2003
5ive Projects: Contemporary Art from Sweden, Yerba Bunea Center for the Art, San Francisco, CA
Bay Area Now 3, Yerba Bunea Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2002
Slowdive, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2001
Rapper's Delight, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Laylah Ali, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2000
Tracey Moffat, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Above and Beyond, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

1999
Beholding Beauty, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
Bay Area Now II, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, with Renny Pritikin and René De Guzman, San Francisco, CA

1998
Mark Dion: Where the Land Meets the Sea, Yerba Buena Center of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Needles and Pins, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

1997
Ladies of the News," Center for the Arts Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, CA
Bay Area Now, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, with Renny Pritikin and René De Guzman, San Francisco, CA
Organically Grown, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Heavy Petting: Drawing on Queer Practice, Queer Arts Resource — http://www.queer-arts.com

1996
Beyond the Outer Limits, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
Hall of Fame Hall of Fame, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, with Renny Pritikin, San Francisco, CA
Spring Performance Series, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA

SELECT SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
2003
Commonwealth Club of California: Bay Area Art Scene; Featuring Doug Hall, Matthew Higgs, Arnold J. Kemp, Heather Marx, and Themis Michos

SELECTED ARTICLES AND REVIEWS
2013
Speer, Richard. WW Pick. “Arnold Kemp: When Will My Love Be Right.” Willamette Week, March 1
Snyder, Stephanie. Critic’s Picks. “Arnold J. Kemp.” Artforum, February

2012
Jahn, Jeff. “Arnold Kemp Guggenheim Fellow.” PORT, April 12

2010
Motley, John. “Arnold Kemp with ‘Daydream Nation’ and Vanessa Renwick with ‘As Easy as Falling off a Log’ both featured at PDX Contemporary Art.” The Oregonian, Nov. 19
Donovan, Thom, “Aspect Blindness: Arnold Kemp and Sreshta Rit Premnath,” art: 21 blog, September 7

2009
Row, D.K., "Review: Arnold Kemp at PDX and Dianne Korberg at Elizabeth Leach Gallery," The Oregonian, November 27
Jahn, Jeff. "A Gaggle of November Reviews," PORT, November 26
Malone, Micah, "Critics' Picks: Arnold J. Kemp," Artforum, November 10
Norris, TJ, "Arnold J. Kemp: Whispering Amid the Darkness, Shining in the Light," just out, November 6

2007
Kryza, AP, “Blood, Guts and Art: The Hallucinatory Horror Double Feature,” Willamette Week, May 11
Bowie, Chas, “Arnold J. Kemp Presents ‘Suspiria and Prince of Darkness’,” Portland Mercury, May 10

2006
Cotter, Holland, “Energy and Abstraction at the Studio Museum in Harlem,” The New York Times, April 7
Baker, Kenneth, “Black History Month Artist Profile,” San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 17

2002
Hamlin, Jesse, “A necessary labor of art,” The San Francisco Chronicle, September

2001
Schmidt, Jason, “The New Masters,” Vibe, May
Valdez, Sarah, "Freestyling,” Art In America, September
Cotter, Holland, “Arnold J. Kemp,” The New York Times, November 9

2000
Horton, David, “Color Theory at the Luggage Store,” Artweek, September

1998
Berk, Amy, “Arnold Kemp at ESP”, Art in America, June

1997
Bonetti, David, “Kemp: An artist unmasks the past,” San Francisco Examiner, March 27