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Biography

April Bey - Artists - GAVLAK

Photograph by Blair J. Meadows

Bahamian/American,
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

April Bey’s work delivers audacious critiques of the mainstreaming and monetization of radical politics via a diverse range of media. Moving deftly between painting, printmaking, collage, video, intimately scaled artist’s books and immersive installations, Bey wittily skewers pop culture’s sacred cows. Icons and anti-heroes of both American and Bahamian culture populate the bold and bright environs of her compositions, allowing for ambiguity in our assessments of their impact and legacies. Bey’s incorporation of mass-produced objects and reproductive media including printmaking and video underscores the means by which images come to define reality through their incessant replication in a world we experience increasingly through virtual means. 

CV

EDUCATION

2014   MFA California State University Northridge, CA 2009 BFA Ball State University, Muncie, IN

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022  April Bey: When You're On Another Planet And They Just Fly, GAVLAK, Los
          Angeles, CA
          Language in Times of Miscommunication, Socittsdale Museum of Contemorary
          Art, AZ
          The Opulent Berd, Lancaster Museum of Art and History, CA

2021   April Bey: Atlantica, The Gilda Region, The California African American Museum,
           Los Angeles, CA

2020   April Bey, UNTITLED ART ONLINE, UPFOR Gallery, Portland, OR
           Welcome to Atlantica, Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA

2018   Made in Space, Band of Vices Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2017   COMPLY, Coagula Curatorial, Los Angeles, CA

2014   Picky Head, Liquid Courage Art Gallery, New Providence, Nassau, Bahamas

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021   Podium II, 181 fREMONT, San Francisco, CA
          TEXTURES: The History and Art of Black Hair, Kent State Museum, Kent, OH   
           curators: Tameka Ellington and Joseph L. Underwood

2021   Floating Rib, The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas,
           curated by: Natalie Willis

2020   Show Me the Signs, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
           INVOCATION DEMOCRACY: A Political and Mystical Virtual Exhibition, curated
           by: Monet Clark
           Nasty Women, Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
           SPACELAND IV WAR, Bermudez Projects, Los Angeles, CA, curated by: Julian
           Bermudez
           Access, Reflect Space Gallery, Glendale, CA, curated by: Ara and Anahid
            Oshagan
           Sanctuary, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA, curated by:
           Mar Hollingsworth
           Breathe/Breath, Seer Virtual Gallery curated by: The Association of Hysteric
           Curators

2019   Welcome to the AfroFuture, New Orleans African American Museum, New
           Orleans, LA, curated by: Gia M.
           Hamilton
           Dear Lucy, UPFOR Gallery, Portland OR
           Black, Brown and Beige, Self-Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA, curated by: Nery
           Gabriel Lemus and Jimmy       
           O’Balles of Suvir Arts Collective
           From the Head to the Heart, The Center for Contemporary Printmaking,
           Norwalk, CT, curated by: Kimberly 
           Hendrickson
           Atlantica, Chimento Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
           LA Painting Survey, Museum of Art History, Lancaster, CA, curated by: Cooper
           Johnson
           BLACK HISTORY 365, University of La Verne College of Law, Ontario, CA,
           curator: Gary V. Lett
           AMERICAN, Golden West College Art Gallery, Huntington Beach, CA, curated
           by: Evan Senn
           Black on Black III, Raleigh Arts, Raleigh, NC
           NE9: The Fruit and the Seed, The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau,
           Bahamas, curated by: Derek
           Rolle, John Cox, Allan P. Wallace, Holly Bynoe, Naima Keith, Diana Nawi

2018   Shika Shika Art Fair, Brazil House Gallery, Accra, Ghana curated by: Efo Sela
           Visual Resistance, Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA, curator: Carol
           Henke
           Glendale Community College Faculty Exhibition, Glendale, CA
           Back to Black, Avenue 50 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, curators: Kayla Salisbury
           and Peter Woods
           Eye Forward, Curating Our Narratives, Fresno State University, Fresno, CA,
           curators: James Panozzo and Mar
           Hollingsworth
           Dis...Miss, Freewaves Los Angeles, CA, curator: Anne Bray
           Eyes Forward, LA Artshow, Los Angeles, CA curators: James Panozzo and Mar
           Hollingsworth
           MANIFESTO: A Moderate Proposal, Pitzer College Art Gallery, Claremont, CA,
           curator: Olga Koumoundouros

2017   The Fabulous 7, Feral Projects, Los Angeles, CA, curator: Isabelle Lutterodt
           Dis...Miss, Freewaves, Los Angeles, CA, curator: Anne Bray
           CHALE WOTE, Jamestown, Ghana, curator: Dr. Sionne Neely
           ICONIC: Black Panther, Gregorio Escalante Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, curators:
            SEPIA Collective

2016   NE8, The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau, Bahamas, curator: Holly
            Bynoe
           Shift and Fade, BLAM Projects, Los Angeles, CA, curator: Dani Dodge and
           Alanna Marcelletti
           Reflections on the Self: Selections from the Permanent Collection, California
           African American Museum, Los     
           Angeles, CA, curator: Mar Hollingsworth
           SKIN, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, curator: Isabelle
           Lutterodt

2015   Colored Girls, Autonomie Projects, Los Angeles, CA, curator: Chelle Barbour
           Hard Edged: Geometric Abstraction and Beyond, The California Africa American
           Museum, Los Angeles, CA,     
           curators: Mar Hollingsworth
           CA 101, Redondo Beach Power Plant, Redondo Beach, CA, curator: Nina Zak
           Laddon
           Out of Nothing, Glen Echo Park Gallery, Washington DC, curator: Michael
            Edwards
           We Choose Art: A Feminist Perspective, Los Angeles, CA, curator: Kristine
           Schomaker and  Baha Danesh
           50 Years and I Still Can’t Breathe, Watts Towers Arts Center, Watts, Los
           Angeles, CA, curator: Michael   
           Massenburg and Rosie Lee Hooks
           Pulse of LA, Southern California Women’s Caucus of Art, Los Angeles, CA,
           curator: Leslie Cozzi

2014   Fresh, Southbay Contemporary, Southbay, CA, curator: Mat Gleason
           Antillean: An Ecology (NE7), National Art Gallery of The Bahamas, Nassau,
            Bahamas, curator: Holly Bynoe and
           Michael Edwards
           GLAMFA, California State University, Long Beach, CA
          #Whodoyouworship? Graduate Thesis Show, California State University
            Northridge, Northridge, CA
           Sudden Impact, 11:11 Collective Gallery, Woodland Hills, CA, curator: Zeina
           Baltagi

 

PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS

2021   Fringe Projects Miami
           Glendale Library Arts and Culture

2020   Destination Crenshaw Outdoor Museum Finalist
           Census Campaign East LA: Make It Count!
           LA METRO Willowbrook Through the Artist’s Eyes

RESIDENCIES

2020   Self-Help Graphics, Los Angeles, CA
           Fullerton College Artist in Residency, Fullerton, CA

2019   Center for Contemporary Printmaking Artist in Residence, Norwalk, CT
           Nkyinkyim za, Ada, Ghana

2018   The Current, Nassau, Bahamas
           In-Flux Artist Residency, Ghana, West Africa

2017   In-Flux Artist Residency, Bali, Dubai, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria, Benin, Togo,
           Ghana
           CHALE WOTE, Jamestown, Ghana

2012   Can Serrat Artist in Residence, El Bruc, Spain

 

AWARDS

2020   Center for Cultural Innovation Artist Grant 2019 GCC Foundation Grant

2019   Student Equity Grant

2017   Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant Nominee 2015 Melvin Best Award

2014   CSUN Arts Council Award

 

COLLECTIONS

2020   Fullerton College Art Gallery
           Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA
           Inter-American Development Bank
           Self-Help Graphics

2019   Center for Contemporary Printmaking

2018   The Current Bahamas Tradewinds

2015   California African American Museum

2014   National Art Gallery of the Bahamas

VISITING ARTIST

2020   University of the Bahamas
           Wheaton College
           Pepperdine University
           Claremont University
           California State University Fullerton
           Fullerton College
           Women Painter’s West

2019   Tulane University
           University of Alaska, Anchorage
           Los Angeles City College
           Otis College of Art and Design
           Chapman University
           Art+Practice

2018   The MAIN Museum
           California African American Museum

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2015-pres.   Tenured Professor, Glendale Community College, Glendale, CA

2015-2016   Inglewood Cultural Arts Instructor, Inglewood CA

2014-2015   Adjunct Professor, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
                    Instructor, artworxla, Los Angeles, CA
                    Ryman Teaching Artist, Fullerton, CA

2012-2014   Adjunct Professor California State University Northridge, CA

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