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Biography

LILIANA PORTER  (b. 1941, Argentina)

“My work is … like watching a movie with the lights on…”​

Liliana Porter first studied art at the Manuel Belgrano School of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires, where she enrolled at the age of twelve. Five years later, she moved to Mexico City, where she entered the Universidad Iberoamericana and studied printmaking with Guillermo Silva Santamaría; during her studies, she also participated in an experimental workshop with Mathias Goeritz. She subsequently studied at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires. In 1964, on her way to Paris, Porter visited New York. Drawn to the opportunities and museums in the city, she postponed her trip to Europe and moved permanently to New York. In 1965, along with artists Luis Camnitzer and José Guillermo Castillo, she co-founded the New York Graphic Workshop, which produced prints while redefining conventional models for making and distributing art.

Porter’s work often places carefully chosen small figurines and other objects in monochromatic empty backgrounds, addressing larger philosophical questions and emotional states. Alongside printmaking, she has also worked extensively in the media of photography and video, and has created works on canvas, drawings, collages, and installations. She writes, “Many of these pieces depict a cast of characters that are inanimate objects, toys and figurines that I find in flea markets, antique stores, and other odd places. The objects have a double existence. On the one hand they are mere appearance, insubstantial ornaments, but, at the same time, have a gaze that can be animated by the viewer, who, through it, can project the inclination to endow things with an interiority and identity. These ‘theatrical vignettes’ are constructed as visual comments that speak of the human condition. I am interested in the simultaneity of humor and distress, banality and the possibility of meaning.” 

In 1973, Porter had a solo show in the Projects Room at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and in 1980, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship. The Bronx Museum of Art held a retrospective exhibition of her work in 1991 and she has had solo exhibitions at the Museo Tamayo and the Phoenix Art Museum, among many other institutions in Europe, Latin America, and the United States.  Most recently, the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) held a solo exhibition of her work in 2013. Porter was a professor at Queens College, CUNY from 1991 to 2007. She lives and works in New York.

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Selected Solo Exhibitions

2020

 

Red Brush and Other Situations, Sicardi Ayers Bacino, Houston, TX

Lado a Lado, Galería del Paseo, Manantiales, Uruguay

 

2019

 

 

 

 

 

Liliana Porter, Blue and Black, Krakow Witkin Gallery, Boston, MA

The Riddle and Other Circumstances, Mor Charpentier Gallery, Paris, France

Liliana Porter: Situations, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland Liliana Porter: Other Situations, El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY
Liliana Porter: Drum Solo, Blanton Museum of Art
Liliana Porter: Memorabilia, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL

2018

 

 

 

Liliana Porter: Man with The Axe (Reconstruction of the original installation at the 57th Biennale of Venice), Perez Art Museum Miami, FL Liliana Porter, Richard Saltoun Gallery, London, England
Liliana Porter, ART OMI, Ghent, NY

2017  

Liliana Porter, Richard Saltoun Gallery, London, England

 

Liliana Porter, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA

 

Liliana Porter, Dialogues and Disobediences, Artium /Basque Museum Center of Contemporary Art, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

 

Relatos Complices II: Works in Collaboration by Liliana Porter/Ana Tiscornia, Galería del Paseo, Manantiales, Montevideo, Uruguay

 

Liliana Porter: One Wall, One Work, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA

 

Liliana Porter: The Order of Things and Other Works, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX

2016

Liliana Porter: Breaking News, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX

 

Liliana Porter, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, CA

 

Liliana Porter, Espacio Minimo, Madrid, Spain

 

Liliana Porter, Museo Caraffa, Cordoba, Argentina

 

Relatos Complices: Liliana Porter/Ana Tiscornia, Beatriz Gil Gallery, Caracas, Venezuela

2015

Liliana Porter, Museo de Bellas Artes de Neuquén, Argentina

 

Liliana Porter: To See Gold and other prints, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX

 

Liliana Porter, Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Franklin Rawson, San Juan, Argentina

 

Liliana Porter, Diagloue with Blue Mug, pick nick Works, Dandilands, Artemis Trail, Troodos, Cyprus

 

Liliana Porter - Selección de obra temprana y una reflexión desde el presente, Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales, Montevideo, Uruguay

 

Liliana Porter: Reparar el piano y otros compromisos, Galería Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2014

Entreactos: Situaciones Breves, Teatro Sarmiento, Universidad Torcuato di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

Liliana Porter – El Hombre con el hacha y otras situciones breves, Museo de Arte de Zapopan (MAZ), Guadalajara, Mexico

 

Untitled (shadows) 1969-2014, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

2013

The Square and other early works, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX

 

El hombre con el hacha y otras situaciones breves, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Fundación Costantini, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Guadalajara, Mexico

 

Liliana Porter, Museo Rayo, Roldanillo, Colombia

 

Liliana Porter – 1973, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA

2012

Fragment of the Cast, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX

 

Liliana Porter, Galerie Mor-Charpentier, Paris, France

 

Disguise, Caja Negra, Madrid, Spain

 

Conejo que levita y otras obras recientes, Centro Cultura de España, Santiago, Chile

 

Recent Work, Baginski Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal

 

The Task, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL

 

Liliana Porter, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA

2011

Liliana Porter – New Work, Hosfelt Gallery, New York, NY

 

The Enemy e Outros Olhares Obliquos (The Enemy & Other Oblique Gazes), Galería Luciana Brito, São Paulo, Brazil; Galería  Lucia de la Puente, Lima, Peru

 

Situations with Levitating Rabbit, Galería Espacio Minimo, Madrid, Spain

 

Galería del Paseo, Manantiales, Montevideo, Uruguay

2010

New Works, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA

 

John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI

2009

Matiné, Galería Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

To Sweep, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX

 

Trabajo forzado, Toll Gallery, Montevideo, Uruguay

 

Línea de Tiempo / Time Line, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City. Mexico

 

Liliana Porter, Simmons Visual Art Center, Brenau University, Gainesville, GA

2008

Liliana Porter - Fox in the Mirror, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, CA

 

Liliana Porter, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA

 

To See Blue, Galería Brito Cimino, São Paulo, Brazil

 

Levitating Rabbit, Leo Fortuna Gallery, Hudson, NY

 

Liliana Porter, Hosfelt Gallery, New York, NY

2007

From a Drawing Standpoint, Leo Fortuna Gallery, Hudson, NY

 

Liliana Porter, Hosfelt Gallery, New York, NY

 

For Instance, Galleria Valentina Bonomo, Rome, Italy

 

To See Red, Galería Espacio Minimo, Madrid, Spain

2006

Red with Eagle, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA

 

Recent Works, Goya-Girl Contemporary, Baltimore, MD, USA

 

For Instance, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

2005

Girl with Rubber Dog and other Situations, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA

 

Eventos Breves, Sala de Verónicas, Murcia, Spain

 

Deer/Dear y otros raros encuentros, Galería  Petrus, San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Palacio Véronicas, Murcia, Spain

 

Ellos y algunos otros, Galería Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

Fictions and Other Realities, Georgia State University Ernst G Welch School of Art and Design Gallery, Atlanta, GA, USA (Two person collaboration between Liliana Porter and Ana Tiscornia)

 

Dialogo con tetera y otros raros encuentros, Casas Reigner Gallery, Bogotá, Colombia

2004

For You, Print Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA

 

Inter-missions, Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY, USA

 

Liliana Porter: Brief Events, Eli Marsh Gallery, Amherst College, MA, USA

2003-04

Eventos breves, Palacio Aguirre, Cartagena, Spain; Galería Espacio Mínimo, Madrid, Spain

2003

To Blink, Casas Riegner Gallery, Miami, FL, USA

 

Liliana Porter: Una puesta en imágenes, Teorética, San José, Costa Rica

 

Dot and Others, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

 

Liliana Porter: Fotografia y Ficción, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Museo Castagnino, Rosario, Argentina

2002

Please, Don’t Move! Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA

 

To Go Back, Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY, USA

2001

For You / Para Usted, Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA

 

To Say Something, Galería -Brito Cimino, São Paulo, Brazil

2000

Liliana Porter, Sicardi-Sanders Gallery, Houston, TX

 

Liliana Porter, Espacio Mínimo, Murcia, Spain

 

Liliana Porter, Galería Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

Liliana Porter: Recent Works, Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY

 

The Space Inside the Mirror, Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY

 

Liliana Porter, Emiso Art Center Gallery, DePauw University, Greencastle, IN

 

The Secret Lives of Toys: Liliana Porter Photographs, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ

 

Drum Solo/ Solo de Tambor, Galería Espacio Mínimo, Madrid, Spain

1999

For You / Para Usted, Projects, ARCO, Madrid, Spain; Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY; Blue Star Artspace, San Antonio, TX

 

Liliana Porter, Artcore Gallery, Toronto, Canada

1998

Ellos y algunos otros, Espacio Mínimo, Murcia, Spain

 

Arte Poética, University Art Gallery, Staller Center for the Arts, State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York, NY, USA

1997

Fotografías Galería Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

Diálogos, Museo de Bellas Artes Juan Manuel Blanes, Montevideo, Uruguay

1996

Them, Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York, NY, USA

1995

Liliana Porter: Poetry and Paradox, University Art Gallery, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA

1994

Illusion/Fragments/Reality, The Gallery of Contemporary Art, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT, USA

 

Liliana Porter, Galería Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1993

Liliana Porter: A Retrospective of Graphic Art 1968-1993, Reading Public Museum, PA, USA

 

Liliana Porter-Simulacrum Steimbaum Krauss Gallery, New York, NY, USA

1992-93

Fragments of the Journey 1968-1991, Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA; Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, NY, USA

1991

Liliana Porter, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA

 

Obra Gráfica: 1964-1990, Centro de Recepciones del Gobierno, San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Galería-Taller, Museo de Arte Moderno, Cali, Colombia

 

Galería Diners, Bogotá, Colombia

1990

Selection of Works: 1968-1990, Museo Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Montevideo, Uruguay; Fundación San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Galería Garces Velasquez, Bogotá, Colombia

1989

The Art of Metaphor: Liliana Porter, The World Gallery, Schine Student Center, Syracuse University, New York, NY, USA

1988

Galería Krysztofory, Krakow, Poland

 

Galería Latinoamericana, Casa de Las Américas, Havana, Cuba

 

The Space, Boston, MA

 

Invitation of Honor, XXIV Salon Nacional de Grabado y Dibujo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1987

Galería Taller, Museo de Arte Moderno, Cali, Colombia

 

Galería Diners, Bogotá, Colombia

1986

Galería Luigi Marrozzini, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1985

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

 

Dolan/Maxwell Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1984

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Panamá City, Panamá

 

Galería Garcés Velasquez, Bogotá, Colombia

 

Centro de Arte Actual, Pereira, Bogotá, Colombia

 

Barbara Toll Fine Arts, New York, NY

1983

Galerie Jolliet, Montreal, Canada

 

Galería Taller, Museo de Arte Moderno, Cali, Colombia

1982

Galería Garces Velasquez, Bogotá, Colombia

 

Barbara Toll Fine Arts, New York, NY

1980

Center for Inter-American Relations, New York, NY

 

Galería Arte Nuevo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1979

Barbara Toll Fine Arts, New York, NY

1978

Museo de Arte Moderno, Cali, Colombia

 

Galería Arte Múltiple, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1977

Hundred Acres Gallery, New York, NY

 

Galería Arte Múltiple, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

Galería Arte Comunale, Adro, Brescia, Italy

1976

Gallería della Villa Schifanoia, Florence, Italy

 

Gallería Ariete Gráfica, Milan, Italy

1975

Hundred Acres Gallery, New York, NY

 

Galería Belarca, Bogotá, Colombia

1974

Hundred Acres Gallery, New York, NY, USA

 

Galería Conkright, Caracas, Venezuela

 

Galerie Stampa, Basel, Switzerland

 

Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Colombia

 

Galería Colibri, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1973

Hundred Acres Gallery, New York, NY, USA

 

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY, USA (Project Series)

 

Galería Conz, Venice, Italy

1972

Galería Diagramma, Milan, Italy

 

Librería Einaudi, Milan, Italy

 

Printshop, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

1969

Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela

 

Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago de Chile, Chile

 

Instituto Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

Escuela de Arquitectura, Caracas, Venezuela

 

Associated American Artists, New York, NY, USA

1968

Solo exhibitions in Mexico City, Buenos Aires, and others

1967

Mail Exhibition, New York Graphic Workshop, various locations

1966

Galería Amigos del Arte, Montevideo, Uruguay

 

Galería Lirolay, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

Gallery Dache, New York, NY, USA

1964

Van Bovenkamp Gallery, New York, NY, USA

1963

Galería Plastica de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico

 

Prints International, Ontario, Canada

 

Galería Lirolay, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1962

Galería Nice, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1961

Galería Glantz, Mexico City, Mexico

 

Galería Galatea, Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

House of Prints, Toronto, Canada

1960

Galería Los Petules, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico City, Mexico

 

Galería Municipal de Veracruz, Mexico City, Mexico

1959

Galería Proteo, Mexico City, Mexico

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Selected Public Collections

Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, OH, USA

Amelita Fortabat, Buenos Aires, Argentina

American Express, Miami, FL, USA

A.T. & T. Corporation, New York, NY, USA

La Biblioteque Nationale, Paris, France

Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX, USA

Booz, Allen & Company, New York, NY, USA

Boras Konstmuseum, Sweden

British Museum, London, UK        

Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Bronx Museum for the Arts, Bronx, NY, USA

Brown, Wood, Ivy, Petty & Mitchell, New York, NY, USA

Casa de las Américas, Habana, Cuba

Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, NY, USA

Chase Manhattan Bank, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Chase Manhattan Bank, Hong Kong

Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, NY, USA

Clouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal

Daros Latinamerica Collection, Zürich, Switzerland

Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley, MA, USA

DePauw University, Greencastle, IN, USA

Estee Lauder Collection, New York, NY, USA

FEMSA Collection, Monterrey, Mexico

Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA, USA

Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

Foote, Cone & Belding, New York, NY, USA

Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN, USA

I.B.M. Corporation, Endicott, NY, USA

Instituto de Cultura, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Instituto Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba

International Graphic Art Society, New York, NY, USA

Kelly, Drye & Warren, New York, NY, USA

LeBouef, Lamb, Leiby & MacRae, New York, NY, USA

Marion and Jorge Helft Collection, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mellon Bank, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA

Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL, USA

Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond, WA, USA

Ministry of Culture Francaise, Belgium

Munson Williams Proctor Fine Arts Institute, Museum of Art, Utica, NY, USA

Musee D'Art Contemporaine, Montreal, Canada

Musee D'Art, Lodz, Poland

Museo Castagnino-Marco, Rosario, Argentina

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, A.C. Mexico

Museo de Arte Contemporâneo, Murcia, Spain

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Panama City, Panama

Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Fundación Costantini, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Colombia

Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Museo de Arte Moderno, Cali, Colombia

Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela

Museo de Bellas Artes, Santander, Spain

Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago de Chile, Chile

Museo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico   

Museo del Barrio, New York, NY, USA

Museo del Grabado, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo (MEIAC), Badajoz, Spain

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico

Museo Universitario, Mexico City, Mexico

Museu da Gravura, Curitiba, Brazil

Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA, USA

Museum of Contemporary Graphic Art, Fredrikstad, Norway

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Houston, TX, USA

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY, USA

Needham Harper Worldwide, New York, NY, USA

News Corporation United, New York, NY, USA

The New York Public Library, New York, NY, USA

Pepper, Hamilton & Scheets, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, PA, USA

Phillip Morris Collection, New York, NY, USA

Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ, USA

RCA Corporation

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., USA

St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO, USA

Southeast Banking Corporation

Tate Modern, London, UK

Walt Disney Productions, Burbank, CA, USA

Weatherspoon Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC, USA

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA