ABOUT
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erika_Rothenberg
Born in New York City. Lives in Los Angeles
Using words, images and diverse media, from painting to drawing to photography to large-scale public artworks and museum installations, I am passionately interested in exposing American “exceptionalism” (and its hubris, corruption, privilege, and prejudice) in a non-didactic and humorous way, with an intersectional feminist edge. There are recurring themes in my work such as how proud we humans are of what we think up, and how we use those ideas to destroy each other.
My work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Hirshhorn Museum, DC; Documenta IX, Kassel, Germany; and is in many private and public collections. Freedom of Expression National Monument, a giant megaphone in New York City, sponsored by Creative Time in 1984 and 2004, was featured at the Museum of The City Of New York 2017-18. House of Cards, my 1992 MoMA, New York exhibition of 90 satirical greeting cards, was recreated at Zolla Lieberman Gallery Chicago in 2015; Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles in 2016; and Susan Inglett Gallery, NY in 2018.
I attended the University of Chicago until I was kicked out for participating in a student protest. Before becoming a full-time artist, I was the first woman art director at McCann-Erickson advertising agency in New York, working on Coca-Cola, the New York Times, and other clients. I am a founding member of the Guerrilla Girls. Recent exhibitions include the Hirshhorn Museum DC., Museum of The City of NY, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, We Rise. Los Angeles, the San Diego Institute of Art. and Bunker Artspace, Miami. Vital Signs is the title of my show at Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles February 18 - March 25 2023.
CAREER NARRATIVE
EMAIL FOR FULL CV AND PRESS
SOME WORKS BOOK PDF
SELECTED ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles 2023
Susan Inglett Gallery, New York 2018
Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles 2016
Zolla-Lieberman Gallery, Chicago 2015, 2008, 2001, 1994, 1991
PPOW Gallery, New York 1999, 1996, 1993, 1992, 1990, 1987, 1986
Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles 2005, 2000, 1996, 1995, 1993, 1991, 1989, 1988, 1988, 89, 91, 93, 95, 96, 00, 05
Praz Delavallade, Paris 1997
Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow 1995
Laguna Art Museum 1994
Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna 1992
Museum of Modern Art, New York 1992
New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York 1990
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach CA 1989
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
The Bunker Art Space, West Palm Beach 2024-25
MCA Chicago 2022-23
Tang Museum, Skidmore 2020
Smart Museum, Chicago 2020-2-1
MOCA Los Angeles, 2019-20
San Diego Institute of Art 2019
Kopeikin Gallery, LA 2019
We Rise, LA, 2019
UNTITLED Art, San Francisco 2019
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC, 2018
Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach 2018-19
Into Action, Los Angeles 2018
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 2018 (since 2004)
Monument to a Bear permanent installation in sculpture garden
Museum Of The City Of New York, 2017-2018
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 2017, 1991-2014
Orange County Museum of Art, 2017
Milwaukee Art Museum. 2017
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 2017
Susan Inglett Gallery, NY 2016
Gildar Gallery, Denver 2014
D.C. Moore Gallery, NY 2012
Stockholm Independent Art Fair, 2012
Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles 2012
California African American Museum, LA, 2013
Printed Matter, NY, A Show About CoLab, 2011
Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, Sense of Humor, 2010
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Index: Conceptualism in California, 2008
ICI traveling exhibition, Situation Comedy, 2005-7
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2004, 1999, 1997
Milwaukee Art Museum, Artists Interrogate: Politics and War, 2004
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Art of the Americas 1800 to Now, 2004
Laguna Art Museum, Whiteness: A Wayward Construct, 2003
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Made in California, 2000-2001
MassMoca, Massachusetts, Billboard, 1999
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The End of the Century, 1997
New Museum, NYC: Bad Girls, 1995 Language, Drama, Source and Vision, 1983; Not Just forLaughs, 1980
Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art, traveled US 1995-96,
venues included Cleveland, Houston, Phoenix museums
Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Uber-Leben, 1994
Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin 1992
Documenta IX, Kassel, Germany 1992
The Whitney Museum, NY, Whitney Biennial 1991, AIDS Timeline
Milwaukee Art Museum, Word As Image 1960-1990, 1990
Museum of Modern Art, NYC, Committed to Print, 1988
Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, The Home Show, 1988
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles County Museum 0f Art
Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles
San Diego Museum 0f Contemporary Art
Getty Center, Los Angeles
Ucla Grunwald Center
Orange County Museum of Art
Berkeley Art Museum, University Of California
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, Ca
Oakland Museum of California
University Art Museum, Santa Barbara
University Art Museum, Cal Sate Long Beach, Long Beach, Ca
The Jewish Museum. San Francisco
CHICAGO
Art Institute Of Chicago
Mca Chicago
Smart Museum, University of Chicago
NEW YORK
Museum of Modern Art, New York
The New School for Social Research, New York, NY
The Jewish Museum, New York
New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
Tang Museum, Skidmore College
OTHER U.S.
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
Boise Art Museum
Milwaukee Art Museum
Allen Museum, Oberlin College, OH
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
Grand Valley State College Art Gallery, MI
EUROPE
Stedelijk Museum Voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent
Foundation Asher Edelman, Lausanne Fae Musée D'art Contemporain
Shoes Or No Shoes Museum, Kruishoutem, Belgium
PUBLIC PROJECTS
Freedom of Expression National Monument, in collaboration with Laurie Hawkinson, architect and John Malpede, performance artist, intreractive public sculpture in New York, sponsored by Creative Time, Inc. 1984, reinstalled in New York, 2004
Billboard for Art Against Aids, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., 1989
Two Projects Los Angeles Festival, 1990: Billboard: There Are Still Traditional Families,
Van Nuys Boulevard, Window Installation: Have You Attacked America Today?, Soap Plant, LA
The Wall of (Un)Fame, Los Angeles County MTA Lakewood Blvd. Green Line Station, 1995
Under the Covers, Los Angeles Public Library, Robertson Branch, 1998
The Road to Hollywood, Hollywood & Highland, Los Angeles, 2001-2021
SELECTED PRESS
VoyageLA magazine, interview, 2019
Wexelman, Alex, “Erika Rothenberg, the Ad Exec Who Turned Her Talents
Toward Subervisive Art,” Artsy, September 20, 2018
The Lily, Washington Post, interview, 2018
Miranda, Carmen A., "Art Came Down: An angry debate about diversity
threatened artists' freedom." Los Angeles Times, December 17, 2017
Ryzik, Melena, et al, "Harvey Weinstein’s Fall Opens the Floodgates in
Hollywood," New York Times, October 16, 2017
Knight, Christopher, “Hollywood & Highland censors sculpture in response
Weinstein Scandal,” Los Angeles Times, October 14, 2017Zellen, Jody, Review, Artillery, January, 2017
Dambrod, Shana Nys, "Top Ten Los Angeles Shows of 2016,"
Art Ltd. January, 2017
Ollman, Leah, Review, Los Angeles Times, November 28, 2016
Grabner, Michelle Artforum. Summer 2015
Zellen, Jody, Review, Artillery, January 2017
Dambrod, Shana Nys, Top Ten Los Angeles Shows 2016, Art Ltd.
Januarry 2017
Ollman, Leah, Review, Los Angeles Times, November 28, 2016
Grabner, Michelle, Review, Artforum Summer 2015
Artner, Alan G, Rothenberg exhibits eye for bleak humor, Chicago
September 26, 2008
Lovelace, Carey, Girls, Girls, Girls, Art in America, June, 2007
Holly Myers, Dynamically Capturing the Feminist Spirit, Los Angeles Times,
March 13, 2007
Glaser, Milton and Ilic, Mirko, The Design of Dissent,
Rockport Publishers, 2005
Freudenheim, Susan, "Casting a cold eye...on life and death, artist Erika
Rothenberg addresses serious questions that some of her peers prefer
not to grapple with," Los Angeles Times, March 25, 2005
Ebony, David, “Creative Time’s Free Speech Zone.” Art in America,
October, 2004
Trainor, James, “Freedom of Expression National Monument,” Frieze,
November/December 2004
Smith, Roberta, “Caution: Angry Artists at Work,” New York Times,
August 27, 2004
Muschamp, Herbert, “Picturing the new Ground Zero,” New York Times,
August 31, 2003
Life and Times, KCET, May 7, 2003
Knight, Christopher, “The ‘Road’ Daringly Traveled,” Los Angeles
Times,November 30, 2001
Yablonsky, Linda, Review, Time Out New York, May 19, 1999
Ed., Ten Top LA Artists Create the City of the Future, Los Angeles magazine,
December 1999
Otto, Susan, review, Art in America, June 1997
BBC Scotland, Sunday Religion Programme, January 22, 1995
Rayment, Tim “Uproar Greets Art Show of Stolen Suicide Notes,”
The Sunday Times, London, January 22, 1995
Von Blum, Paul, “Erika Rothenberg’s Satire,” Z Magazine, July/August 1994
Artner, Alan G., “”Rothenberg’s Bits On the Sexes Are Anything But
Routine,” Chicago Tribune, July 1, 1994
Knight, Christopher, “Bad Girls: Feminism on Wry,” Los Angeles Times,
February 8, 1994
Glueck, Grace, “A Broader View of Feminism,” The New York Observer,
February 7, 1994
Nesbitt, Lois, Review, Artforum, January 1994
Bonami, Francesco. Review. Flash Art, January 1994.
Kapitanoff, Nancy, "Pain and Grief Emerge in Exhibit of Suicide Notes,"
Los Angeles Times, February 27, 1993
Phillips, Particia C., Review, Artforum, October, 1992
Princenthal, Nancy, Review, Art in America, July, 1992
Yood, James, Review, Artforum, January, 1992
Curtis, Cathy, "Mordant Observations on Life From Rothenberg,"
Los Angeles Times, July 15, 1991
Curtis, Cathy, "Coloring-Book Critique of 'America, the Perfect Country',"
Los Angeles Times, Aug. 19, 1989
Linker, Kate, Review, Artforum, Nov. 1987
Levin, Kim, Review, The Village Voice, Oct. 6, 1987
Hess, Elizabeth, Review, The New York Observer, Oct. 5, 1987
Brenson, Michael, Review, New York Times, Oct. 2, 1987
Zelevansky, Lynn, Review, Art & Auction, Oct., 1984
Lippard, Lucy, Review, The Village Voice, April 10, 1984
Brenson, Michael, Review, New York Times, Jan 6, 1984
Princenthal, Nancy, Review, Artnews, Jan 1984