Devin Troy Strother lives and works in California, USA. His practice—which spans painting, printmaking, sculpture, mixed-media work, and installation—is united by humour and a engement in contemporary politics. Whilst the work maintains a vibrant and playful aesthetic, its content muses on the multifarious, both overt and concealed, injuries to human dignity in our society and often adresses black stereotypes and well as familiar racist motifs and memorabilia. In this way the works reveal profound reflections on identity made all the more powerful in his lightness of touch. His often sly titles offers a punchline to his compositions visual humour.
Born 1986 in West Covina, California, US
Lives and works in Los Angeles, California, US
EDUCATION
2010
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine, US
2009
BFA, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, US
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
painting type shit, Ruttkowski;68, Cologne, Germany
Durag Activities, Over the Influence, Bangkok, Thailand
2021
Undercover Brother, The Pit, Los Angeles, US
Smoking and Painting, Broadway, New York, US
2020
I’m just a painter all I got is paint and maybe a lil bit of hope, Eighteen, Copenhagen, Denmark
ALAC with Over The Influence, Los Angeles, US
2019
Lignes Noir, Ruttkowski 68, Paris, France
Twinkle Toes, Nevven Gallery, Gothenburg, Sweden
Flagrant Foul, Over The Influence, Hong Kong
2018
NADA, Shoot the Lobster Miami Beach, Florida, US
The Worst Witch, directed by Alima Lee and written by Mandy Harris Williams, Shoot the Lobster, Los Angeles, California, US
Wade In The Water, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
A Mistake Is A Beautiful Thing, Printed Matter, New York, US
2017
Bag It Up And Sell It, Marlborough Contemporary, New York, US
Water Cooler Talk: What the Fuck Do You Talk About in Foreign Lands?, Ruttkowski 68, Cologne, Germany
2015
They Should’ve Never Given You Niggas Money, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, California, US
Space Jam, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, US
2014
New Shit, Bendixen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark
2013
Look at all My Shit, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, California, US
I Just Landed in Rome, Marlborough Broome Street, New York, US
Dance Dance Dance, Galeria Marlborough, Madrid, Spain
2012
Front, Back, Side to Side, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, California, US
She think she cute and shit / Pictures from Africa, Art Copenhagen, Bendixen Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
Gurrrrl You Know I’m Just Takin About That Composition, Gurrrrl what’chu You Know About That, Post Contemporary, Bendixen Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
2011
The Me and You, Your Mother and Maybe Even Your Cousin Too & The Hey Sister, Soul Sister Go Sister, Whoa Sister, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, US
2010
Don’t Be Actin’ A Fool in the Club/Stuntin’ Like My Daddy, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, California, US
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
V1 XX- Twenty years of V1 Gallery, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Interior Dialogues, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2021
Lampadephoria, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Go Figure, Over the Influence, Hong Kong, China
2020
Today’s Special #1, curated by Jesper Elg, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
World Peace, MOCA Westport, Connecticut, US
NEON, curated by Jens-Peter Brask, Martin Asbæk Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
MINE IV, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2019
MINE III, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2018
MINE II, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2017
Highlights, New York, US
EXPO Chicago, Richard Heller Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, US
Beheaded, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, California, US
Unobstructed Views, Library Street Collective and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit at the historic W. Hawkins Ferry House, Michigan, US
Dallas Art Fair, Richard Heller Gallery, Dallas, Texas, US
2016
UNTITLED, Miami Beach, Florida, US
Juxtapoz x Superflat exhibition, co-curated by Takashi Murakami and Juxtapoz’s Editor, Evan Pricco, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
EXPO CHICAGO, Richard Heller Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, US
Juxtapoz x Superflat exhibition, co-curated by Takashi Murakami and Juxtapoz’s Editor, Evan Pricco, Pivot Art & Culture Center, Seattle, Washington, US
Seattle Art Fair, Seattle, Washington, US
Volta 12, Richard Heller Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
SMS SOS, curated by Pascal Spengemann, Marlborough Contemporary, New York, US
Character, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen
Highlight: Summer One, Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York, US
Rob Pruitt Flea Market, presented by Los Angeles Nomadic Division, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, California, US
Late in the Season, Ruttkowski;68, Cologne, Germany
Art Cologne, Ruttkowski;68, Cologne, Germany
2015
UNTITLED, Miami, Richard Heller Gallery, Miami, Florida, US
EXPO CHICAGO, Richard Heller Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, US
Behold! The Blob, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, California, US
Hard Edged: Geometrical Abstraction and Beyond, California African American Museum, US
The Negative Hand, Anonymous Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico
Wavvy Wavvy, The Drain, Los Angeles, California, US
You won’t believe (…), Galerie Division, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
2014
NSFW, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, California, US
Walk-ins Welcome, Marlborough Broome Street, New York, US
Early Man, The Hole, New York, US
Stretching Mind and Space, with Austin Eddy, Bendixen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark
Splinter Field, Greenpoint Terminal Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, US
Broadway Morey Boogie, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, US
In the Office of the Drunken Monkey, TSA Gallery, Brooklyn, US
Positivilly Marvillainous, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, New York, US
#MiniMansion, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, California, US
Joyride, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, New York, US
Barn Swallows, Art Speak, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
2013
Miami Project, Richard Heller Gallery, Miami, Florida, US
The Christmas Show, Bendixen Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
Meet Your Maker, Bleeker Street Arts Club, New York, US
Different Strokes, Small Paintings and Intimate Performances, Louis B. James, New York, US
Faux Life, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Summer Reading, The Hole, New York, US
It’s Your World Boo, with Gina Beavers, Cooper Cole, Toronto, Canada
The Armory Show, Richard Heller Gallery, New York, US
In Case We Don’t Die, curated by Bibi Katholm, Torrance Museum of Art, Torrance, California, US
Art Herning Fair, Søren Assenholt, Paco Pomet, Devin Troy Strother, Bendixen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark
Chicken or Beef? The Hole, New York, US
2012
The Armory Show, Richard Heller Gallery, New York, US
Miami Project, Richard Heller Gallery, Miami, Florida, US
Untitled Art Fair, Monya Rowe Gallery, Miami, Florida, US
Art Platform, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, California, US
Voices of Home, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, US
Yeah, We Friends and Shit, Josee Bienvenu Galllery, New York, US
Zagga Zow, Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Jacolby Satterwhite and Devin Troy Strother, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, US
2011
Art Platform, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, California, US
December Group Show, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, California, US
Harlem Postcards Project, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, US
Move, Bendixen Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
From Where You Just Arrived, curated by Ryan Schneider and Jonas Wood, Pepin Moore, Los Angeles, California, US
Human Nature, Curated by Richard Heller, Galeria Espacio Minimo, Madrid, Spain
The February Show, Ogilvy and Mather, New York, US
The Armory Show, Richard Heller Gallery, New York, US
First Class/Second Class, Curated by Leah Oates, Asya Geisberg, New York, US
2010
Peaceable Kingdom, curated by David Pagel, Beacon Arts, Los Angeles, US
Stranger Than Fiction, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, US
The Pulse Fair, Richard Heller Gallery, Miami, Florida, US
The Armory Show, Richard Heller Gallery, New York, US
2009
The Pulse Fair, Richard Heller Gallery, Miami, Florida, US
Graduate Front Wall, Art Center Gallery, Pasadena, California, US
2008
Art Center Gallery, Pasadena, California, US
2007
Art Center Gallery, Pasadena, California, US
Mendahal Sobeski Gallery, Pasadena, California, US
GRANTS
2009
Art Center Scholarship
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, US
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, US
The Studio Museum, Harlem, New York, US
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2018
I Forgot I Knew How to Draw, riso printed coloring book of drawings by Devin Troy Stroher, 14 pages, edition of 100
Reparations Now! Part Deux Zine, published by Coloured Publishing, 32 pages
That Boy Need Milk, published by Coloured Publishing, contains over 75 black and white full-color drawings by Devin Troy Strother, 154 pages
Shvtzine, contains original drawings and found imagery, 16 pages
2017
Cypress Hill Really Loving Natgeo Zine, paperback, 64 pages
Like a Fresh Pack of Newports, a collection of digital collages created by Devin Troy Strother, edition of 100