Alex Bag

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Born in New York, NY
Lives and works in New York, NY


EDUCATION
1991
BFA, Cooper Union, New York City


SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011
Coven Services for Consumer Mesmerism, "The Pavement and the Beach," Paradise Row, London
Migros Museum, Zurich, Switzerland

2009
Reality Tunnel Vision, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY
Alex Bag, Galería Marta Cervera, Madrid, Spain
Alex Bag, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

2005
Coven Services for Consumer Mesmerism, Product Sorcery, and the Necromantic Reimagination of Consumption, Locust Projects, Miami, FL

2004
Coven Services for Consumer Mesmerism, Product Sorcery, and the Necromantic Reimagination of Consumption, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY

2003
Catalyst Arts, Belfast, Northern Ireland

2002
Crack Up, American Fine Arts Co., New York, NY

2000
12 Spells, American Fine Arts Co., New York, NY
All You Need is Love, Laznia (Bathhouse) Center of Contemporary Art Gdansk, Poland

1999
Galerie Almine Rech, Paris, France

1998
Zaal de Unie, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

1997
Art Pace, San Antonio, TX

1996
Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
Marta Cervera Gallery, Madrid, Spain
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
Le Magasin, Open Project Room, Grenoble, France
Emi Fontana Gallery, Milan, Italy

1995
303 Gallery, New York, NY

1994
303 Gallery, New York, NY


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2010
TV/Video, Esopus Space, New York, NY
The Pursuer, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York, NY
One Film – One Week, Freymond-Guth & Co., Zürich, Switzerland
Auto Kino!, presented by Phil Collins, Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin, Germany

2009
100 Years (version #2, ps1, nov 2009), PS1, Long Island City, NY
Video Journeys, Sister Gallery at Cottage Home, Los Angeles, CA

2008
Slightly Unbalanced, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, Il; traveling to Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV; Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, Lafayette, LA; University of Richmond Museums, Richmond, VA (catalogue)

2007
Television Delivers People, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Fit to Print, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY
Playback, ARC/Musee de le Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Threewalls, five day exhibition, curated by Electronic Arts Intermix, Chicago, IL
Beneath the Underdog, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY

2006
Panorámica , Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City
Alex Bag, Mike Kelley, Richard Hoeck & John Miller, Babylon Kino, Berlin, Germany
Unfinished Business, curated by Sinisa Mitrovic, Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Pariska, Beograd
Failure, Kilkenny Arts Festival, curated by Mike Fitzpatrick, Kilkenny, Ireland

2005
Day Labor, PS1/MOMA, Long Island City, NY
Master Blaster, curated by Stacey Allan, Kresge Gallery, Ramapo College, Mahwah, NJ
Baltic Triennale, curated by Sofia Hernández Chong Cuy, Raimundas Malasauskas, and Alexis Vaillant, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
When Humour Becomes Painful, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland
What Business Are You In?, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA
Group Show, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY

2004
Election, curated by James Meyer, American Fine Art, New York, NY
Grotesque, Burlesque and Parody, Abbaye Saint-André Centre d’Art Contemporain, Meymac, France
Incantations, Metro Pictures, New York, NY
California Earthquake, Daniel Reich Gallery, New York, NY

2001
Not Quite Myself Today, curated by John D. Spiak, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ

2000
Performing Bodies, Tate Gallery, London
Catalyst Arts, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Sentimental Education, curated by David Rimanelli, Deitch Projects, New York, NY
Elysian Fields, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Herz aus Glas, Parking Meters, Cologne, Germany
Marking Time, Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, Florida
Post-Pop Post-Punk, Museum of Contemporary Art DC, Washington, DC

1998
Visioni, Pitti Immagine, Florence, Italy
All Of Me, curated by Lorelei Stewart, New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA
I Hate Movies, curated by Tom Borgese, Andrew Kreps, New York, NY
Feria Internacional de arte contemporaneo: Arco ’98, Madrid, Spain
The Video Room Festival, The Video Room, New York City, The Fifth International, New York, NY
Harriet Craig, Apex Art, New York, NY

1997
Young and Restless, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
100 Photographs, American Fine Arts, New York, NY
Up Close and Personal, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Some Kind of Heaven, curated by Sadie Coles, Kunsthalle Nurenburg, and Sadie Coles HQ, London
7e Semaine Internationale de Video (Biennale de Saint-Cervats), Geneva, Switzerland
Video Divertmento, curated by Susan Hapgood, San Casciano Dei Bagni, Italy
Doug Aitken, Alex Bag, Naotaka Hiro, Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1996
Does Television Inform the Way Art is Made?, Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, Austria
Persona, The Renaissance Society, Chicago, IL, and Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (catalogue)
Nirvana. Capitalism and the Consumed Image, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA

1995
How We Will Behave?, Robert Prime Gallery, London
Push-Ups, curated by Emily Tsingou, the factory, Athena Fine Art School, Athens, Greece
Nach Weimer, Landesmuseum, Germany, Smart Show, Stockholm, Sweden
Hero, curated by Ivan Moskovitz, Common Wealth Gallery, Madison, WI

1994
Dirty Pictures, curated by Jack Pierson, Chateau Marmont, Los Angeles, CA
Supastore Boutique, Laure Genillard Gallery, London
Closing In, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA


GRANTS
1997
Art Pace, San Antonio, TX

1996
Visiting Artist sponsored by Creative New Zealand, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand

1995
Foundation for Contemporary Performance


PERFORMANCE
1996 “Utopian Art Festival”, Hotel 17, New York, NY
“Circus of the Stars”, Hotel 17, New York, NY
The Alterknit Theatre, The Knitting Factory, New York, NY
1995 Thread Waxing Space, New York, NY


BIBLIOGRAPHY
2010
"Artist’s Project: Alex Bag," Esopus, Number 15: Television.
Spampinato, Francesco, "Still Life Channel," Flash Art Italia #280, February, p. 72.

2009
Shaw, Cameron, “Alex Bag,” artforum.com, October 8.
McGinley, Ryan, “My Top 10 Art Films,” VICE Magazine, September.
Indrisek, Scott, “Artist to Watch: Alex Bag,” Whitewall, Issue 14, Summer, pp. 52-3.
Licht, Alan, "Alex Bag," Modern Painters, April.
New Yorker, February 9&16.
Halle, Howard, “Alex Bag,” Time Out New York, January 29.
O’Neill-Butler, Lauren, “Alex Bag: 500 Words,” artforum.com.
Momin, Shamim, Alex Bag, Purple Fashion, Issue 11, Spring-Summer.

2008
Jacobs, Mark, Escape Artist, Tokion, Winter.
Klein, Sheri R. “Comic Liberation: The Feminist Face of Humor in Contemporary Art,” Art Education, March.
Rosenberg, Karen. “What’s on the Art Box? Spins, Satire and Camp,” The New York Times, January 11.
Alemani, Cecilia. “Television Delivers People,” Artforum.com, December

2007
Playback (exhibition catalogue), Éditions des musées de la ville de Paris.

2005
Rimanelli, David. “New York,” Artforum, December.
Smith, Roberta. “Day Labor,” The New York Times, Novermber 11.

2004
Kelsey, John. “On the Ground: New York,” Artforum, December.
Rimanelli, David. “Best of 2004: 13 Critics and Curators Look at the Year in Art,” Artforum, December.
Frankel, David. “TV, or Not TV,” Artforum, October.
Leffingwell, Edward. “Alex Bag at Elizabeth Dee,” Art in America, September.
Pollack, Barbara. “The Elephant in the Room,” Art News, September.
Finch, Charlie. “Bend It Like Beckwith,” Artnet.com, August 18.
Bellini, Andrea, “New York Tales,” Flash Art, May–June.
Griffin, Tim, “Editor’s Letter,” Artforum, May.
Kelsey, John, “Alex Bag,” Artforum, May.
Smith, Roberta, “Alex Bag,” The New York Times, March 19.
Goodbody, Bridget L., “Alex Bag,” Time Out New York, March 18–25.
Levin, Kim, “Show World,” The Village Voice, March 15.
Finch, Charlie. “A Bag Is a Bag Is a Bag,” Artnet.com, March 4.
“Opening: Hostile Takeover,” New York, March 1.

2002
Kimmelman, Michael. “Alex Bag:’ Crackup,’” The New York Times, June 28.

2001
Rimanelli, David. “Best of 2001,” Artforum, December.
Harvey, Doug. “About Time—Bitchen Video Art at the Hammer,” L.A. Weekly, February 16–22.

2000
Cotter, Holland. “The Nocturnal Dream Show,” The New York Times, July 28.
Saltz, Jerry. “Realm of the Senses,” The Village Voice, July 5–11.
“Sentimental Education,” The New Yorker, July 10.
Koether, Jutta. “Kunst: Gier und Glamour,” Vogue (Germany), April.
Saltz, Jerry. “The Artist as Raw Nerve: A Perennial Underground Misfit Strikes Again,” The Village Voice, February 22.
“Alex Bag,” Paper, February.
Gingeras, Alison. “The Salon of 1999: Friends and Enemies,” Artpress, January.

1998
Smith, Roberta. “Art of the Moment, Here to Stay,” New York Times, February 15.

1997
Dewan, Shaila. “The Aesthetics of Adolescence,” Alex Bag: 97.3 (San Antonio: ArtPace).
Jones, Kristin M. “Young and Restless, Museum of Modern Art,” Artforum, Summer.
Van de Walle, Mark. “Push-Ups, Athens Fine Art School,” Artforum, April.
Smith, Roberta. “The Resurging Video, Reclaimed and Reoriented,” The New York Times, February 21.
Neste, Robin. Review, Art & Text 56.

1996
Stafford, Amy. “Alex Bag (unplugged),” Surface, Winter.
James, Caryn. “Art Flickers from Video Screens,” The New York Times, July 26.
Guha, Tania. “How Will We Behave?,” Time Out London, July17–24.
O’Brien, Glen. “Who’s that Girl?,” Frieze, May.
Alexander, Randy. “Hero: Common Wealth Gallery,” New Art Examiner, May.
Hainley, Bruce. “All the Rage; The Art/Fashion Thing,” Artforum, March.
Fleiss, Elein, and Rian, Jeff. “Alex Bag’s Girl World,” Purple Prose 10.
Rubinstein, Raphael. “Alex Bag at 303,” Art in America, January.
“Alex Bag: Skewering the Art World,” Newsweek, January 15.
Gordon, Janine. “SM (Art) Alex Videos,” Flash Art, March–April.
Keall, Michael. “Real Far Gone,” Pavement Magazine 19, October/November.
Hutter, Frido. “Stellen Sie (sich) Duch Aus!,” Kleine Zeitung, October 13.
“Mediala Seiten Blicke,” Kronen Zeirung, October.
Behr, Martin. “Die Vertug Barkeit de (flimmer-) Bilder,” Salzburger Nachrichten, September 25.
Krumpl, Doris. “Visionen Von Der Fernein der Nahe,” Der Standard, September 25.
Niegelheli, Franz. “Das Fernseh Zeitaler als ein Produktionamittel der Kunst,” Neue Zeit, September 25.
Hutter, Frido. “Die Enkel der Infizierten,” Kleine Zehung, September 22.
Titz, Walter. “Kunst aus den Kanalen,” Steirischer Herbst, September 15.
Hainley, Bruce. “Openings: Alex Bag,” Artforum, January.

1995
Smith, Roberta. “Alex Bag: 303 Gallery,” The New York Times, October 20.
ZAPP Magazine 6, December.
Avgikos, Jan. “Best Exhibitions1995,” Artforum, December.
Halle, Howard. Review, Time Out Magazine, October11–18.


CATALOGUES
2007
Playback, exhibition catalogue, ARC/Musee de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France

2006
Failure, exhibition catalogue, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Ireland.

2005
When Humour Becomes Painful, exhibition catalogue, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland.

1997
7e Semaine Internationale de Video (Biennale de L’ Image en Mouvement), exhibition catalogue, curated by Simon Lamuniere, Saint-Gervais Geneve, Switzerland.

1996
Persona, exhibition catalogue, Renaissance Society, Chicago and the Kunstahalle Basel, Switzerland.
Push-Ups, exhibition catalogue, curated by Emily Tsingou, “The Factory”, Athens Fine Art School, Athens Greece.


VIDEOGRAPHY
2004
Coven Services/Demo Reel, by Alex Bag

2001
The Van, by Alex Bag

2000
Le Cruel et Curieux Vie Du La Salmonellapod, by Alex Bag and Ethan Kramer

1998
Harriet Craig, by Alex Bag

1996
Untitled (project for the Andy Warhol Museum), 22 minutes by Alex Bag
His Girlfriend is a Robot, 16 Minutes by Alex Bag
Artists’s Mind, 22 minutes

1995
Untitled (Fall’95), videotape, 57 minutes by Alex Bag

1994
Untitled (Spring 94), videotape, 28 minutes by Alex Bag


LECTURES AND SEMINARS
2009
Witte de With, Rotterdam
Electronic Arts Intermix, New York, NY

2004
The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA

1997
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA

1996
Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Otis College, Westchester, CA
Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
Cal Arts, Valencia, CA
Arts Center, Pasadena, CA


VIDEO SCREENINGS AND FESTIVALS
2009
Coven Services, "Three Black Minutes," Kunstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany

2005
Late at Tate, organized with Lux, Tate Britain, London, United Kingdom

2004
The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA

1998
International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands

1997
Alex Bag, Alix Pearlstein, Paul MaCarthy, Anthenem, Dijon, France

1996
Dan Bernier Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
The Contemporary Center Honolulu, HI
Images, video screening, Saint-Gervais Geneve, Switzerland
Wish You Were Here, video screening, De Appel, Amsterdam
The 5th New York Film Festival, Walter Reade Theatre, New York, NY
Lincoln Center, New York, NY Performance Arts, Individual Artist Award, New York, NY

  • Alex Bag solo debut at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York 1 Jan 2009
    January 9 through April, 2009

    For her first solo New York museum presentation, Alex Bag debuts a newly commissioned video installation inspired by a popular and progressive 1970s children’s syndicated television show, "The Patchwork Family," on which the artist's mother appeared as host. Continuing her commentary on contemporary media culture that has characterized her work to date, Bag reimagines the earlier TV show, in a darkly satiric existential vein, populating her audience with real-life kids. The children are regaled by-and react to- the show’s special guests, an assortment of characters including an animal wrangler, a Desert Storm vet troubadour, and others. The work goes on view in the Anne & Joel Ehrenkranz Lobby Gallery beginning January 9, 2009.
    whitney.org/www/exhibition/bag.jsp
  • Alex Bag and Ryan Trecartin in Television Delivers People at the Whitney Museum of American Art 12 Dec 2007

    Television Delivers People
    December 12, 2007-February 17, 2008

    Television Delivers People brings together single-channel video works from the 1970s to the present that examine how an individual viewer is shaped by television's structure and content. These videos also suggest the possibility of an active approach to viewing which remains relevant even as the physical experience of viewing changes. The exhibition takes its title from Richard Serra's video Television Delivers People (1973), which pairs a Muzak soundtrack with a scrolling list of statements describing the manipulative strategies and motivations of corporate advertisers imbedded in television. Works from the late 1970s and early '80s by Dara Birnbaum and Joan Braderman extend Serra's media critique by using strategies of appropriation to deconstruct specific television genres and programs. Videos by Michael Smith and Alex Bag adopt a performative approach in responding to television, acting out characters whose lives are shaped by cable and its endless programming choices. The exhibition also includes videos by a number of young artists who have created experimental narratives reflective of a dense internet culture, where diverse content from television, film, and music is immediately accessible and available for manipulation and response. Curator: Gary Carrion-Murayari

    http://www.whitney.org/www/exhibition/past.jsp

  • Alex Bag and Josephine Meckseper in "Fit to Print" at Gagosian Gallery 15 Oct 2007

    The upcoming exhibition for Gagosian Gallery’s new fifth floor space at 980 Madison Avenue, Fit to Print, focuses on the medium of collage, specifically works that utilize printed media in a prominent fashion. To set a contemporary tone, every work included in this exhibition will have been made since January 2000. This focus will bring to light the work of many international artists united by the common theme of the media in print and its myriad forms.

    This exhibition seeks to expose an artist’s compulsion to react to the steady stream of information that print media supplies. The work on view will range from meditations on formal composition to personal takes on current events.

  • Alex Bag in "Playback" at I’ARC/Musee d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris 10 Oct 2007

    October 20, 2007 – January 6, 2008
    Playback is an exhibition showcasing more that 50 off rhythm and exciting music videos directed by contemporary artists in the last 20 years / Playback is also a scenography anchored in our daily lives: at the gym, in a karaoke, in a home-cinema, at the hi-fi store… / Playback finally offers an exclusive program of concerts, performances and even a hair brush contest…

    PLAYBACK PREVIEW ON MYSPACE