Morgan Mandalay is an artist and teacher in the Arts in Corrections program Project PAINT at Richard J. Donovan State Prison and Centinela State Prison. Additionally, he manages the nonprofit arts-focused reentry program Designing Creative Futures in San Diego, CA. Morgan's practice as an artist is grounded in his own experiences with the criminal legal system as a teenager, dealing with themes derived from nature and stories of fear, growth, transformation, and shame. Mandalay has exhibited internationally, with recent solo exhibitions at Wild Palms (Dusseldorf, GER), Klowden Mann (Los Angeles, CA), Extase (Chicago, IL), and BWSMX (Mexico City, MEX) among others. His work has been included recently in group exhibitions at 1969 Gallery (New York, NY), The Valley (Taos, NM), Flag Foundation (New York, NY), Deslave (Tijuana, MEX), H.G. Inn (Chicago, IL), Bahamas Biennale (Detroit, MI), DAMA (Turin, ITA), and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego . He was a 2018 Fellow of Shandaken Project’s Paint School in New York, NY, and received his MFA from UC San Diego the same year.
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Education
2018 Fellow, Shandaken Project’s Paint School, New York, New York 2017 MFA, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California 2014 BFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Select Solo & Two Person Exhibitions
2022 Eruption at its Peak, Wild Palms, Düsseldorf, German
2020 FAIR (NADA), with Christine Frerichs, Klowden Mann, Online On Colonus, Extase, Chicago, IL, USA
2019 Dog and Pony, with Chloe Seibert, No Place Gallery, Columbus, OH, USA The Sun Hung Low or A Question Loomed, Everybody, Chicago, IL, USA Bad Sin Frutas, Klowden Mann, Culver City, CA, USA
2018 Thank Your Squash Banana. I’m Not an Ape, You Are!, BWSMX, Mexico City, Mexico Holy, Holy, Holy, Cat Box Contemporary, Queens, NY, USA
Topography of a Terrestrial Paradise, Et Al Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
2017 Meatloaf, with Kim-Anh Schreiber, DAMA presented by BWSMX, Turin, Italy Scene of Shipwreck, UCSD Art Gallery, San Diego, CA, USA Norman Amygdala, City Limits, Oakland, CA, USA
Select Group Exhibitions
2023 Untitled Art Fair, 1969 Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
Dallas Art Fair, 1969 Gallery, Dallas, TX, USA Thick Pile, curated by Joe Yorty, Best Practice, San Diego, CA, USA
2022 Untitled Art Fair, 1969 Gallery, Miami, FL, USA Leave a Light On, The Valley, Taos, NM, USA
2021 I have an idea: works on paper, 1969 Gallery, New York, NY, USA The Scenic Route, 1969 Gallery, New York, New York, USA
Armory Show Off-Site Special Project, curated by Adventure Painting, New York, NY USA
2020 Dance, Dance, Dance, curated by Tyson Reeder, Circle Contemporary, Chicago, IL, USA El busca, encuentra…y sigue encontrando, curated by Danny Baez, White Columns, New York,
New York, USA
2019 Untitled Art Fair, Klowden Mann, Miami, FL, USA Collection No. 10, Interior and the Collector, Lyon, France Only Human, H.G. Inn, Chicago, IL, USA Commutiny, Sibling, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Tetsuo, curated by American Fantasy Classics, Bahamas Biennale, Detroit, MI, USA
2018 El terror en lo profundo, curated by Deslave, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA, USA freshly cut and softly bound, curated by Lisa Kehler and Timo Fahler, Vacation, New York, NY, USA Paint School, Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY, USA Gnaw the Bone That Falls to Thy Lot, curated by Sophie Jennis Kimberly Klark, Queens, NY, USA Annex, curated by Jay Ezra Nayssan, M+B, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2017 Necronomicon Uploaded, Deslave, Tijuana, Mexico All the Small Things, Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA A Step Away, curated by Anthony Graham and Lara Bullock, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego,
San Diego CA, USA Domestic Tranquility, 0-0, Los Angeles, CA, USA AnthroMorphoCene, curated by Lee M. Lavy, Bread and Salt, San Diego, CA, USA
2016 Float in a Dark Tank, Yautepec, Mexico City, Mexico How High?, Left Field, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA Le Domaine Enchanté, curated by Domenico di Chirico, Galleria Acappella, Naples, Italy Sugar Talk, LVL3, Chicago, IL, USA
Selected Bibliography
2020 Ortiz, Tim, Dance, Dance, Dance at Circle Contemporary, Disparate Minds, May 12.
Artspace Editors, Art History In Action: 7 Contemporary Artworks That Reference The Revered, Artspace: On the Wall, April 6.
Early, Cassidy, Morgan Mandalay “On Colonus” at Extase, Chicago Artist Writers, February 23.
Kaye, Gareth, Review: Morgan Mandalay @ Extase, Journal.fyi, February 22.
Filchack, Ryan, Doubling in the Dark: A Review of Morgan Mandalay at Extase, Newcity Magazine,
February 19.
2019 New American Paintings, #141 MFA Issue, curated by Amber Isseiva, December 01. Stromberg, Matthew, Morgan Mandalay at Klowden Mann, Contemporary Art Review, Los Angeles, May 1.
Osbergm, Annabel, Morgan Mandalay, Artillery Magazine, April 24.
Knight, Christopher, Review: In Morgan Mandalay’s new paintings, life carries on as Eden burns,
Los Angeles Times, April 23.
Bowie, Summer, Bad Sin Frutas: An Interview with Painter Morgan Mandalay, Autre, April 19.
2017 Grand, Robert, Q&A: Morgan Mandalay’s SPF15 Gallery Avoids Gentrification By Hosting Exhibitions on Public Beaches, Artspace, June 30.
2016 Van Houten Maldonado, Devon, Itinerant and Off-the-Map Galleries Find a Place in Mexico City’s Material Art Fair, Hyperallergic, February 5.
2015 Morris, Matt, Critics Pick: Todd Kelly and Morgan Mandalayat LVL3, Artforum