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Mark Handforth

Mark Handforth’s sculptures imbue the almost-invisible features of our lives – street lamps, road signs, fluorescent lights and fire hydrants – with formal properties that make them strange, larger than life, enigmatic and off-kilter. They are meticulously crafted, but deliberately imperfect, often containing wry humour and poetry in their references and arrangement. Seemingly strong and durable materials like metal and resin are mangled and deformed, becoming surreal objects. These sculptures are often deposited on their sides like the detritus of fallen worlds, having buckled under invisible pressures. As such, Handforth translates the bewildering scale and vertical imperative of the cityscape into dynamic compositions that register the momentum and implicit violence of their referents: an early sculpture of a Vespa is covered in burning candles and becomes an altar; a streetlamp is twisted into the shape of a five-pointed star, and a piece of driftwood is cast in concrete and juxtaposed with fluorescent lights. But while his works have a sense of distortion and manipulation of features of the urban environment, they also retain an archaic and poetic sensibility. His use of enlargements might recall the legacies of Pop art, but Handforth shifts his aesthetic position towards a post-punk paradigm through his incorporation of burning candles, aerosol paints and a general atmosphere of disarray and chaos. Handforth has undertaken several large-scale sculptural commissions in public spaces such as Central Park and Governors Island in New York City, Porte de Bagnolet in Paris, and the plaza of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Mark Handforth was born in Hong Kong in 1969 and grew up in London. He lives and works in Miami. His work has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at San Carlo, Cremona (2022); Modern Art, London (2019); ICA Miami (2017); and Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Genoa (2016). He has participated in recent group shows at Modern Art, London (2021); the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach (2020); MOCAD, Detroit (2017); Weserburg | Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen (2016); and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2015). Handforth’s works are held in collections including Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; the Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson; Le Consortium, Dijon; MOCA, Los Angeles; the Pérez Art Museum, Miami; the Speed Art Museum, Louisville; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Press
Biography
Rolling Stop, MOCA, Miami, 2011
Panda Disponibile, 2017
mixed media, 1461.1 x 3389.9 x 1484.9 cm, 575 1/4 x 1334 5/8 x 584 5/8 in, Analog Spring, Sant'Andrea de Scaphis, Rome, 2017
1/4
Harlequin Four, 2019
painted aluminium, waterproof fluorescent lights, 426 x 70 x 260 cm, 167 3/4 x 27 1/2 x 102 3/8 in
1/3
Electric Tree, 2011
fluorescent light and fixtures, variable dimensions
1/2
Trash Can Candles, 2019
beach trash can, candles, 90 x 60 x 60 cm, 35 3/8 x 23 5/8 x 23 5/8 in
1/4
Lamppost, 2003
aluminium lamppost, enamel paint, red lights, 487.7 x 762 x 487.7 cm, 192 x 300 x 192 in, In the Public Realm, Central Park, New York, 2003
1/2
Saffron Star, 2013
painted aluminium, 330.2 x 317.5 x 127 cm, 130 x 125 x 50 in
1/3
Silver Forest, 2019
aluminium, concrete, stainless steel, paint, cast pewter, 54 x 254 x 279 cm, 21 1/4 x 100 x 109 7/8 in
1/3
Blue Candle, 2010
cast bronze, stainless steel, steel, and wax patina, 260 x 229.9 x 229.9 cm, 102 3/8 x 90 1/2 x 90 1/2 in
1/3
Second Street Rainbow, 2019
stainless steel pipe, coloured polyurethane glazes, 210 x 285 x 50 cm, 82 5/8 x 112 1/4 x 19 3/4 in
1/3
Green Streak, 2018
aluminium, Pigeon Plum, Tropical Almond, paint, fluorescent light fixture and gel, 152.4 x 177.8 x 30.5 cm, 60 x 70 x 12 in
1/3
Highway Gothic, 2019
coloured reflective foil, paint, 290 x 201 x 88 cm, 114 1/8 x 79 1/8 x 34 5/8 in
1/3
Vespa, 2001
mixed media, 120 x 100 x 50.2 cm, 47 1/4 x 39 3/8 x 19 3/4 in
1/4
Painted Phone, 2013
aluminium, bronze, and stainless steel, 762 x 121.9 x 61 cm, 300 x 48 x 24 in, Sidewalk Island, Governors Island, New York, 2014
1/3
Star (Teal), 2014
painted aluminum, 281.9 x 312.4 x 121.9 cm, 111 x 123 x 48 in
1/2
Ocala Collage, 2019
cast carbon resin, aluminium, fluorescent lights, spraypaint, 322 x 230 x 43 cm, 126 3/4 x 90 1/2 x 16 7/8 in
1/3
TRASH CAN CANDLES, Modern Art, 2019
Sidewalk Island, Governors Island, New York, 2014

Press

The New York TimesMiami Has Matured into a Cultural Capital. What’s Next?, 1 December 2023
The Art NewspaperNew York Frieze Week gossip: skipping the Kusama queue, a trafficstopper in pink and a megadealer loses out, 1 May 2023
Artforum1 July 2016
Artforum1 May 2014
The New York TimesMore Public Art for Governor’s Island, 1 April 2014
Annual Magazine1 January 2012
MousseMark die Suvero and Mark Handforth, 1 February 2012
The New York Times1 December 2011
Modern Painters1 December 2011
Art in AmerciaMark Handforth Did the Un-Basel During Basel, 1 December 2011
Artforum1 June 2011
ARTnewsCritics Pick: Mark Handforth, 1 November 2008
Art in AmericaHandforth’s Fallen Angels, 1 June 2008
Artforum1 January 2005
FriezeRoad to Ruin: Mark Handforth, 1 September 2004

Biography

Mark Handforth

Born in Hong Kong, China, 1969 Lives and works in Miami, FL, USA

Education

1988-92
The Slade School of Fine Art
University College London, London
1990-91
Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste
Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Solo Exhibitions

2023
Franklin Street Four
Barnett Newman Triangle, New York, NY, USA (outdoor installation)
Half-Sleep-City
Luhring Augustine, New York, NY, USA
2022
A Scarlet Forest
The Modern Institute, Glasgow
Mark Handforth: White-Light-Whirlwind
San Carlo, Cremona, Italy
2020
Mark Handforth: Turqoise City
Qatar-USA 2021 Year of Culture, Qatar Museums, Doha, Qatar (outdoor installation)
2019
TRASH CAN CANDLES
Modern Art, London
The Modern Institute
Glasgow
2018
Zig, Zag & Flag
Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2017
Dr PepperICA Miami, Miami, FL, USA (outdoor installation until 2020)
After Nature
Galleria Franco Noero, Turin, Italy
Analog Spring
Gavin Brown’s enterprise, Rome, Italy
2016
SMOKE
Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Genoa, Italy
Snow White and Pink Panther
Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Switzerland
2015
The Excentric Circle
The Modern Institute, Glasgow
2014
Drop Shadow
Studio des Acacias, Paris, France
Rough Dark Diamond
Kayne Griffin Corcoran, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Deep Violet
Galerie Mitterrand, Paris, France
Sidewalk Island
Governors Island, New York, NY, USA
Black Star
Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, NY, USA
2013
Capricorno
Galleria Franco Noero, Turin, Italy
Blackbird
Maag Areal, Maagplatz, Zürich, Switzerland
Two Old Bananas
Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Swizerland
Horseshoes
Abbaye de Cluny, Cluny, France
2011
Rolling Stop
MOCA, Miami, FL, USA
MCA Chicago Plaza Project: Mark HandforthMuseum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA
Hessel Museum of Art
Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, USA
2010
Gavin Brown’s enterprise
New York, NY, USA
The Modern Institute
Glasgow
2008
Galerie Almine Rech
Paris, France
Galerie Eva Presenhuber
Zürich, Switzerland
Gavin Brown’s enterprise
New York, NY, USA
2007
Platz, Galerie Eva Presenhuber/Tessinerplatz
Zürich, Switzerland (outdoor sculpture)
Concentrations 51: Mark HandforthDallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, USA
2006
Directions – Mark Handforth
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA
Galerie Eva Presenhuber
Zürich, Switzerland
No
The Modern Institute Offsite, Hutcheson’s Hall, Glasgow
2005
Stroom Den HaagThe Hague, Netherlands
Galerie Almine Rech
Paris, France
Fondation Vasarely
Aix-en-Provence, France
Gavin Brown’s enterprise
New York, NY, USA
Kunsthaus Zürich
Zürich, Switzerland
2004
Wrong Gallery
New York, NY, USA
Galleria Roma Roma Roma
Rome, Italy
The Modern Institute
Glasgow
2003
Le Consortium
Dijon, France
Lamppost
Public Art Fund, New York, NY, USA
2002
Hammer Projects: Mark Handforth
UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Galleria Franco Noero
Turin, Italy
Gavin Brown’s enterprise
New York, NY, USA
2000
Free Bird
Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, NY, USA
1997
Miami Arts Project
Metro-Dade Art in Public Places (four bus shelters)
1996
not from where I’m standing
Project Room, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL, USA
1991
Galerie Krieg
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Gavin Brown’s enterprise
New York, NY, USA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024
Composition for the Left Hand: With Works from the Kagge Collection
Kode Bergen Art Museum, Bergen, Norway
Luhring Augustine x MASA
MASA, Mexico City, Mexico
Toward the Celestial: ICA Miami’s Collection at 10 Years
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Miami, FL
2023
The Milton and Sheila Fine CollectionCarnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Modern Art
Paris, France
Au bout des mes rêves
lille3000 at Tripostal, Lille, France
Oltre il buio
Ala Scaligera - Rocca di Angera. Angera, Italy
2022
Sculptures By
Galerie Eva Presenhuber, New York, NY, USA
2021
Sculpture in the City – 10th EditionCity of London, London (outdoor installation)
2020
Modern Art
London
ALL IN ONE
Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Switzerland
2019
From Where Comes Your Voice
curated by Maria Bojan, The Art of the Treasure Hunt, Chianti, Italy
La Lumière des Mondes
Domaine des Etangs, Massignac, France
2018
viewing depot exh#01, Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium
2017
99 Cents or LessMoCAD, Detroit, MI, USA
Bearable Lightness of Being
GRIMM, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tommorrow Will Still Be Ours
Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, NY, USA
2016
Mir ist das Leben lieber: Sammlung Reydan Weiss. Ausstellung zum 25-jährigen Bestehen der Weserburg
Weserburg, Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany
FRAC Poitou-Charentes
Angoulême, France
2015
Domaine du Muy
Le Muy, France
Ugo Rondinone: I ♥ John Giorno
Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
La Joie de Vivre
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, France
Armleder, Handforth, Landers
Galleri Nils Staerk, Copenhagen, Denmark
Love Story – Works from Erling Kagge’s CollectionAstrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway
2014
Blackout
Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Natura Lapsa
Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France
Global Positioning Systems
Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL, USA
Art Parcours
Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Man in the Mirror
Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium
2013
Show and Tell: Calder Jewelry and Mobiles
Salon 94, New York, NY, USA
Room to Live: Recent Acquisitions and Works from the CollectionMuseum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Pivot Points: 15 Years and Counting
Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL, USA
Apparitions collectives
Collège Joliot-Curie, Tonnay-Charente, France
Retour du monde
MAMCO – Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
L’Art à l’endroit: un parcours d’art contemporain à Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence, France
2012
Hors les Murs
FIAC, Jardin des Tuileries, Paris, France
Sunlight on Cold Water
Kunsthalle Detroit, Detroit, MI, USA
Painting in Space
Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2011
American ExuberanceRubell Family Collection, Miami, FL, USA
Painting Show
Eastside Projects, Birmingham
Sculpture Now
Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Switzerland
ArtZuid 2011
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Sympathy for the Devil
Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium
2010
Born in Dystopia
Rosenblum Collection, Paris, France
Ghost Colour
Collection Vanmoerkerke, Oostende, Belgium
2009
Beg Borrow and StealRubell Family Collection, Miami, FL, USA
Les Enfants TerriblesColección Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico
Sphères 2009
Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, Boissy-le-Châtel, France
We Are Sun-kissed and Snow-blind
Galerie Patrick Seguin, Paris, France
The Secret Life of Objects
Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis, MN, USA
TONITE
The Modern Institute, Glasgow
Mapping the Studio: Artists from the François Pinault Collection
Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy
Magritte et la lumière
Galerie Almine Rech, Brussels, Belgium
Urs Fischer, Mark Handforth og Georg HeroldKunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway
N'importe quoiMusée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
2008
Pivot Points I: Defining MOCA’s Collection
Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL, USA
The Freak Show
La Monnaie de Paris, Paris, France
2007
The Complexity of the Simple
L&M Arts, New York, NY, USA
Internationale Lichttage Winterthur 2007
Winterthur, Switzerland
Jubilee Exhibition
House Eva Presenhuber, Vnà, Switzerland
Château de Tokyo/Tokyo ReduxCentre international d’art et du paysage de l’Île de Vassivière, Île de Vassivière, France
The Freak Show
Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
Disorder in the House
Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium
2006
The Uncertainty of Objects and Ideas: Recent Sculpture
Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA
5 Milliards d’Années
Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
2005
La Force de l’Art
Le Grand Palais, Paris, France
Optik Schröder: Werke aus der Sammlung Schröder
Kunstverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
2006
Space Boomerang
Swiss Institute, New York, NY, USA
2005
Light Art from Artificial LightZKM Museum for Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Germany
Lotissement de Cimaises
Villa Arson, Nice, France
2004
Terminal 5
TWA Flight Center, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, NY, USA
Never Never Landscape
Atle Gerhardsen, Berlin, Germany
Group Show
Regen Projects, Los Angeles, CA, USA
It’s All an IllusionMigros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zürich, Switzerland
Genesis Sculpture
Domaine de Pommery, Reims, France
Sculptures
Galerie Almine Rech, Paris, France
Keep Your Head to the Sky
Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, NY, USA
Whitney Biennial 2004Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
2003
10 Floridians
Miami Art Central, Miami, FL, USA
Nouvelles Scènes – I Love Dijon
Le Consortium, Dijon, France
New Space! Group Show!
Galleria Franco Noero, Turin, Italy
It Happened Tomorrow
7th Biennale d’art contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
Inaugural Group Exhibition
Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, NY, USA
IMAGINE
Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Miami, FL, USA
Coollustre
Collection Lambert en Avignon, Avignon, France
Breathing the Water
Galerie Hauser & Wirth and Presenhuber, Zürich, Switzerland
20th Anniversary Exhibition: Welcome Home
Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, NY, USA
2002
My Head is on Fire but my Heart is Full of Love
Charlottenborg Exhibition Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark
Galleria Roma Roma Roma
Rome, Italy
2001
Humid
The Moore Building, Miami, FL, USA
Lokalzeit
Johanniterbrücke, Basel, Switzerland
2000
Making Art in Miami: Travels in Hyperreality
Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL, USA
Departing Perspectives
organised by Fredric Snitzer, Espirito Santo Bank, Miami, FL, USA
Deja-Vu
Art Miami, Miami, FL, USA
1999
Heads-up
Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL, USA
Leftover Festivities
Nature Morte, Delhi, India
1998
Gavin Brown’s enterprise
with Dara Friedman, New York, NY, USA
New Art: South Florida
Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL, USA
1997
Bobois
Galerie Krinzinger, Art Miami, Miami, FL, USA
1996
she is stupid and I am worried
with Dara Friedman, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
Joint Venture
Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria
1994
cheap
with Adam Kuczynski, Jason Rubell Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
1993
Jason Rubell Gallery
Miami, FL, USA
1991
Zwischen Dürer und Holbein
Städel, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Selected Collections

The Bass
Miami Beach, FL, USA
Carnegie Museum of Art
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Cass Sculpture Foundation
Goodwood
Coleccíon Jumex
Mexico City, Mexico
Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas, TX, USA
Fondation Louis Vuitton
Paris, France
FRAC Centre
Orléans, France
FRAC PACA
Marseille, France
FRAC Poitou-Charentes
Angoulême, France
Governor’s Island Trust
New York, NY, USA
Hessel Museum of Art
Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, USA
Institute of Contemporary Art
Miami, FL, USA
Le Consortium
Dijon, France
Luma Foundation
Arles, France
The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse
Miami, FL, USA
Museum of Contemporary Art
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Museum of Contemporary Art
North Miami, FL, USA
Pérez Art Museum
Miami, FL, USA
Pinault Collection
Venice, Italy
The Rachofsky Collection
Dallas, TX, USA
Rubell Family Collection
Miami, FL, USA
Speed Art Museum
Louisville, KY, USA
Vanhaerents Art Collection
Brussels, Belgium
Whitney Museum of American Art
New York, NY, USA