biography / bibliography
JOHN BANKSTON
Born in 1963, Benton Harbor, MI
Lives and works in San Francisco, CA
EDUCATION
1990
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago – M.F.A., Painting
1989
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
1985
University of Chicago – B.S., Biology
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010
Abstracticator, Beta Pictoris Gallery, Birmingham, AL
New Work, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009
The Fabulist’s Colored Life, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY
2007
John Bankston, New Paintings, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Through the Woods with Mr. M, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY
2006
New Work, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
John Bankston, Vacio 9, Madrid, Spain
Locating Desire, DeYoung Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco
2005
Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Eureka Fellowship 2002-2004, University of California, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
2004
Recent Paintings, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
Marella Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
2003
Wild West, Rena Bransten Ballery, San Francisco, CA
A Chance Romance, Galerie Zink & Gegner, Munich, Germany
2002
TheCapture and Escape of Mr. M, Chapter 2, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY
John Bankston, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, GA
2001
The Capture and Escape of Mr. M, Chapter 1, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Lovers, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1999
John Bankston, Recent Work, Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1994
John Bankston, Illinois Center, curated by Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL
1990
John Bankston, Illinois Center, Chicago, IL
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009–2013
30 Americans: Rubell Family Collection, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, December 3, 2008–November 28, 2009. Traveled to: North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, March 19–September 4, 2011; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., October 1, 2011–February 12, 2012; Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia, March 16–July 15, 2012; Memphis Brooks Museum, Tennessee, Spring 2013. (Catalogue)
2009
A Delicate Touch, The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY
As It isWritten:Project 304,805, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
Passover Table, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
Collected, Proposition on the Permanent Collection, The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY
Political Draw, Walter Maciel Gallery, Culver City, CA
Connections, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA and New York, NY
2008–2009
30 Americans, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL
2008
Creature Feature, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007
Pacific Light: California Watercolor Refracted, 1907-2007”, SFSU Fine Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2006
Black Alphabet”, Zacheta National Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
Black Panther Rank and File”, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
The Whole World is Rotten, The Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
As Good As Your Next Gig, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Lag-Time, Line-up, Mumbo Jumbo Gallery, New York, NY
2005
African Queen, Studio Museum Harlem, New York, NY
Anniversary Show, Rena Bransten Gallery, New York, NY
Collectors Show and Sale, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AK
Seeing Double: Encounters with Warhol, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
The Whole World is Rotten: Free Radicals and the Gold Coast Slave Castles of Paa Joe, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY
The Other Mainstream: Selections from the collection of Mikki and Stanley
Weithorn, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Celebrating Heritage: Art and the Chris Webber Collection, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Spice Boxes an Invitational: Scents of Purpose Artists Interpret the Spice Box, The Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
2004
A Charge to Keep, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY
Black Circus, Gallery M, New York, NY
East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Curated by Amie Scally, White Columns, New York, NY
2003-04
Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation, Armory Center for the Arts
Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation, New Orleans
Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation, University of North Texas, Denton, TX
Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL
2003
American Art Today: Faces and Figures, Art Museum at Florida International University, Miami, FL
Rendered, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY
Splat Boom Pow: The Influence of Comics in Contemporary Art, curated by Valerie Cassel, The Contemporary Art Museum Houston, Houston, TX,
Splat Boom Pow: The Influence of Comics in Contemporary Art, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
Splat Boom Pow: The Influence of Comics in Contemporary Art, Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
2002-3
SECA Art Award 2002, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
2002
American Art Today: Faces and Figures, The Art Museum at Florida International University, Miami, FL
Untitled, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY
Fantasyland, D’Amelio Terras, New York, NY
2001
Starry Night, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY
Freestyle, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Comic Relief, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Breathless, Lombard Freid Fine Art, New York, NY
2000
A Big Picture Show, Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1999
Bay Area Now 2, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Countdown, Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1998
Insomnia, Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1997
Fellows Invitational, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA
Linetzky Molinero Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
1996
Don Baum Says Chicago Has Famous Artists, Hyde Park Center, Chicago, IL
1994
Just Good Art, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
D.B’s Grab Bag, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
Emerging Talent: African-American Artists in California, Skyline College, San Bruno, CA
1993
Emerging Chicago Abstraction, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL
1992
Chicago International Art Exhibition, Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL
1991
Abstraction, Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL
1990
Abstraction – New Talent, Struve Gallery, Chicago, IL
Five Friends, Fifty Fingers, Gallery 2, Chicago, IL
Artist from Outline, MWMWM Gallery, Chicago, IL
Skowhegan Group Show, Hokin-Kaufman Gallery, Chicago, IL
M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
John Bankston and Jake Webster, Lake Michigan College, Benton Harbor, MI
1989
A Part of the Whole, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
LECTURES
2001
“Artist’s Voice,” The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
1992
New Group of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago, IL
Post-baccalaureate Seminar, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
1991
Graduate Painting Seminar, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
AWARDS
2004
Fleishhacker Award
2002
Joan Mitchell Foundation Award
SECA Art Award
2001
Artadia Award
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Fellowship
1993
Outstanding Ford Foundation Fellow
1988-1990
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Trustee’s Fellowship
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Harold Washington Memorial Library Center, Chicago, IL
Lake Michigan College, Benton Harbor, MI
Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL
Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
The Norton Family Collection
The Progressive Corporation, Mayfield Village, OH
Rubell Family Collection, Miami FL
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
TEACHING
1998
Instructor, Basic Drawing, California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco
1990
Instructor, Beginning Painting, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
1989
Teaching Assistant, Multilevel Painting, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL