1962, Oshkosh, WI, USA
Lives and works in Wisconsin, USA
Education
1990
M.F.A. Art Theory and Practice, Northwestern University, USA
1987
M.A. Art History, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA Thesis: “Postmodernism: A Spectacle of Reflexivity”
1984
B.F.A. Painting and Drawing, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
Selected Solo Shows
2019
Michelle Grabner: American Trompe l’oeil, The Green Gallery, Milwaukee, USA
Gallery Gisela Clement, Bonn, DE
2018
In This House, Mies van der Rohe’s McCormick House, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL, US
Picnic: New Gingham Paintings by Michelle Grabner, Drive-by Projects, Watertown, MA, US
2017
Michelle Grabner: Patterns in Metal and Oil, Edward Cella Art & Architecture, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Sculptures and paintings, Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie, Basel, CH
Niagara, Melbourne, AUS
2016
James Cohan, New York, NY, USA
Northwest Work, Hedreen Gallery, Seattle University, Seattle, WA, USA
Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA, USA
On the Wall, Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
2015
Weaving Life Into Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, curated by Tricia Paik, Indianapolis, IN, USA
Rocket Gallery, London, UK
Michelle Grabner: Paintings and Bronze Casts, Green Gallery East, Milwauke, WI, USA
Michelle Grabner: Gingham, Rocket Gallery, London, UK
2014
My Oyster #7: Michelle Grabner & Brad Killam, The Katzen Arts Center, American University, Washington D.C., USA
Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie, Basel, CH
Brett Shaheen: Modern and Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH, USA
James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2013
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, curated by David Norr (exhibition catalogue), Cleveland, OH, USA
DRAFT, Autumn Space, Chicago, IL, USA
Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Shane Campbell Gallery, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL, USA
Brendan Fowler, Michelle Grabner, Shane Campbell Gallery, Oak Park, IL, USA
2012
Cottage Works, Green Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, USA
MICHELLE GRABNER: THE INOVA SURVEY, curated by John Riepenhoff (exhibition catalog), INOVA, The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
INOVA, The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Against New York, Galleri Kant, Copenhagen, DK
Black Swan, Shane Campbell Gallery, Oak Park, IL, USA
Oshkosh, PS, Amsterdam, NL
2011
A Painting Show, curated by Laura Raicovich & Jessie Washburne-Harris, Harris Lieberman, New York, NY, USA
Handler (a series of collaborative figurative sculptures presented by John Riepenhoff, featuring the paintings of Peter Barrickman, Michelle Grabner, Nicholas Frank, Jose Lerma, Scott Reeder and Tyson Reeder, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL, USA
DING DONG, a collaboration with Brad Killam, Terrain, Oak Park, IL, USA
Museum of Milwaukee Art, Green Gallery at 47 Canal, New York, NY, USA
Like a Rare Morel, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Original Jokes about the Suburban and the Poor Farm by the Artists Who Exhibited There, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT, USA
2010
Chaos is rigidly structured in this chapter, Peregrine Program, Chicago, IL
Michelle Grabner, Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe (two person show) Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie, Zurich, CH
I speak now from the aesthetic and artistic point of view when I say that life with Michelle Grabner is dull. Leo Koenig Projekte, New York, NY, USA
Works on Paper, Minus Space, Brooklyn, NY, USA
FLAPJACK, Rocket, London, UK (catalogue)
2009
Silverpoints with Guest Mobile, Green Gallery East, Milwaukee, WI, USA
SILVERPOINTS, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
ROUND SILVERPOINTS, Shane Campbell Gallery, Oak Park, IL, USA
2008
SILVERPOINTS, PS, Amsterdam, NL
Remain in Light, survey exhibition, Ulrich Museum, Wichita, KS, USA (exhibition catalogue)
New Bedford Art Museum, Vault Series, New Bedford, MA, USA
2007
Michelle Grabner’s Never Quite Happy Home, Southfirst, Brooklyn, NY USA
Please Return My Kenneth Noland Catalogue, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Please Return My Kenneth Noland Catalogue PS, Amsterdam, NL
Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA, USA
809 Calgary, CA, USA
Remain in Light, survey exhibition, Wriston Art Center, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI, USA
2006
1996-2006, Rocket Gallery, London, UK
Remain in Light, survey exhibition, University Galleries, Illinois State University, USA
2005
Project Room, Wendy Cooper Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
2004
Allston Skirt Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
2003
Rocket Gallery, London, UK
Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, AU
2001
Ten in One Gallery, New York, NY, USA (exhibition catalogue)
A Little Less of Me Deluxe Projects, Chicago, IL, USA
Ten in One Gallery: Project Space, New York, NY, USA
2000
Suburban Abstraction, Rocket, London, UK
Ten in One Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1999
In Situ, Aalst, BE
Hermetic Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Ten in One Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Paintings for Modern Chairs, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI, USA
1998
Home Painting, Rocket Gallery, London, UK (exhibition catalogue)
Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
Fuzzy, ICA, Portland, ME, US
Safety Patterns, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Safety Patterns, Rocket Gallery, London, UK
1997
Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
NOVA (Institute of Visual Arts), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, USA
1996
Ten in One Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Hermetic Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Selected Group Shows
2020
Back to the Roots : Beth Campbell, Nils Erik Gjerdevik, Michelle Grabner, Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie, Basel, CH
A View Without A Room. Michelle Grabner & Vanessa Maltese, Mickey, Chicago, IL, US
2019
PATTERNS : Michelle Grabner, Sheila Hicks, Edda Renouf, Dan Walsh, Stephen Westfall, Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie, Basel, CH
AEGIS, Parisian Laundry, Montreal, CA
Double Edged, Geometric Abstraction, Then and Now, Weatherspoon Art Museum, UNC Greensboro, NC, US
Downtown Mural Project, Cleveland, OH, US
2018
Grids, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY, US
Dual Currents: Inseparable Elements in Painting and Architecture, Clara M. Eagle Galleries, Murray State University, Murray, KY, USA
A Brief History of Abstraction, curated by Julie Sass, Rønnebæksholm, Næstved, DK
2017
Gray Matters, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH, USA
Dual Currents: Inseparable Elements in Painting and Architecture, Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of America, NY, USA
Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection, Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, USA
99 Cents or Less, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI, USA
Heavy Metal, Akron Art Museum, OH, USA
Sag Harbor, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL, USA
Like Your Work, curated by Erin Washington, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Sculpture Milwaukee, Wisconsin Avenue curated by Russell Bowman, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Paper Play, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, USA
In House, Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery, Presbyterian College, Clinton, SC, USA
Art Show and Cake, curated by Seth Hunter, Beehold Cakes, Lafayette CO, USA
A Tiny Rivulet in the Distant Forest, curated by Michael Velliquette, Artstart, Rhinelander, WI, USA
2016
It was Never Linear: Recent Painting, Sheldon Museum, Lincoln, NE, USA
Living Rooms, John Michael Kohler Art Center, WI
Physical Painting, Richard & Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase College, Purchase, NY, USA
Condensed Matter Community, Synchrotron Radiation Center: Home of Aladdin, curated by Evan Gruzis & Kristof Wickman, Stoughton, WI
An Unnamed Need: Pattern and Beauty in Contemporary Art, Leech, Hoffmaster & Kohler Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI
Strange Abstraction, Featuring Joanne Greenbaum, Arlene Shechet, Chris Martin, Cary Smith and Others, Fredericks & Freiser, New York, NY
Eastside International, Los Angeles, CA
Radical Plastic, curated by Rachel Reese, CUE Foundation, NY
Expanded Fields, Nymphius Projekte, Berlin, DE
Julian Dashper and Friends, PS, Amsterdam, Holland
2015
Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft and Design, Midcentury and Today, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY, USA; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., USA
The Works: Artists in and From Chicago, Curated by Dieter Roelstraete, Abigail Winograd and Eleonore de Sadeleer, CAB Contemporary Art, Brussels, BE
Color Fields, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA, USA
FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon, FR
Linear Abstraction, Gutstein Gallery, Savannah College of Art Museum, Savannah, GA, USA
Piece by Piece: Building a Collection, The Christy and Bill Gautreaux Collection, Kemper Museum, Kansas City, MO, USA
Selections from the Cleve Carney Bequest, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL, USA
Same Difference: Michelle Grabner, Simone Leigh, Russell Maltz, The Art Museum at The University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
2014
This One’s Optimistic: Pincushion, Curated by Cary Smith, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT, USA
Michelle Grabner and Brad Killam, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA, USA
Sensitive Instruments, curated by Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, IL, USA
Shakti, Brand New Gallery, Milan, IT
Social Goth, Scandinavian Institute, New York, NY, USA
Simplest Means, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY, USA
MORNING AND EVENING ASYLUM, Tanya Leighton, Berlin and Off Vendrome, Dusseldorf, DE
Repetitive Motion, curated by Jennifer Samet, Steven Harvey Projects/ Projector, New York, NY, USA
2013
To Pack and Wear, Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY, USA
On the Grid, curated by Sima Familant, Lu Magnus, New York, NY, USA
Work, organized by Sara Greenberger Rafferty, Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Faux Life, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, USA
The White Album, Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Buzz, curated by Vik Muniz, Nara Roesler, Sao Paolo, BR
Spectator Sports, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, USA
PS, Galerie Ruth Leuchter, Dusseldorf, DE
19516 kilometers from Milwaukee or 12126 miles, Misako & Rosen, Tokyo, JP
Selected Works, Southfirst, Brooklyn, USA
Compilation | painting, photography, sculpture, Rocket, London, UK
Point of Departure, The Arcade, Columbia College, Chicago, USA
Inaugural Exhibition, Museum of Wisconsin, West Bend, WI, USA
2012
Chris Bradley, Michelle Grabner, Suzanne McClelland, Amanda Ross-Ho, Lisa Williamson, Shane Campbell Gallery, Lincoln Park, Chicago, IL, USA
Lucie Fontaine: Estate, Marianne Boesky Gallery, 64th Street, New York NY, USA
Land of the Seven Moles, PS, Amsterdam, NL
Les Détours de l’abstraction, MUDAM, Luxembourg, LU
More and Different Flags, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, NY, USA
Neither Here Nor There But Anywhere, MINUS SPACE, Brooklyn, USA
Time Flies: 2 Years at Drive-By, BK Projects, Boston, MA, USA
TIME, Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie, Zurich, CH
Ongoing Minimalism (Stefan Eberstadt, Michelle Grabner, Ditty Ketting, Will Taylor, Lars Wolter), Rocket, London, UK
MINUS SPACE: Editions & Multiples, curated by Matthew Deleget & Emi Winter, Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, MX
Did You See Heaven, Peregrine Program, Chicago, IL, USA
First Love, O’Connor Gallery, Dominican University, River Forrest, IL, USA
Tops, curated by Sun Yu, Open Space, Long Island City, NY, USA
Endless, PLUG PROJECTS, Kansas City, MO, USA
Total RECALL, two-person exhibition with Brad Killam, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, USA
Critology, Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at Western Carolina University, NC and California State, USA
University Los Angeles Art Galleries, CA, USA
THE, Alternative Projects, Milwaukee, WI, USA
The Indiscpline of Painting: International Abstraction from the 1960s to Now, Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, UK
2011
A Painting Show, curated by Laura Raicovich and Jessie Washburne-Harris, Harris Lieberman, New York, NY, USA
The Indiscipline of Painting: International Abstraction from the 1960s to Now,” Tate St. Ives, UK
Women and Weaving, Southfirst, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Dressing the Monument, curated by John Riepenhoff and Piper Marshall, Lynden Sculpture Garden, Milwaukee, IL, USA
COMPILATION : ONGOING MINIMALISM, Paintings by Lars Wolter, Michelle Grabner, Stefan Eberstadt, Will Taylor, Rocket, London, UK
KISS: New Sincerity & New Romaticism in Art, Clara M Eagale Gallery, Murray State, KY, USA
A Shot in the Dark, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA
SCULPTURE GARDEN/PAINTING SHOW, curated by Andrew Greene, Iceberg Projects, Chicago, IL, USA
Ways of Making: Work on Paper, Visual Arts Gallery, Governors State University, IL, USA
Michelle Grabner and Sarah Blyth-Stephens, U.turn Art Space, Cincinnati, OH, USA
MARKED, Kittridge Gallery, University of Puget Sound, Puget Sound, WA, USA
Unfinished Paintings: Unresolved Work by 40 Contemporary Artists, LACE, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Between This Light and That Space, Minus Space, curated by Doug Meilini, New York, NY USA
Free Range-Painting and the University of Pennsylvania, Morgan Gallery, University of Philadelphia, PA, USA
SPUR, STRUKTUR…, Galerie Nikolaus Ruzicska, Salzburg, AT
2010
Collaborating with Michelle Grabner isn’t as much fun as you might think it is, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA, USA
The Elegant Drawing Show, Drive-By, Boston, MA, USA
Ornament and Crime (and Crime), Adds Donna, Chicago, IL, USA
A Shot in the Dark, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA
UND#6, Schwartz Gallery, London, UK
Newtonland: Orbits, Ellipses and other Planes of Activity, White Flag Projects, St. Louis, MO, USA
Mother, NYU Steinhardt Commons Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Art Scout, Arlington Art Center, Arlington VA, USA
Borderland Abstraction, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE, USA
Don’t Piss on Me and Tell Me it’s Raining, curated by Bad at Sports, Apex Art, NY, USA
Emerging from a New Known, curated by Douglas Melini, NO LONGER EMPTY, New York, NY, USA
On Painting Julius Caesar, Chicago, IL, USA
My Eyes Keep Me In Trouble, La Station, Nice, FR
2009
Halbjahresgaben, Tanzschule, Munich, DE
SUBVISION kunst.festival, Hamburg, DE
Constellations: Paintings from the MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA
Open House For Butterflies, MINUS SPACE Project Space, Brooklyn, NY, USA
PS, The Highland Institute for Contemporary Art, Inverness, UK
Because the Night, curated by Sabina Ott, Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman College, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Wallgasm, Anstrom Gallery, LA, USA
Let’s Leave It at That…, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA, USA
of or related to the sky or visible heavens, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL, USA
De-Centered Practice, curated by Jennifer Dudley, Ethan Greenbaum, Colleen Asper, Circus Gallery, LA, USA
PS 1999-2009, Kunstruimte09, Groningen, NL
Trance, Chance, Dreams and the Unconscious, Southfirst, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2008
Presents, curated by Milwaukee International, Rowley Kennerk, Chicago, IL, USA
Sensory Overload: Forces of Light Sound and Motion, Milwaukee Art Museum, WI, USA
UND CROXHAPOX, Ghent, BE
NOLEFTOVERS, Kunsthalle, Bern, CH
These Are The People In Your Neighborhood, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA, USA
2007
Maximinimalist, INOVA, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, USA
Fast Forward: The School of the Art Institute in the 21st Century, Rockfort Art Museum, IL, USA
Eldorado: with Gaylen Gerber, Musee d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, LU
Figures in the Field, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA
Outside Europe: From the Daimler art Collection, Stadtgalerie Kiel, Kiel, DE
The Believers, Franklin Hudson Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Strange Days, Samuel P. Harn Museum, Gainsville, FL, USA
Slowness, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Editions
2018
Cleve Carney Portfolio, College of DuPage, IL, US: prints by Chicago artists Phyllis Bramson, Michelle Grabner, Judy Ledgerwood, Tony Tasset, and Richard Rezac
City Canvas Portfolio, FRONT International, Cleveland, OH, US prints by Heimo Zobernig, Sarah Morris, Julian Stanczak, Odili Odita, and Michelle Grabner
Print Project Chicago
2017
Zygote Press, MOCA Cleveland edition, OH, US
2016
Spudnik Press, Chicago
2015
Tandem Press, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Thing Quarterly, Gingham soccer ball, San Francisco, CA, US
2013
Zygote Press, I Work From Home, MOCA Cleveland, OH, US
2002
The Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Portfolio, Balkin Press, Madison, WI, US
Public Collections
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, OH, USA
Bates College, Lewiston, Lewiston, ME, US
Daimler Contemporary, Berlin, DE
Dallas Museum of Art, TX, US
Indianapolis Museum of Art, IN, US
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, WI, USA
Milwaukee Art Museum, WI, USA
Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, South Hadley, MA, US
MUDAM – Musée d’Art Moderne Luxemburg, LU
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
RISD MUSEUM, Providence, RI, US
Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE, US
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC, USA
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, US
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Honors
2021
Guggenheim Fellowship
2019
National Academy Academician, National Academy of Design, US
Selected Publications
A Brief History of Abstraction, exhibition catalog with contributions from Erica Hoffmann (Berlin) and director of Palazzo Fortuny Daniela Ferretti (Venice) and Julie Sass, 2018.
Bronze: Michelle Grabner, exhibition catalog, essay by David Getsy and Caroline Levine, James Cohan, New York, 2017.
Dual Current: Inseparable Elements in Painting and Architecture, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2017.
Michelle Grabner: Gingham, Limited edition, essays by Lottie Stephenson and Laura Perry. Designed by Jonathan Stephenson, published by Rocket Gallery, London, 2015.
Akademie X: Lessons in Art + Life, Phaidon Press 2015.
I Work From Home, Mousse Publication, edited by David Norr with essays by Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, Dan Byers, Rose Bouthillier, Peter Ribic, David Robbins and David Norr, 2014.
Element 47 The Art Collection, essays by Barbara Bloemink, Maruand Books, 2014.
Michelle Grabner: The INOVA Survey, exhibition catalogue, essays by Nicholas Frank, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee and Green Gallery Press, 2012.
The Indiscipline of Painting, Martin Clark (Editor), Sarah Shalgosky (Editor), Daniel Sturgis (Editor), Tate Publishing, October 1, 2011.
On Painting, Poor Farm Press, with an essay by: Ann Craven, Susanna Coffey, Anoka Faruqee, Michelle Grabner, Peter Halley, Thomas Lawson, Judy Ledgerwood, Rebecca Morris, Carrie Moyer, Jon Pestoni, Sabina Ott, Scott Reeder, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, 2011.
No Soul For Sale—A Festival of Independents, The Tate Modern, edited by Cecilia Alemani, Maurizio Cattelan, Massimiliano Gioni, Ali Subotnick, Charley Independents Publication, 2010.
These Are The People in Your Neighborhood: Sixteen Years of Gallery 16, essay by Mark Van Proyen, 2010.
Can I come Over to Your House: The First Ten Years of the Suburban, Poor Farm Press, with an essay by Michael Newman, 2010.
The Studio Reader, The University of Chicago Press, edited by Mary Jane Jacob and Michelle Grabner, Introduction by Michelle Grabner, 2010.
There are many things in the air and all of them are for free, Poor Farm Press, with an essay by Nicholas Frank, 2010.
Michelle Grabner’s Black Circle Paintings, Poor Farm Press, with an essay by Annika Marie, 2009.
Remain in Light, Illinois State University, with essays by Lane Relyea and Peter Ribic, 2008.
Minimalism and After, Hatje Cantz, essay by Renate Wieghager, Claudia Kleinbub, Friederike Nymphius, Rudolf Scheutle and Claudia Seidel, 2007.
The Suburban: The Early Years, self-published, with essays by Nicholas Frank, Matthew Higgs, and Peter Ribic, 2003.
Sweetness and Light, self-published, with essays by Shane Campbell and Nicholas Frank, 2001.
Charley 01, edited by Maurizio Cattelan, Charley Independents Publication, 2001.
Post-Hypnotic, Illinois State University Press, with essays by Dave Hickey, Barry Blinderman, Peter Halley and Tom Moody, 1999.
Home Painting, published by Rocket Gallery, London, with an essay by Jerome Sans, 1999.
If Walls Could Talk, published by Hermetic Gallery, Milwaukee, with an essay by Nicholas Frank, 1997.
25 Americans: Painting in the 90s, Milwaukee Art Museum, with an essay by Dean Sobel, 1995.
