Whitney Lynn is an artist whose work considers the past’s influence on the present and the role of images in the construction of power, illusion, myth and desire.
Working across a wide array of forms Lynn has staged performance projects at the SFMOMA, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the de Young Museum; screened videos at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Armory Center for the Arts, and El Espacio 23; and created public art for the San Diego International Airport, alongside the Burke-Gilman trail in Seattle, and on bus bench billboards across Miami.
Lynn was the first-ever National Artist-in-Residence at The Neon Museum, Las Vegas (2016), and was invited to complete additional project-based residencies at the Internet Archive (2019), de Young Museum (2017), LightSource (2019), and Jack Straw Cultural Center (2023). Beginning Autumn 2023, she will be an Artist Fellow with Black Cube, a non-profit museum that produces site-specific contemporary art in the public realm.
Born on a military base in Arizona, Lynn attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, received a BFA in Sculpture + Extended from Virginia Commonwealth University, and MFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute. She is currently an Assistant Professor and Chair of Interdisciplinary Visual Art at the University of Washington.
Working across a wide array of forms Lynn has staged performance projects at the SFMOMA, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the de Young Museum; screened videos at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Armory Center for the Arts, and El Espacio 23; and created public art for the San Diego International Airport, alongside the Burke-Gilman trail in Seattle, and on bus bench billboards across Miami.
Lynn was the first-ever National Artist-in-Residence at The Neon Museum, Las Vegas (2016), and was invited to complete additional project-based residencies at the Internet Archive (2019), de Young Museum (2017), LightSource (2019), and Jack Straw Cultural Center (2023). Beginning Autumn 2023, she will be an Artist Fellow with Black Cube, a non-profit museum that produces site-specific contemporary art in the public realm.
Born on a military base in Arizona, Lynn attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, received a BFA in Sculpture + Extended from Virginia Commonwealth University, and MFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute. She is currently an Assistant Professor and Chair of Interdisciplinary Visual Art at the University of Washington.
Current + Upcoming
Tenure/Promotion Exhibition, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WASept. 2023
Recent + Selected Projects/Exhibitions
Time Kills, Jack Straw Cultural Center, Seattle, WABefore the Wax Melt, UNTITLED Art (Monuments), Miami Beach, 2022
Fotografía en Movimiento, screening organized by Juan Carlos Alom, El Espacio 23, Miami, FL, 2022
Wine Dark See, Burke-Gilman Trail (public art), commissioned by the Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle, WA, 2021
Wine Dark See, Burke-Gilman Trail (public art), commissioned by the Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle, WA, 2021
Multiples and Editions
Available through Open Editions, Auxiliary Projects, and Catharine Clark Gallery
Selected Press
Hall W. Rockefeller. “Women Artists of the Pacific Northwest.” Less Than Half. June 29, 2020.Kim Beil, “An Act of Gathering: Whitney Lynn Interviewed by Kim Beil: A public artwork layers history and language.” BOMB Magazine. Jul 5, 2021
Charles Desmarais. "Whitney Lynn’s ‘Sirens’ Enchant at Bass & Reiner.” San Francisco Chronicle. June 6, 2019.
Kristen Peterson. “Biblical Temptresses In Neon: San Francisco-Based Whitney Lynn Looks At Las Vegas In The Larger Context Of Time. ” Las Vegas Weekly. June 29, 2016.
Selected Writing
“Love Letter to Jeannene Przyblyski.” Variable West. March 8, 2022.“Howard Fried: The Decomposition of my Mother’s Wardrobe at the Box.” Daily Serving. Dec. 17, 2014.
Residencies
The Neon Museum, Las Vega; de Young Museum; Internet Archive; Jack Straw New Media Residency; LightSource SFFellowships
Black Cube (upcoming), Royalty Research Fund (RRF) Scholar, Mellon Faculty Fellowship, Hermine Pruzan Faculty FellowshipBiography
Born: Williams Air Force Base, AZ, 1980; currently lives and works in Seattle, WA. MFA in New Genres, SFAI (2007); BFA in Sculpture + Extended Media, VCU (2004); Performance studies at the SFCM (1998-99)Teaching
Current: Assistant Professor and Chair of Interdisciplinary Visual Art, University of Washington, SeattlePast: Stanford University, UC Berkeley, University of San Francisco, Sonoma State University, University of the Pacific, et al.