Born in 1954 in Los Angeles, California
Lives and works in Los Angeles, California and Akwidaa, Ghana
Todd Gray’s photosculptures interrogate the long reach of colonization and its intersection with the built environment, the natural world, and other manifestations of historical and contemporary culture. Drawing from his extensive archive of original photographs—taken over the course of five decades—Gray composes syncopated arrangements that speak in equal measure to rapturous beauty and devastating critique. With an incisive eye for detail, Gray builds visual and intellectual connections between slave castles and Renaissance interiors, pop icons and sculptural monuments, classical order and the digital glitch, reorienting our received notions about how to see the world.
A precocious teenager, Gray got his start as a music photographer, touring with the Rolling Stones before graduating from high school. After choosing to attend CalArts during the school’s heyday as a center of conceptual art, Gray maintained a successful commercial practice, shooting hundreds of iconic album covers and magazine assignments. A return to CalArts for graduate studies during the late 80s marked an important shift in his work, infusing his already-rigorous conceptual and technical practice with a deep engagement with post-colonial theory. As a result of his multifaceted background as a photographer, sculptor, performer, and educator, Gray has developed a compelling visual vocabulary, using images in powerful combinations that speak to the eye, mind, and body.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Gray now lives between Los Angeles and Akwidaa, Ghana.
education
1989
- MFA, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California
1979
- BFA, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California
solo shows
2026
- Perrotin, Los Angeles, California (forthcoming)
- The Brick, Los Angeles, California (forthcoming)
2025
- While Angels Gaze, Lehmann Maupin, New York, NY
2024
- Time Warp / other tellings, Gallerie Opdahl, Stavanger, Norway
- Reality Reframed: Recent Works by Todd Gray, The 8th Floor, New York, NY
2023
- Rome Work, Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles, CA
- On Point, Lehmann Maupin, London, United Kingdom
2022
- Atlantic lullabies, Other tellings, David Lewis, New York, NY
2021
- Todd Gray: Crossing the Waters of Space, Time and History, Kalamazoo Institute of Kalamazoo, MI
- the hidden order of the whole, David Lewis, New York, NY
- Todd Gray / MATRIX 186, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
2019
- Cartesian Gris Gris, David Lewis Gallery, New York, NY
- Todd Gray: Euclidean Gris Gris, Pomona College Museum of Art, Pomona, CA
2018
- Portraits, Meliksetian | Briggs, Los Angeles, CA
- Pluralities of Being, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA
2017
- My Life in the Bush with MJ and Iggy, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA
- Pluralities of Being, Gallery Momo, Johannesburg, South Africa
2016
- Time Machine: Hippie Dandy, Melikstetian | Briggs, Los Angeles, CA
- Todd Gray, Lightwork, Syracuse, NY
2015
- Caliban in the Mirror: Exquisite Terribleness, Samson Projects, Boston, MA
2014
- Exquisite Terribleness, Meliksetian | Briggs, Los Angeles, CA
2012
- The Gray Room, Hagedorn Foundation Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2010
- Spirit Shack, See Line Gallery, West Hollywood, CA
2005
- Todd Gray, Shaman, Pablo’s Birthday, New York, NY
2004
- Todd Gray: Immaculate, Luckman Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, CA
2003
- Media Tower, Pasadena City College, Los Angeles, CA
2002
- Todd Gray, Kellogg Gallery, Cal Poly Pomona, State University, Pomona, CA
1996
- Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
- Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, CA
group shows
2025
- Black Earth Rising, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
- Beyond Material, Lehmann Maupin, London, United Kingdom
- FEMMES, Perrotin, Paris, France
- Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Stanford, CA
2024
- Invisible Luggage, Historic Hampton House, Miami, FL
- Looking for Infinity, Zian Gallery, Hangzhou, China
- Digital Witness: Revolutions in Design, Photography, and Film, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
- Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene, Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, NC
- Couples Squared, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, NY
- Impact: Contemporary Artists at the Hermitage Artist Retreat, Sarasota Art Museum, Sarasota, FL
2023
- NGV Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
- Inheritance, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
- The World Made Wondrous: The Dutch Collector’s Cabinet and the Politics of Possession, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
- In and Out of Time, Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana
- Mapping an Art World: Los Angeles in the 1970s-80s, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2022
- Afro-Atlantic Histories, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
- Claiming the Narrative, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, NJ
2021
- Black American Portraits, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
- Mining The Archive, Yancey Richardson, New York, NY
- Photo Flux: Unshuttering LA, The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA
- Things…Things Fall Apart, David Lewis Gallery, New York, NY
2020
- Constellation, David Lewis Gallery, New York, NY
- TO BOUGH AND TO BEND, Bridge Projects, Los Angeles, CA
- TELL ME YOUR STORY: Storytelling in African American Art, From the Harlem Renaissance to the Present, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, The Netherlands
2019
- Michael Jackson: On the Wall, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland
- Ec·dy·sis, ltd los angeles at CASSTL and Antwerp Art Pavillion, Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp, Belgium
- Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
- Mapping Black Identities, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
- A Brilliant Spectrum: Recent Gifts of Color Photography, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
- Michael Jackson: On the Wall, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn Germany
2018
- Michael Jackson: On the Wall, National Portrait Gallery, London UK
- Michael Jackson: On the Wall, Grand Palais, Paris, France
- The Assassination of Leon Trotsky, David Lewis Gallery, New York, NY
- Public Fiction: The Conscientious Objector, MAK center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles, CA
2016
- a, the, through, only, Made in LA 2016, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2015
- Breath/Breadth: Contemporary American Black Male Identity, Maier Art Museum, Randolph College, Lynchburg, CA
- Above/Below/Within, Meliksetian | Briggs, Los Angeles, CA
- Cry Me A River, Etoile Polaire Lodge No. 1, New Orleans, LA
- Caliban in the Mirror, 2.0, Samson Art Gallery, Boston, MA
- Manifest Justice, Meliksetian | Briggs Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2014
- Freeway Studies #2: Inside the Quad, Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art, Los Angeles, CA
- Racial Imaginary, Pitzer Art Galleries, Claremont, CA
- Exquisite Terribleness, Meliksetian | Briggs Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
- Gettin’ off the Ground, Angels Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro, CA
2013
- Go Tell It on the Mountain, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2012
- Sight Specific: LACPS and the Politics of Community, USC Fisher Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
- Posing Beauty, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA
- Refocus: Multicultural Focus, Arena 1, Los Angeles, CA
2011
- Posing Beauty, Newark Art Museum, Newark, NJ
- The Bearden Project, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
- Posing Beauty, Fisher Museum of Art at USC, Los Angeles, CA
2010
- From My Universe, Objects of Desire, See Line Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
- Contemporary Art From The Douglas Nielsen Collection, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2009
- Black is Black Ain’t, Detroit Museum of Art, Detroit, MI
- Oz, New Offerings From Los Angeles, Instituto Cultural Cabaña, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Posing Beauty, Gulf+Western Gallery, New York, NY
2008
- Black Is Black Ain’t, Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
- Twenty Years Ago Today: Supporting Visual Artists L.A., Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA
- Truthiness: Photography as Sculpture, California Museum of Photography, Riverside, CA
- PIX, Some Recent Photos From The Post-Filmic Era, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
- This Side of Paradise: Body and Landscape in Los Angeles Photographs, Huntington Library, Los Angeles, CA
2007
- Celebrity, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ
- Celebrity, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, Texas
- Blacks in and out of the Box, California African-American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2006
- Gray, Korfmann, Youngblood: New Forms in Photography, Carl Berg Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
- Brave New World, Pharmaka Art, Los Angeles, CA
2005
- Framing the Triangle, Goethe Institute, Accra, Ghana
2004
- Fade, 1990-2003, Luckman Gallery, CSULA, Los Angeles, CA
2001
- Committed to the Image, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY
- Beyond Boundaries: Contemporary Photography in California, The Friends of Photography, San Francisco, CA
2000
- Made in California 1900-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
- American Dreams, 6th International Triennale, Maribor Art Gallery, Maribor, Slovenia
- A History of African American Photographers, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC.
1998
- Mouse: An American Icon, Alternative Museum, New York, NY
- Presumed Innocence, Anderson Gallery of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
- Presumed Innocence, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
- City of Los Angeles Individual Artists Grant Recipients, L. A. Municipal Gallery at Barnsdall Art Park, Los Angeles, CA
1997
- Elusive Paradise: Los Angeles Art from the Permanent Collection, Spheres of Influence, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1996
- Man’s World, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
- The Present (H)our, Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, CA
public collections
Benton Museum of Art, Pomona College, Claremont, CA
California Community Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Eileen and Peter Norton Family Foundation, Santa Monica, CA
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, CA
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
University of Connecticut, Hartford, CT
University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
awards
2022
- Rome Prize, The American Academy in Rome, Italy
2018
- John Simon Guggeneheim Fellowship for Fine Arts, New York, NY
2016
- Bellagio Creative Arts Fellowship, The Rockefeller Foundation, New York, NY
2005
- California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists, J. Paul Getty Trust Fund, Los Angeles, CA
2004
- Visiting Artist, Kunsthochschule für Medien, Cologne, Germany
- Pasadena Art Alliance Grant for Immaculate, Los Angeles, CA
- Artists’ Resource for Completion Grant, The Durfee Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
2002
- Visiting Artist, Kunsthochschule für Medien, Cologne, Germany
- Visiting Artist, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA
2001
- Visiting Artist, Kunsthochschule für Medien, Cologne, Germany
1997
- City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Grant, Los Angeles, CA