Sandy Skoglund Biography and Artwork

born USA 1946

Sandy Skoglund (born 11 September 1946) is an American photographer and installation artist. Skoglund was an art professor at the University of Hartford between 1973 and 1976. She is currently teaching photography and art installation/multimedia at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Skoglund creates surrealist images by building elaborate sets or tableaux, furnishing them with carefully selected colored furniture and other objects, a process of which takes her months to complete. Finally, she photographs the set, complete with actors. The works are characterized by an overwhelming amount of one object and either bright, contrasting colors or a monochromatic color scheme.

Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, Skoglund studied both art history and studio art at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, graduating in 1968. In 1967, she studied art history at the Sorbonne and Ecole Du Louvre in Paris, France. After graduating from Smith College, she went to graduate school at the University of Iowa in 1969, where she studied filmmaking, multimedia art, and printmaking. In 1971, she earned her Master of Arts and in 1972 and a Master of Fine Arts in painting.

In 1972, Skoglund began working as a conceptual artist in New York. She became interested in teaching herself photography to document her artistic endeavors, experimenting with themes of repetition. In 1978, she had produced a series of repetitious food item still life images. One of her most-known photographs, entitled Radioactive Cats, features green-painted clay cats running amuck in a gray kitchen. An older man sits in a chair with his back facing the camera while his elderly wife looks into a refrigerator that is the same color as the walls. Another image, Fox Games has a similar feel to Radioactive Cats and is also widely recognized. A third and final oft-recognized piece by her features numerous fish hovering above people in bed late at night and is called Revenge of the Goldfish.

Select Timeline

Select Exhibitions

• 1994 - Around the House, Frumkin/Adams Gallery, New York, NY
• 1994 - La Chair Promise, Musee de l'Abbaye Sainte-Croix, Sainte-Croix, France
• 1994 - Babies and Bambies, Arti and Amicitiae, Amsterdam
• 1994 - Testwall, TZ'ART & CO., New York, NY
• 1994 - Lakeview Museum, Peoria, IL
• 1994 - Janet Borden, New York, NY
• 1994 - The Amarillo Art Museum, Amarillo, TX
• 1994 - Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
• 1994 - Ulrich Museum, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
• 1995 - Work in Progress, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
• 1995 - Photography Today, Soeul, Korea
• 1995 - L'Immagine Riflessa, Museo Pecci-Pratta
• 1995 - An American Century of Photography, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
• 1995 - Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, MA
• 1995 - Echlers Caudill Gallery, Chicago, IL
• 1995 - Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale AZ
• 1995 - Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX
• 1995 - Museumsverein Arolsen, Arolsen, Germany
• 1995 - Galeria Spectrum, Zaragoza, Spain
• 1996 - Photography in 1990's, Wright State University, Dayton OH
• 1997 - Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
• 1999 - Elaine J. Jacob Gallery, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
• 1999 - Kendall College Art Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI
• 1999 - The Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE
• 1999 - Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
• 1999 - Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA
• 1999 - Janet Borden, Inc., New York, New York
• 2000 - Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA
• 2000 - Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
• 2000 - Museum of Contemporary Arts and Design, New York, N.Y.
• 2000 - Galerie Guy Bartschi, Geneva, Switzerland, Catalogue with Essay by Philippe Piguet.
• 2000 - Museo d'arte della Provincia di Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy
• 2000 - Norton Museum, West Palm Beach, FL
• 2001 - ARTCHICAGO 2001, Fay Gold Gallery
• 2001 - Janet Borden Gallery, Inc., N.Y.
• 2001 - Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MT
• 2002 - Rule Gallery, Denver, CO
• 2002 - Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH
• 2002 - B & D Gallery, Milan, Italy.
• 2002 - Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
• 2002 - Hunter Museum, Chattanooga, TN
• 2002 - Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, N.Y.
• 2003 - Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
• 2003 - Center for Visual Art, Denver, CO
• 2004 - The New York Hall of Science, within context of major architectural expansion, New York
• 2004 - Rockford College, Rockford, Illinois
• 2004 - Copia, The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, Napa, CA
• 2004 - Museum of Glass, International Center for Contemporary Art, Tacoma, WA
• 2005 - Galerie Guy Bartschi, Geneve, Suisse
• 2005 - The Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA
• 2005 - The New Jersey Center for the Visual Arts, Summit, NJ

Select Artwork

• Walking On Eggshells, 1997
• The Invisible Web, 1986
• The sound of Food (True Fiction), 1986-2004
• The Wedding, 1994
• The Cocktail Party, 1992
• The Green House, 1990

Quotes

Publications

• Sandy Skoglund - by Linda Muehlig, Harry N. Abrams (March 1, 1998)

Quick Facts

• Sandy Skoglund is an American photographer and installation artist.
• Skoglund creates surrealist images by building elaborate sets or tableaux, furnishing them with carefully selected colored furniture and other objects, a process of which takes her months to complete. Finally, she photographs the set, complete with actors.
• The works are characterized by an overwhelming amount of one object and either bright, contrasting colors or a monochromatic color scheme.
• In 1972, Skoglund began working as a conceptual artist in New York.
• One of her most-known photographs, entitled Radioactive Cats, features green-painted clay cats running amok in a gray kitchen. An older man sits in a chair with his back facing the camera while his elderly wife looks into a refrigerator that is the same color as the walls.

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