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Artist Biography
Allison Schulnik choreographs her subjects in compositions that embody a spirit of the macabre, a Shakespearian comedy/tragedy of love, death and farce. The subjects often stare back at the audience and study them as they are in turn studied, aware of their ancestors from the Grand Theme works of the past, the genre paintings that inform them. Although a haunting sense of foreboding, discomfort and unease is palpable, a sense of understanding, compassion and hopefulness for her cast of characters is still evident in the heavy impasto paintings. Her sculptural use of oil paint references her clay-animation background, as a motion-like sensibility affords her paintings unparalleled depth and energy.
Born in 1978 (San Diego, CA), Schulnik earned her BFA in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia (CA). She has had solo exhibitions at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OK), Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (KS), Rokeby Gallery (London), Unosunove Arte Contemporanea (Rome), Division Gallery (Montreal), and ZieherSmith Gallery (NY), in addition to her inclusion in film festivals around the world. Her work has also been shown at the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture (Moscow), Hammer Museum (CA), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (CA), Santa Barbara Museum of Art (CA), Contemporary Arts Museum (LA), and Hangar-7 (Salzburg), among many others. Allison Schulnik is in the public collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (CA), Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (KS), Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (CA), Santa Barbara Art Museum (CA), Museé de Beaux Arts (Montreal), Farnsworth Art Museum (ME), Laguna Art Museum (CA), Monteal Contemporary Art Museum (Canada), and Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Canada). The artist lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
For a full biography and curriculum vitae, please click the PDF download link below.
Selected Press
Eclectix -
Art Ltd - Allison Schulnik
Paper - Generation Music Video
OC Weekly - Allison Schulnik's Laguna Babylon
Art Scene - Allison Schulnik Laguna Art Museum Review
The MetroWest Daily News - Painting beyond the stretcher at the deCordova
KCRW - South of LA: Crazy, Messy, and Endlessly Delightful
Time Out New York - Who needs MTV? Music videos come to the museum
OC Register - Eye on O.C: Reception opens eyes
Huffington Post - Allison Schulnik Interview
The Face Painters - Allison Schulnik at Laguna Art Museum (Orange County)
The Buddha Diaries - Laguna Art Museum
Fabrik - Allison Schulnik at Lagina Art Museum
The Phoenix - Painting beyond the stretcher at the deCordova
Boston Globe - 'Paint Things' is off the wall
Blouin ArtInfo - Review: "Dark Matter" at Arsenal Rolls in the Dirt While Looking to the Stars
Eager Too Publication - First Edition published by Nieves
CBS - OC's Best Museum Exhibits In 2013
Sculpture Magazine - Exhibition Review
Curbs and Stoops - Allison Schulnik Interview
The Kansas City Star - Oppenheimer Collection celebrates an anniversary: Twenty Years Strong
New American Paintings Blog - I Heart KC Art
Artforum - Review: Allison Schulnik at Mark Moore Gallery
VIP ART - Character Study: Daniel Gordon & Allison Schulnik
Art:21 - Inside the Artist's Studio | Shannon Fitzgerald
Blouin ArtInfo - Slideshow: The Best Dressed Of The Art World
Nashville Scene - The Best of ZieherSmith + Pics from the Opening
Country Life - Harmony Korine, Allison Schulnik, Caroline Allison and More: ZieherSmith Pop-Up Gallery, Part 2!
Los Angeles Times - Drawn in, only to be repulsed
New Baroque - Allison Schulnik @ Mark Moore Gallery
WHITEHOT Magazine - Keeping It Dirty; A Conversation With Allison Schulnik
New York Times Blog - Friends Indeed | New Shows
LA Art Diary - Allison Schulnik
Planet Magazine - Allison Schulnik Salty Air
Juxtapoz - ALLISON SCHULNIK "SALTY AIR" @ MARK MOORE GALLERY
CalArts Magazine - Allison Schulnik
W Magazine - Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man... Woman... or Fashion Collective
Blood Is The New Black - ALLISON SCHULNIK
Sokratis Eres - Allison Schulnik: Salty Air
Huffington Post - Brings Mermaids And Scallywags To Mark Moore Gallery
MMG In-House "Statements" Catalog - #14
LA Canvas - Allison Schulnik at Mark Moore Gallery
Blouin Art Info - The LA Agenda: 6 Art Picks, Featuring Allison Schulnik
Art Info - The Tastemaker: Cat-Obsessed Artist Allison Schulnik on Her Favorite Feline Platforms and Red Lipstick
Pull The Metal - Allison Schulnik: Nice and Grim
Statements - MMG In-House Publication
Nashville Scene - Affecting, unsettling works from the Frist Center's Fairy Tales, Monsters and the Genetic Imagination
Juxtapoz - Allison Schulnik's 'Mound'
Huffington Post Arts - The Cultural Landscape Architects: Scott Zieher of ZieherSmith
Lookbooks - Art: Allison Schulnik & Eric Yahnker
Artillery - Reviews: Allison Schulnik, ZieherSmith Inc.
Modern Painters - The Claws Come Out
ARTLOG - 10 Museum-Worth Videos, From Bright Eyes to R.E.M.
New York Times - Allison Schulnik: 'Mound'
The Examiner - The Sagamore, The Art Hotel Presents LA Artist Allison Schulnik
The Creators Project - Allison Schulnik Pushes Claymation To Its Psychedelic Limit
New American Paintings - Piled-Up: Q&A With Allison Schulnik
ARTINFO - Why is hip young painter Allison Schulnik so obsessed with cats? A Q&A
The New Yorker - Goings On About Town: Allison Schulnik
L Magazine - Allison Schulnik Sculpts Sad Clowns Out of Paint
Huffington Post - MOUND: Moving Stop-Motion from Allison Schulnik
Art In America - The Lookout: A Weekly Guide to Shows You Won't Want to Miss
Time Out New York - Review: Allison Schulnik, "Mound"
Culture Catch - Allison Schulnik: Mound
Huffington Post Arts - Something Sticky This Way Comes: Allison Schulnik's Haunting Exhibition
Huffington Post Arts - 10 Must See Painting Shows in the U.S.: November
New American Paintings - Must-See Paintings Shows: November
Cartoon Brew - "Mound" by Allison Schulnik
Complex - Interview: Kathy Grayson on The Hole NYC
PAPERMAG - Allison Schulnik's "Mound" at ZieherSmith Gallery: A Sneak Peak
Fecal Face - Allison Schulnik in NYC Sat., Oct 22
Modern Painters - The 100 Best Fall Shows
Border Crossings - Visual Art: Allison Sculnik
LA Canvas - Mark Moore Gallery: The Kids Are Alright
NYT Blog - Notes From The Underground | Kalup Linzy
ARTINFO -
St. Louis Beacon - Review: 'Cryptic' clearly connects Goya and modern works
Le Devoir - Expositions - Un apéritif avant tout
Cyberpresse - L'Arsenal voit le jour dans Griffintown
L Magazine - Photos From Beat Nite, Bushwick Galleries' Big Night Out
Daily DuJour - Openings: The Archaic Revival @ Las Cienegas Projects
Flavorpill - The Archaic Revival
New American Paintings - 11 To Watch in 2011: Editor's Pick
Culture Monster - Art Review: Grey Day @ Roberts and Tilton
City - Fantasy Land
Scene - The Importance of Backstory
Planet - Canada Fearless Abandon
New York Magazing - Homunculi: Curated by Trinie Dalton
Artillery - Critics Picks
Artlog - Touched : Lehmann Maupin
Front Row - Marty Walker Artist Does Times Square
The Village Voice - James Hyde, Richard Hughes, and the Artists of 'Homunculi' Are the Buoys of Summer
At 44 1/2 - Emerging Artist 2010
Art Review - "Homunculi" curated by Trinie Dalton at CANADA
Graphite - Allison Schulnik
Honolulu Weekly - I Sing the Body Realistic
24700 - Artist and Alumna Allison Schulnik Talks Hobo Clowns and Grizzly Bear
Star Bulletin - Unique Perspectives
Beautiful/Decay - The Underdogs: Book Three
BLAST - Allison Schulnik
Art Ltd. - Allison Schulnik: "Home For Hobo" at Mark Moore Gallery
LA Weekly - Art Around Town - Christopher Miles
Planet - Allison Schulnik Home For Hobo
Flavorpill - Flavorwire Daily Dose Pick: Allison Schulnik
Artillery - Allison Schulnik Home For Hobo Mark Moore Gallery
Daily Serving - Interview with Allison Schulnik
Los Angeles Times - Around the Galleries - David Pagel
Cool Hunting - Kiel Johnson
ArtSlant - Schulnik in Santa Monica
Flavorpill - by Heather Jeno Silva
Guernica Magazine - Hobo Clown and Forest
Daily Serving - Best of 2009
Trap Door Sun - Hobo Clown: An Interview with Allison Schulnik
New York Post - Somewhere on an iceberg, Bjork is jealous
LA Weekly - LA Artist Allison Schulnik New Claymation Video for Grizzly Bear
The Guardian - Viral Video Charts: Monstertime
Pitchfork - Video: Grizzly Bear: "Ready, Able"
Border Crossings Magazine - Brilliant Rejects: An Interview with Allison Schulnik
THE Magazine - Editors' Picks
Daily Serving - Allison Schulnik
Angeleno Interiors - Mini Spree
New York Times - Toplessness and Taxidermy in a Bottoming Market
Artinfo.com - Chins Up on Day One of Pulse
Artinfo.com - Scope Finds Its Comic Side
Art in America - Mike Weiss
New American Paintings - Noteworthy: Juror's Pick
Whitehot Magazine - Allison Schulnik @ Whitehot Magazine
Artinfo.com - Jennifer Coates in New York
ArtSlant - Don't Take it Too Seriously
ArtReview: - Future Greats: Ones to Watch
LA Weekly - Some Paintings
Saatchi Daily Magazine - Top 10 Shows in Los Angeles This Month
Saatchi Daily Magazine - Highlights at Zoo Art Fair, 2007
Los Angeles Times - Five artists who help make the scene in L.A.
Los Angeles Times - 45 Painters Under 45
Re-Title - Rokeby Review
Saatchi Daily Magazine - Debut: Allison Schulnik at Rokeby
L.A. Times - Around The Galleries
artslant - A Painter's Painter
Garageland -
Domino Magazine - Modern Art's Three Hot Trends