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Katie Grinnan is an artist and educator living and working in Los Angeles. She received her M.F.A. from U.C.L.A. in 1999. Grinnan’s work stems from the body, specifically the relationship between visual, kinesthetic, and cognitive experience, and the way these different knowledge systems affect one’s perception of reality and sense of self.

Early on, she began investigating the relationship between photography and sculpture. In these works, photos became sculptural, often acting as skins of sight/site, attempting to inject sensory experience back into the image.

These explorations later gave way to an investigation of the temporal aspects of the body and somatic experience, privileging elasticity and performance over a static entity. Many of these sculptures used performed gestures as a system of movement, in which Grinnan’s body was cast in all possible positions, so the entire motion was seen as a singular form that simultaneously occupied cinematic space.

These mapped motion systems are often in conversation with mapped data systems from different ideological frameworks, ranging from astrology charts to EEG diagrams. These diagrams are often translated into instruments, sounds, scores, and choreographies, favoring experiential and somatic interpretations of the information.

In her most recent work, the figure dissolves, often operating as a latent form performed by nonhuman systems. This work explores the resonances and dissonances between epistemological and visual ecologies, seeking to decenter human agency in favor of an enmeshment between human and nonhuman worlds.

Her work has been exhibited widely at venues including the Whitney Museum in New York, MOCA in Los Angeles, the MAK Center in Los Angeles, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Diverse Works in Houston, Modern Art Oxford in the UK, the Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, and Kunstverein Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin. She was included in the 2004 Whitney Biennial and, most recently, she was included in Atmosphere of Sound at UCLA as part of the Getty Museum’s PST Art and Science Collide. Grinnan is the recipient of a City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship (2019), Center for Cultural Innovation Artist’s Resource Completion Grant (2012), California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Artists (2010), AXA Artist Award (2007), John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship (2006), and Pollock-Krasner grant (2006). Her work has been written about in numerous publications, including Artforum, Contemporary Art Review, Frieze, Flaunt, the New York Times, and the LA Times. Grinnan's work is in the collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond; and the Nevada Museum of Art. She is represented by Commonwealth and Council in Los Angeles.

Katie Grinnan's Personal Website 

Image Caption for Sample Works:

1. Synapse - installation view at the Commonwealth and Council in Los Angeles, 2022
2. Synapse - 2022, Thermal plastic, sand, archival UV spray, hand-woven, sewn, and dyed cotton, copper thread, 5 parts: approx. 43 x 67 x 43 in; approx. 37 x 62 x 31 in; approx. 26 x 40 x 38 in; approx. 25 x 39 x 32 in; approx. 25 x 39 x 32 in; woven mat: approx. 213 x 200 in (541 x 508 cm)
3. The Sensitives, 2022 - Copper, Plexiglas, spray paint, aluminum, circuit boards, sensors, Raspberry Pi, speakers, shielded wire Approx. 51 x 40 x 4 in
4. Infrared and Ultraviolet, 2023 - Copper electroformed hive, copper electroformed wasp nests, copper electroformed 3D print of Webb Telescope, multi-metal alloy, painted Porcelain, copper plate, varnish
5. 5 Seconds of Dreaming (instruments), 2019 - performance with Kozue Matsumoto and Eugene Moon at the Annenberg Theater, Palm Springs Art Museum, and Desert X
6. Electric Data Wave Serenade, installation view at Commonwealth and Council, 2018
7. Prism: Thermal plastic and sand, 2016-18, 72 x 84 x 60 inches
8. Enter-Face: Mixed Media objects, blankets made from scans and glitches of the artist’s pants, car headrests mounted on steel with videos of loose reenactments artist’s dreams. 2012-2015, dimensions variable
9. Nocturnal Hologram: Sand, Friendly Plastic, inkjet prints on thermal plastic made from photograms of dream images, 2015, 48 x 63 x 46”
10. Twister: Sand, Friendly Plastic, concrete, wood, steel, inkjet print of aerial view of sculpture on Sintra, cell paint, string, hooks, blanket made from scans and glitches of the artist’s pants, 2015, 48 x 57 x 124”
11. The Astrology Orchestra, installation view at the Human Resources, a LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division) exhibition, 2014
12. Astrology Orchestra, performance at Mount Wilson Observatory, KNOWLEDGES curated by Christina Ondrus and Elleni Sclavenitis, 2012
13. Mirage, installation at the Hammer Museum, 2011, Friendly Plastic, enamel paint, sand - 79 63 x 72”
14. Brainwaves, installation at the Virginia Museum, 2009-2011, Concrete, steel rebar, acrylic tubes, inkjet prints on film on PETG, inkjet prints on protoplast, friendly plastic, inkjet prints on film on Plexiglas, spraypaint, cell paint, wood, house paint, bamboo, fabric form, projector, DVD player, Video: 90 minutes 96 x 180 x 108”