Born in 1965 in the USA, Will Cotton lives and works in New York. The artist belongs to the generation of American painters who have taken the language of figurative style painting in a totally new direction. He works in his studio building giant confectionary-based assemblages, such as gingerbread houses, sweets, cake mountains and chocolate seas, opening the door to the creation of a new reality. Will Cotton sees his works as utopias that explore the notions of temptation and excess.
Born in 1965 in Melrose, Massachusetts, USA
Lives and works in New York City, USA
EDUCATION
1985 Beaux-Arts de Rouen, France
1987 B.F.A., Cooper Union, New York, USA
1988 New York Academy of Art, New York, USA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)
2023
Trigger, Templon, Paris, France
2022
Will Cotton: MARFA, Brite Force, Brite House, Marfa, TX, USA
The Journal Gallery, New York, USA
2020
The Taming of the Cowboy, Galerie Templon, Brussels, Belgium
2018
Ringling College of Art & Design, Sarasota, FL, USA
2017
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA
The Influx Series: Will Cotton, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL, USA
2015
Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO, USA
Will Cotton: Vistas of Candyland, Cornell University College of Architecture, Art and Planning, Ithaca, NY, USA
2014
Ronchini Gallery, London, UK
2013
Pace Prints, New York, USA
2012
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA
Cockaigne, Performance as part of WERK! Armitage Gone Variety Show, Abrons Arts Center, New York, USA
2011
Cockaigne, Performance at Prince George Ballroom as part of Performa 11, New York, USA
Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2010
Will Cotton: New Works on Paper, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO, USA
Will Cotton: Monoprints, Pace Prints, New York, USA
Galerie Templon, Paris, France
2009
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA
2008
Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado, USA
2007
Drawings, Glenn Horowitz Gallery, East Hampton, New York, USA
2005
New Paintings and Works on Paper, Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2004
The big eat: from pop til the present, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA
2003
Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston, USA
Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
2002
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA
2001
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA
Jablonka Galerie, Cologne, Germany
2000
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA
1999
Devil’s fudge falls, I-20 Gallery, New York, USA
1998
Silverstein Gallery, New York, USA
1996
Silverstein Gallery, New York, USA
1995
Distentions, Silverstein Gallery, New York, USA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)
2023
Animaux fantastiques, Louvre-Lens, Lens, France
2022
American Masters, galerie gmurzynska, Zurich, Switzerland
2021
This is America, Kunstraum Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
and I will wear you in my heart of heart, FLAG Foundation, New York, USA
2019
Like Sugar, Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA
Drawn Together Again, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA
Paintings, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA
2018
Castles in the Sky: Fantasy Architecture in Contemporary Art, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY, USA
Paintings, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA
Paper/Print: American Hand Papermaking, 1960s TO TODAY, International Print Center New York, New York, USA
Peers & Influences, The Bo Bartlett Center, Columbus, GA, USA
2017
Really?, Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
About face, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, NY, USA
Cake Hole, Mrs. Gallery, Maspeth, NY, USA
2016
Tom Friedman (+the Birthday Show), 1969 Gallery, New York, USA
Summer School, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA
2015
Eye pop: the celebrity gaze, The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., USA
River crossings: contemporary art comes home, Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, NY, USA
The triumph of Love: Beth Rudin Dewoody Collects, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
2014
Disturbing innocence, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA
Homeland [in]security: Vanishing Dreams, Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, New York, USA
Close-up: Contemporary Portraiture, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, NY, USA
On the blue shore of silence, Tracy Williams, Ltd., New York, USA
Look at me: Portraiture from Manet to the Present, Leila Heller Gallery, New York, USA
Last night, Salomon Contemporary, New York, USA
2013
Come like shadows: Palimpsests, Traces, Specters of the Silver Screen, Nightlife, Veils, The Absent Present, Zurcher Studio, New York, USA
Fruits of captiva, Robert Rauschenberg Project Space, New York, USA
2012
American dreamers, Strozzina Centre For Contemporary Culture, Florence, Italy
2011
Tous cannibales, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France, USA
2010
Divine comedy, Sotheby’s, New York, USA
Accessories to an artwork, Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, East Hampton, NY, USA
2009
A tribute to Ron Warren, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA
Transitions. Painting at the (other) end of art, 24 mai – 31 octobre, Maramotti collection of contemporary art, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Aspects of Pop-Art, Galerie Gmurzynska, Zurich, Switzerland
I Want Candy: The Sweet Stuff in American Art (exposition mobile), 26 juin – 6 septembre, Fresno Metropolitan Museum, Fresno, California, USA
Chelsea visits Havanna, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, La Havane, Cuba
Drawings by Will Cotton, Atlantic Center’s Pabst Visitor center and Gallery, New Smyrna, Florida, USA
Talk dirty to me, Larissa Goldstone Gallery, New York, USA
2008
2nd Biennale of Canary Islands, Canary Islands, Spain
Wall Rockets: Contemporary Artists and Ed Ruscha, The flag Art Fondation, New York, USA
In Monet’s Garden: The Lure of Giverny, Musée Marmottan, Giverny, France
2007
Timer .01: Intimità/Intimacy, Triennale Bovisa, Milan, Italy
In Monet’s Garden: The Lure of Giverny, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, USA
I Want Candy: The Sweet Stuff in American Art, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York, USA
Abbondanza, Salvatore Ferragamo Gallery, New York, USA
A House is not a Home, Caren Golden Fine Art, New York, USA
2006
Why the Nude? Contemporary Approaches, The Art Students League of New York, USA
The Food Show: The Hungry Eye, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, USA
2005
Hors d’oeuvre : ordre et désordres de la nourriture, CAPC – Musée d’art contemporain, Bordeaux, France
2004
Summer 2004, Lucas Schoormans Gallery, New York, NY, USA
La Grande Bouffe – The Big Eat in Art, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany
2003
Sweet tooth, Copia, The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts, Napa, CA, USA
Giverny, Salon 94, New York, USA
2002
The Contemporary art project, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA
2000
The darker side of playland: childhood imagery from the Logan Collection, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, USA
Emotional rescue: the contemporary art project coalition, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, Washington, USA
1999
Will Cotton and Stuart Elster, Tate, New York, USA
A Room with a view, Sixth @ Prince Fine Art, New York, USA
