Allen Ruppersberg (born 1944) is an American conceptual artist based in Los Angeles and New York City. He is one of the first generation of American conceptual artists that changed the way art was thought about and made. His work includes paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, installations and books.

Early life and education

Born in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, Ruppersberg graduated in 1967 with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

degree from the

Chouinard Art Institute The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Chouinard, Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt Disney, Walt and ...

(now the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

) in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Career

During his early years in Los Angeles, he began significant relationships with

John Baldessari John Anthony Baldessari (June 17, 1931 – January 2, 2020) was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lived and worked in Santa Monica and Venice, California. Initially a paint ...

, William Leavitt,

Ed Ruscha Edward Joseph Ruscha IV (, ''roo-SHAY''; born December 16, 1937) is an American artist associated with the anti- pop art movement. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, and film. He is also noted for creating s ...

, William Wegman and

Allan McCollum Allan McCollum (born 4 August 1944) is a contemporary American artist who lives and works in New York City. In 1975, his work was included in the Whitney Biennial, and he moved to New York City the same year. In the late 1970s, he became especial ...

. He participated in the 1969 exhibition ''When Attitudes Become Form,'' and is recognized as a seminal practitioner of installation art, having produced works including ''Al's Cafe'' (1969), ''Al's Grand Hotel'' (1971) and ''The Novel that Writes Itself'' (1978). He moved to New York in 1985.

Exhibitions

Since the late 1960s, his work has been the subject of over sixty solo exhibitions and nearly 200 group shows. In 1985, the

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...

organized an exhibition of Ruppersberg's work, which subsequently traveled to the

New Museum of Contemporary Art The New Museum of Contemporary Art is a museum at 235 Bowery, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-name ...

in New York City. His work can be found in permanent collections of museums internationally, including: * Foundation de Appel,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Museum für Moderne Kunst The Museum für Moderne Kunst (''Museum of Modern Art''), or short MMK, in Frankfurt, was founded in 1981 and opened to the public 6 June 1991. The museum was designed by the Viennese architect Hans Hollein. It is part of Frankfurt's Museumsuf ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States *

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, United States

Artist's philosophy

Ruppersberg's philosophy is to use language as a means of expression in its own right. He drew on all the different sectors of the mass media and the consumer society from a critical viewpoint.

Works

* ''The New Five Foot Shelf''. The installation consists of 50 books and 44 posters. Dimension of the installation: variable. Limited edition of 10 copies and 2 artist’s proofs. Produced and published in 2001 by Editions Micheline Szwajcer & Michèle Didier. Voi
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* "The New Five Foot Shelf of Books" installation, produced and published in 2003 by Editions Micheline Szwajcer and Michèle Didier, Brussels. Voi
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* "Chapter VI" artist book, produced and published in 2009 b
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Brussels * ''The Novel That Writes Itself'', artist book, produced and published in 2014 b
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Brussels

Awards

United States Artists United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards. Mission The organization' ...

2011 Oliver Fellow for Visual Arts

Personal life

Ruppersberg lives and works in Los Angeles and New York City. Ruppersburg is in a long term relationship for the past 12 years with Annette Leddy.

References

External links

* Ruppersberg's work a
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
* Ruppersberg's project a
Dia Art Foundation
* Ruppersberg's work a

Ruppersberg's profile
at

Kadist Art Foundation KADIST is an interdisciplinary contemporary arts organization with an international contemporary art collection. KADIST hosts artist residencies and produces exhibitions, publications, and public events. Founded by Vincent Worms and Sandra Te ...

* Cheryl Donegan
Allen Ruppersberg
interview in ''BOMB'' magazine, Oct 1, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruppersberg, Allen Date of birth missing (living people) 1944 births 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists 21st-century American painters 21st-century American sculptors 21st-century American male artists American male sculptors Artists from Cleveland Painters from Los Angeles American conceptual artists American contemporary painters American installation artists Chouinard Art Institute alumni Conceptual photographers Living people Painters from New York City Painters from Ohio Photographers from California Photographers from New York (state) American postmodern artists Sculptors from California Sculptors from New York (state) Sculptors from Ohio