Paul Pfeiffer
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii HI 1966
Lives and works in New York NY
Education
Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program 1998
MFA, Hunter College, New York NY 1994
BFA, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco CA 1987
Solo Exhibitions
2025
Forthcoming: Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL
2024
Forthcoming: Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom, Guggenheim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain
Paul Pfeiffer: Revelation 21, carlier gebauer, Berlin, Germany
2023
Paul Pfeiffer: Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles CA
2022
Paul Pfeiffer: Still Life, Grand Central Madison Terminal, New York NY
Red, Green, Blue, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York NY
Morning After the Deluge, M+, Hong Kong
2021
Incarnator, Carlier Gebauer, Berlin, Germany
Incarnator, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, England
2019
Incarnator, Carlier Gebauer, Berlin, Germany
2018
Paul Pfeiffer, Vitruvian Experiments, Inhotim Institute, Brumadinho, Brazil
Paul Pfeiffer: Incarnator, Bellas Artes Outpost, Manila, Philippines
Desiderata, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
2017
Paul Pfeiffer: Screen Series, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL
Paul Pfeiffer, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, England
2016
Three Figures in a Room, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York NY
Paul Pfeiffer: Caryatids, Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaii HI
Three Figures in a Room, Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong HK
Three Figures in a Room, Carlier Gebauer, Berlin,Germany
2015
Vitruvian Figure, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Malate Manila, Philippines
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, U.S. Embassy, Vienna, Austria
2014
Jerusalem, commissioned by Artangel (online)
2013
Paul Pfeiffer: The Drives, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, England
2012
The Rules of Basketball: Works by Paul Pfeiffer and James Naismith's Original Rules of Basket Ball, curated by Regine Basha, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin TX
Playroom, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York NY
Carlier Gebauer, Berlin,Germany
2011
Paul Pfeiffer, Goetz Collection, Munich, Germany
2010
Paul Pfieffer: In the Zone, Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo NY
2009
The Saints, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
Perspektive Machine, BAIBAKOV art projects, Moscow, Russia
2008
Monologue, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, Léon, Spain Carlier|Gebauer, Berlin, Germany
The Saints, Thyssen Bornemisza Art Contemporary at Kunstzone Karlsplatz Technische Universität, Vienna, Austria
Paul Pfieffer, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, England
2007
The Saints, The Junction, Wembley, commissioned by Artangel, London, England
Paul Pfeiffer, Live from Neverland, The Project, New York
Morning After the Deluge, University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City IA
2006
Paul Pfeiffer, MC Kunst, Los Angeles CA
2005
Pirate Jenny, Carlier Gebauer, Berlin, Germany
Morning After the Deluge, Museum of Art at Middlebury College, Middlebury VT
2004
Pirate Jenny, The Project, New York NY
Pirate Jenny, Gagosian, New York NY
Paul Pfeiffer, Thomas Dane Gallery, London, England
Melina Mercuri Centre, Athens, Greece
K21, Kunstsammlung, Dusseldorf, Germany
2003
Museum of Contemporary Art, Honolulu, Hawaii HI
Morning After the Deluge, Carlier | Gebauer, Berlin, Germany
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago IL
List Visual Art Centre, MIT, Cambridge MA
Gio Marconi, Milan, Italy
2001
Sex Machine, The Project, Los Angeles CA
The Long Court (Rumble in the Jungle) MIT – List Visual Art Center, Cambridge MA
Orpheus Descending, Public Art Fund, World Trade & Financial Centers, New York NY
Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus, Switzerland
Barbican Centre, London, England
UCLA Hammer, Los Angeles CA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY
2000
The Project, New York NY
Kunst-Werke, Berlin, Germany
Duke University Museum of Art, (with Romuald Hazoumé), Raleigh-Durham NC
1998
The Pure Products Go Crazy, The Project, New York NY
1997
The Pure Products Go Crazy, Cendrillon, New York NY
1994
Santo Niño Incarnate, Colonial House Inn, New York NY
1993
Survival of the Innocents, Art In General, New York NY
Group Exhibitions
2025
Forthcoming: Postcards from the Future, PoMo, Trondheim, Norway
Forthcoming: The Trequartista – Art and Football United, Manchester Festival, Manchester, England
2024
Unsettled Eye, Ruby City, San Antonio, TX
Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC
Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco CA
Legacies: Asian American Art Movements in New York City (1969-2001), 80WSE Gallery, New York NY
Julie Mehretu: Ensemble, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy
Games People Play, Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York NY
2023
The Art of Sport, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland
Gimme Shelter, The Historic Hampton House, Miami FL
2022
An Uncertain Pleasure: Selected works from Pierre Huber's collection, Bogotá Museum of Modern Art (MAMBO), Bogotá, Columbia
Message From Our Planet, organised by the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, Figge Art Museum, Davenport IA [travelled to: Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN; Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids MI; Pensacola Museum of Art, University of West Florida, Pensacola FL; Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison WI]
Mix & Match, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
Carlos Villa: Worlds in Collision, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco CA
Curated by Trisha Lagaso-Goldberg and Mark Johnson
Dream On, Tobacco Factory, presented by the Hellenic Parliament and NEON, Athens, Greece
Tangled Hierarchy, curated by Jitish Kallat, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, England [travelled to: Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India]
Double Vision, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
What Is Left Unspoken, Love, High Museum of Art, Atlanta GA
Toronto Biennial of Art, Toronto, Canada
Roots, Rituals, Actions: Carlos Villa and His Influence, Newark Museum of Art, Newark NJ
Déjà Vu, Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong
2021
Individuals, Networks, Expressions, M+, Hong Kong
Media Art In Focus – Part II, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
In Search of the Miraculous, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York NY
One Escape at a Time, 11th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, Seoul Museum of Art SeMA, Seoul, South Korea
Once Upon a Time Inconceivable, Protocinema, Istanbul, Turkey
Fade to Fade, Library Street Collective, Detroit MI
Get Lifted: The Art of the Ecstatic, curated by Hilton Als, Karma, New York NY
Art of Sport, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Politics of Desire, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York NY
2020
FEAR TOUCH POLICE, curated by Sable Elyse Smith, Swiss Institute, New York NY (online)
Grace Before Jones: Camera, Disco, Studio, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, England
Basketball and Contemporary Art, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro NC
2019
Performa 19 Biennial, New York NY
Opere dalla Collezione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo a Palazzo Biscari, Palazzo Biscari, Catania, Italy
To Make Wrong/ Right/ Now - Honolulu Biennial, Honolulu HI
This is Not America, Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada
Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Liz Glynn, Robert Grosvenor, Justin Matherly, Paul Pfeiffer, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York NY
The Historian’s Craft, ICA Milano, Milan, Italy
2018
Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965-2018, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY
Picture Industry: A Provisional History of the Technical Image, 1844 - 2018, LUMA Arles
Ekstase, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Ready? Ok!, The Naughton Gallery at Queen’s, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Evidence, Metro Pictures, New York NY
The Journey That Wasn’t, The Broad, Los Angeles CA
Michael Jackson: On the Wall, National Portrait Gallery, London, England; [travelled to: Grand Palais, Paris, France; Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany; Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland]
The World’s Game: Fútbol and Contemporary Art, Perez Art Museum, Miami FL
A beast, a god, and a line, curated by Cosmin Costinas, Dhaka Art Summit, Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh & Para Site Art Space, Hong Kong; [travelled to: TS1 Yangon, Yangon, Myanmar; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland]
Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 to Today, ICA Boston, Boston MA
Paper Empire, Bus Projects, Melbourne, Australia
SuperSet, Fuse, Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco CA
Private Choices, Centrale for Contemporary Art, Brussels, Belgium
The World’s Game: Fútbol and Contemporary Art, Perez Art Museum Miami, Miami FL
2017
The Game Show, Lyndon House Arts Centre, Athens GA
Picture Industry, curated by Walead Beshty, Hessel Museum at Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson NY
Get’cha Head in the Game, The Naughton Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
I want! I want!: Art and Technology, Birmingham Museum, Birmingham, England
Versus Rodin: Bodies Across Space and Time, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
The Un-Private Jaguars and Electric Eels, Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin, Germany
Collection: Oracle, The Broad, Los Angeles CA
The Extended Moment, carlier|gebauer, Berlin, Germany
2016
Open This End: Contemporary Art from the Collection of Blake Byrne, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, New York
March Madness, Fort Gansevoort Outpost, New York, NY
2015
Arena, curated by Adam Shopkorn, Flight Club, New York NY
Brief History of Humankind, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel [travelled to: Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany]
ésxatic photo, Samsøñ Projects, Boston MA
Blood Sport, Elaine L. Jacob Gallery at Wayne State University, Detroit MI
All the World’s a Stage. Works from the Goetz Collection, Sala de Arte Santander, Madrid, Spain
Open This End: Contemporary Art from the Collection of Blake Byrne, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC
HE: The Hergott Shepard Photography Collection, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor MI
America is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY
2014
The Beautiful Game, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles CA
2013
John Bock, Keren Cytter, Paul Pfeiffer, Gillian Wearing and Akram Zaatari, Regen Project, Los Angeles CA
Wish You Were Here, Chanel Waikiki/Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawai’i HI
Collection Sandretto Re Rebaudengo: Have you seen me before?, Whitechapel Gallery, London
Possibility of escape. For storming the reality studio and retake the universe, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, León, Spain
Group Exhibition, Frye Museum, Seattle WA
And I Feel Fine, Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Greece
2012
We Could Be Heroes: The Mythology of Monsters and Heroes in Contemporary Art, Brigham Young Museum of Art, Provo UT
Soccer, Museo de Arte Contempráneo de Monterrey, Mexico
The Sports Show, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, curated by David Little, Minneapolis MN
Audience as Subject, Part 2: Extra Large, curated by Betti-Sue Hertz, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco CA
Sophie Calle, Christian Marclay, Paul Pfeiffer, Walid Raad, Michael Sailstorfer, Carey Young, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York NY
First Amongst Equals (Part 1), Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia
First Amongst Equals (Part 2), Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth, Australia
Pursuit of Perfections: The Politics of Sports, South London Gallery, London, England
2011
Why I Never Became a Dancer, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
Soft Machines, Pace Gallery, New York NY
The Luminous Interval: D. Daskalopoulos Collection, curated by Nancy Spector and Katherine Brinson, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain
Big Picture, Ständehaus, Düsseldorf, Germany
Entretiempos, La Regenta Arts Center, Lãs Palma de Gran Canarias, Spain
Human Nature, curated by Franklin Sirmans and Christine Kim, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles CA
Anonymous sculptures. Video and Form in Contemporary Art, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, Austria
Ball Game, Dunn and Brown Contemporary, Dallas TX
American Dream, DZ Bank Kunstsammlung, Frankfurt, Germany
2010
Passages. Travels in Hyperspace. A Selection of Works from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection, LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijon, Spain
Reverie, VCUarts Anderson Gallery, Richmond VA
Entretiempos, Museo dʼArte Província di Nuoro, Sardinia, Italy; PhotoEspaña/Centro Cultural de La Villa, Madrid, Spain
Anonymous Sculptures. Vídeo and Form in Contemporary Art, Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Germany
Screening, 203-205 Brompton Road, London, England
SWEAT, Patrícia Low Gallery, Gstaad, Switzerland
LUSH LIFE, Salon 94 Freemans, New York NY
Julia Stoschek Collection: I want to see how you see, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
The Library of Babel / In and Out of Place, 176 Zabludowicz Collection, London, England
Collecting Biennials, The Whitney, New York NY
Size DOES Matter, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York NY
Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum 2010 Rotunda, Guggenheim, New York NY
Americana, NGBK, Berlin, Germany
Hard Targets, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus OH
2009
Pete and Repeat, 176 // Zabludowicz Collection, London, England
The Eye in the Door, Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen, Denmark
Coral Visual, Casa de La Cultura, Buenos Aires, Argentina
No Sound, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen CO
Video Journeys, Sister, Los Angeles CA
Flicks - The Cinematic In Art, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, Ireland
Waiting for Video: Works from the 1960s to Today, The National Museum of Modern Art
(MOMAT), Tokyo, Japan
The Kaleidoscopic Eye: Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
A Certain State Of The World?, Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow, Russia
Mixed Signals: Artists Consider Masculinity in Sports, curated by Christopher Bedford,
Cranbrook Art Museum, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills MI; [travelled to: Center for
Art, Design and Visual Culture, Baltimore MD; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus OH; Art
Gallery of Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury VT; The
Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburg PA; and Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University,
Middletown CT]
2008
Revolutions - Forms That Turn, 16th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Empire, Frye Art Museum, Seattle WA
Depletion: Works from the Doron Sebbag Art Collection, Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel
Shadows, Dissappearances and Illusions, Miami Art Museum, Miami FL
Currents: Recent Acquisitions, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
Reconstitutions, Reenactments, DHC/Art Montréal, Canada
Ghost in the Machine, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway
2007
Automatic Update, Museum of Modern Art, New York NY
Invisible, Max Wigram Gallery, London, England
For the Love of the Game, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford CT
Art in America: Now, Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art and the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, China
The Shapes of Space, Guggenheim Museum, New York NY
NO.1: DESTROY, SHE SAID, Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf, Germany
2006
Visions du Déluge, Le Musee cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland
Meditations in an Emergency, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit MI
The Gold Standard, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York NY
Fantastic Frameworks, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Choosing My Religion, Kunstmuseum Thun, Thun, Switzerland
Full House: Views of the Whitney’s Collection at 75, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY
The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture: 60 Years, Colby College, Waterville ME
Strange Powers, Creative Time, New York NY
Time Frame, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York NY
IAMNOWHERE, Center for Curatorial Studies Museum at Bard College, curated by Erica Hope Fisher, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York NY
You Never Walk Alone: Football and Fan Culture, The O.K. Center for Contemporary Art Linz, Austria
Work Zones: Three Decades of Contemporary Art from SFAI, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco CA
Home Productions, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
Filipiniana, Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain
2005
Faces in the Crowd: Picturing Modern Life from Manet to Today, Castello de Rivoli, Turin, Italy
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee WI
Log Cabin, Artist Space, New York NY
2004
CUT: Film as Found Object in Contemporary Video, North Miami Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami FL
Contested Fields: Identity in Sports and Spectacle, Des Moines Art Center, Indianapolis IN
Modern Means: Continuity and Change in Art, 1880 to the Present, Mori Art MuseumTokyo, Japan
Pirate Jenny, The Project, New York NY
Cut: Film as Found Object in Contemporary Video, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee WI
10 Commandments, Hygiene Museum, Dresden, Germany
2003
The Moderns, Castello di Rivoli, Torino, Italy
100 Artists See God, Independent Curators International, The Jewish Museum San Francisco, CA; [travelled to: ICA, London, England; Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach VA; Freedman Art Gallery, Reading PA; Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville TN]
2002
Tempo, Museum of Modern Art, New York NY
Busan Biennale, Busan, Korea
21, Dusseldorf, Germany
NYC Sex, Museum of Sex, New York NY
2001
49th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Bitstreams, TheWhitney Museum, New York NY
The Americans, Barbican Arts Centre, London, England
Loop, Kunsthalle der Hypo-kultursiftung, Munich & Germany & touring to PS1, New York NY
Casino 2001, SMAK Ghent, Belgium
2000
Hypermental, Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland
Awards
2024
Trellis Art Fund Grant
2018
Teiger Mentor, Cornell University
2016
Dodd Chair Residency, The Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia, GA
2011
American Academy in Berlin, Fellow, Berlin, Germany
2009
The Alpert Award in the Arts, Visual Arts
2003
Artpace Residency, San Antonio, TX
2001
MIT List Visual Arts Center Residency
2000
The Bucksbaum Award, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Travel Grant, Asian Cultural Council
1999
The Public Art Fund
World Trade Center Residency, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NY
1994
Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship to the Philippines
Project Grant, Art Matters
1993
Travel Grant Pilot, National Endowment for the Arts and Arts International
1991
Barbara Smith Artists Trust; two-year grant for studio work
1998
Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program
1994
MFA, Hunter College, New York NY
1987
BFA, San Francisco Art Institute
Selected Projects
Co-founder of Denniston Hill
Public Collections
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo NY
Artangel Collection, London, England
Bucksbaum Collection, Sharon CT
Broad Art Foundation, Los Angeles CA
D.Daskalopoulos Collection, Greece
Ellipse Foundation Contemporary Art Collection, Lisbon, Portugal
Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
Inhotim Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Brumadinho, Brazil
Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf, Germany
K21, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles CA
Museum of Modern Art, New York NY
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL
Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, León, Spain
Museo d´arte contemporanea Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy
Pinault Foundation, Paris, France
Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
Rubell Family Colection, Miami FL
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York NY
Sammlung Goetz, Munich, Germany
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco CA
Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-BA21), Vienna, Austria
Vanhaerants Art Collection, Brussels, Belgium
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY
Zabludowicz Collection, London, England
