ELYN ZIMMERMAN

Zimmerman was born in Philadelphia, PA and grew up in Los Angeles, California. By the mid 1960s, Southern California had become a transformative force in the world of contemporary art. Due in part to the technological boom of the high tech and aerospace industries of Southern California, an art and technology aesthetic had taken root in the arts community including the university art departments. The artists involved with the “Light and Space” movement as it became known were most influential in their exploration of non-objectified theories based in psychological, phenomenal, perceptual and spatial concerns in art. Many of them taught in the university art departments in Southern California. Their artworks involved thoughtful innovations and were executed with high degree of experimentation. Their message and approach resonated with the generation of emerging artists including Zimmerman as she completed her MFA at UCLA in 1972. Zimmerman’s immersion in such a revolutionary experimental environment helped her forge some of the fundamental principles of her artistic vision including maintaining openness to possibilities of form, space and natural elements, appreciating the power of the ethereal and the softer edges of experience, and maintaining a high level of inquisitiveness and exploration of the world.

 In the 1970’s Zimmerman created a number of temporary, site-specific installations for museum and gallery exhibitions, including, but not limited to: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Hudson River Museum, NY; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC.

In 1977, inspired by her trip to archaeological sites in India, she returned to the US to begin working on outdoor projects in stone. Zimmerman’s permanent projects are best know for their use of stone, often complemented by water in the form of reflecting pools or fountains alongside landscape elements.

Her many awards include three Artist Fellowship Awards from the National Endowment for the Arts; CAPS Artist Fellowship, NY; Japan-US Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship; New Talent Award, LACMA; Resident, American Academy in Rome, 2010; Isamu Noguchi Award, 2016. Zimmerman taught university level art classes from 1974 to 1986 in California and New York. She has also been a visiting professor at architecture and landscape architecture graduate schools, including, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, MA; the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.

EXHIBITIONS AT THE GALLERY

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2017
“Sensitive Chaos”, Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ

2016
“Wind, Water, Stone”, Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ

2005
New Photography, Skestos-Gabriele Gallery, Chicago, IL

2004
Photography, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2003
Photography, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY

2001
New Drawings, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY

1998
Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1996
Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY

1995
Galeria SALLES, Rome, Italy

1993
Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY

1992
65 Thompson Street, New York, NY
Fred Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1991
University of South Florida Art Museum, Tampa, FL

1988
Wave Hill, Riverdale, NY

1985
Joslyn Museum of Art, Omaha, NE

1984
Koplin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1982
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY

1981  
Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, Italy

1979  
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
80 Langton Street, San Francisco, CA

1977  
Institute for Art & Urban Resources, PS1, New York, NY

1976  
Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
SITE, San Francisco, CA

1975  
Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Baxter Art Gallery, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA

1974
University Art Museum, Berkeley, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023
”The Dialectic of the Shadow”, Bigaignon, Paris

2021
“Light & Space” Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark

2015
“River Crossings: Contemporary Art Comes Home” Thomas Cole National Historic Site & Olana Historic Site, NY
“Master Drawings New York” Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York, NY

2014
Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies (FAPE)" Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt", New York, NY

2010
"Painting and Sculpture: To Benefit the Foundation for Contemporary Arts", Lehmann Maupin, NY
"Artpark: 1974-1984", UB Art Gallery, Center for the Arts, Buffalo, NY
"Contemporary Impressionism: Light, Color, Form, Time", LA Art House, CA

2006
"Paper", Skestos Gabriele Gallery, Chicago, IL

2003
"New World's Old World", AXA Galleries at Equitable Center, New York, NY

2002
"55 Water Street Competition", Municipal Art Society, Urban Center, NY, NY
"New Drawings", Whitherspoon Gallery, Raleigh, NC
"Imaginary Homelands", Center for Photography, Woodstock, NY

2000
"Environmental Sculptures", Dorsky Gallery, New York, NY

1999
"Waxing Poetic: Encaustic Art in America", Montclair Art Museum, NJ

1998
"Face to Face/Art and the Public", Marlborough Gallery, NYC
"Urban Visions", Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA

1997
“New Works”, Betsy Senior Gallery, NYC

1996
"Some Grids", L.A. County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
"Tenth Anniversary", Socrates Sculpture Park, LIC, NY
"Sculpture 1996 - 1997", Leigh, Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI
"Drawings and Photographs", Betsy Senior Gallery, NYC

1992
"Benchmarks", Katonah Museum, Katonah, NY

1991
"Drawings", Lorence-Monk Gallery, NYC
"Green", Max Protetch Gallery, NYC
"Drawing Conclusions", Guidarte Gallery, NYC

1990
"Natural Selection", Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
"Concept - Decoratif: Anti-formalist Art of the 70's", Nahan Contemporary Gallery, NYC

1988
"Private Work for Public Spaces", R.C. Erpf Gallery, NYC

1987
"New York - Los Angeles", Marianne Deson Gallery, Chicago
"Sculpture 1987", Curated by Sam Hunter & Marisa Del Re, Monte Carlo, Monaco
"Arena Project", Landmark Art Project, San Diego, CA
"Layers of Vision", Bette Stoler Gallery, NYC

1986
"Memory Theater of Giulio Camillo", Creative Time Theatre Project, Brooklyn, NY
"Sculpture for Public Spaces", Marisa Del Re Gallery, NYC

1985
"Artists and Architects Collaborating", Cleveland Center of Contemporary Art, OH
"Art & Architecture & Landscape", San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
"Artist as Social Designer", Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
“Light and Heavy Light”, Camera Works and others, San Francisco, CA

1983
"Directions 1983", Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.

1982
"Shift: LA/NY", Newport Harbor Art Museum, CA; also Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY

1981
"Window Room Furniture", Houghton Gallery, Cooper Union, NYC; also Tokyo and Osaka, Japan
"New Visions", Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
"Artists' Gardens and Parks", Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL

1980
"Architectural Sculpture", LAICA, Los Angeles, CA
"Drawings: The Pluralist Decade", Venice Biennale, USA, Venice, Italy; & Institute of Contemporary Art, Phila, PA
"California Sculpture 1975-80", San Diego Museum of Art, CA

1979
"Sculptors' Photographs", Hunter College Art Gallery, NYC
"Eight Artists: The Elusive Image", Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
"Custom & Culture Part II", U.S. Customs House, NYC, Sponsored by Creative Time

1977
"Photography As Means", Palomar College, San Marcos, CA

1976
"Biennale of Sydney", Sydney, Australia

1974
"Whitney Biennial", Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC

1973
"The Factor Collection", Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, CA

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
Whitney Museum of American Art, NY
Museum of Modern Art, NY
British Museum, London, UK
Besthoff Sculpture Garden, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover , MA
Birmingham Museum of Art, AL
Chase Manhattan Bank Corporation
Best Products, Inc.
Commodities Corporation
General Mills Corporation
AT&T Corporation
Equitable Corporation
Clos Pegase Winery Sculpture Garden, Napa Valley, CA
Goldman Sachs Corporate Collection
Henry Buehl Collection, NY
Bear Stearns Corporate Collection, NY
Wynn Kramarsky Collection, NY

AWARDS

2016 Isamu Noguchi Award, Noguchi Museum, Long Island City, NY,  May
2015 San Francisco's Best Public Open Spaces, CURBED/SF,  March
2010 Great Places in America Award /Public Spaces, The Charles Ireland Sculpture Garden, Birmingham Museum of Art
2010 Resident American Academy in Rome (RAAR '10) Roy Lichtenstein Residency                                                    
2007 Excellence in Design for Capsouto Park, Art Commission of the City of New York
1986 Bessie Award - Set Design for "Memory Theater of Giulio Camillo," Creative Time, NYC
1985 ASLA - Maryland Chapter for National Geographic Society Plaza, Washington D.C.
1982 Artist Fellowship Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1981 Japan - US Creative Artist Exchange Fellowship, residency in Japan
1980 Artist Fellowship Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1980 C.A.P.S. Artist Fellowship Grant, NY
1976 Artist Fellowship Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1976 New Talent Award, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA