Over the past decade, Jordan Wolfson has become known for his thought-provoking works in a wide range of media, including video, sculpture, installation, photography, and performance. He pulls intuitively from the world of advertising, the Internet, and the technology industries to produce ambitious and enigmatic narratives. However, instead of simply appropriating found material, the artist creates his own unique content, which frequently revolves around a series of invented, animated characters.
Wolfson was born in 1980 in New York. In 2003, he received his B.F.A. in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2013, the artist joined David Zwirner and has presented solo exhibitions of his work at the gallery in New York in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
In 2018, the inaugural London presentation of Jordan Wolfson’s Colored sculpture took place in the Tanks at Tate Modern. Also in 2018, The Broad in Los Angeles presented Jordan Wolfson’s (Female Figure) and the Zabludowicz Collection in London presented 360: Jordan Wolfson.
Produced by Sadie Coles HQ, London, Riverboat song debuted there in 2017. The work has since been on view in solo exhibitions at Pond Society, New Century Art Foundation in Shanghai (2017); Schinkel Pavillon in Berlin (2018); and, presently, Moderna Museet in Stockholm (2019). In 2016, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam hosted a two-part solo exhibition, MANIC/LOVE/TRUTH/LOVE, a survey of the Wolfson’s work that featured the animatronic sculptures Colored sculpture and (Female figure) (2014) alongside a selection of video works and objects.
In 2015, the Cleveland Museum of Art held a solo show featuring two early videos by Wolfson. In 2014, a selection of Wolfson's video work was shown at the McLellan Galleries in Glasgow as part of the 6th Glasgow International. Also in 2014, the artist participated in 14 Rooms, which was curated by Klaus Biesenbach and Hans Ulrich Obrist and presented during Art Basel. The exhibition was a collaboration between Fondation Beyeler, Art Basel, and Theater Basel.
In 2013, Jordan Wolfson: Ecce Homo/le Poseur marked the most comprehensive survey of his work to date, organized by the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.) in Ghent. Also in 2013 was his first solo exhibition in the United Kingdom presented at the Chisenhale Gallery in London. Other institutions which have previously hosted solo shows include the Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; REDCAT, Los Angeles (both 2012); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2011); CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2009); Swiss Institute of Contemporary Art, New York (2008); Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, Italy (2007); and the Kunsthalle Zürich (2004).
In 2009, he received the prestigious Cartier Award from the Frieze Foundation, which helps an artist from outside the United Kingdom realize a major project at Frieze Art Fair in London.
Work by Wolfson is held in public collections worldwide, including The Broad, Los Angeles; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, Italy; Fonds national d’art contemporain (FNAC), France; LUMA Foundation, Zurich; Magasin III Museum and Foundation for Contemporary Art, Stockholm; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent; Tate, London; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. He lives and works in New York and Los Angeles.