Michael Ashkin

Michael Ashkin's work spans various media, including sculpture, installation, photography, video, poetry, and text. His work addresses issues of landscape and urbanism, specifically the intersection of subjectivity, visual and linguistic representation, and the social, economic, and political production of space.

Ashkin's work has been exhibited at Documenta 11 (2002), the Whitney Biennial (1997), the Vienna Secession (2009), among others in the U.S. and abroad. He has published four photobooks, were it not for (2019), Horizont (2018), Long Branch (2014), and Garden State (2000).

Ashkin received a B.A. in Near Eastern languages from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.A. in Mideast languages and cultures from Columbia University, and holds an M.F.A. in painting and drawing from the Art Institute of Chicago. Prior to teaching at Cornell University he was a faculty member at SUNY Albany, Pratt Institute, SUNY Purchase, Tyler School of Art, and the International Center of Photography.

Related News

• Michael Ashkin: Architecture and Utopia
• Good Object / Bad Object
• AAP Department of Art Announces Unique New Image Text M.F.A.
• Celebrating Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy's Bard of the Periphery
• Cul-de-sac: An Exhibition at Cathouse Proper in Brooklyn

Classes (Selected)

• ART 2401 Introduction to SculptureThis course introduces students to artistic practice in three dimensions using a variety of materials and approaches. Problems require the student to address materials in terms of cultural and historical context. Assumes no prior knowledge of sculpture.
• ART 4409 Studio in Sculpture
• ART 6102 Graduate Seminar
• ART 8001 Graduate Studio IIICourse instructor is the chair of student's Special Committee. Students are responsible, under faculty direction, for planning their own projects and selecting the media in which they work. All members of the faculty are available for individual consultation.

Awards, Grants, and Fellowships (Selected)

• MacDowell Colony Residency Fellowship (2011, 2012, 2014, 2016)
• Yaddo Residency Fellowship (2013, 2015)
• Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (1997, 2012)
• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2009)

Exhibitions and Presentations (Selected)

• Kaktos Project, Athens, Greece (2020)
• Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany, (2002)
• Session, Vienna, Austria (2009)
• Andrea Rosen Gallery, NYC (1998, 2000, 2002, 2005)

Publications (Selected)

• Ashkin, Michael, "were it not for", Fw:Books, Amsterdam (2019)
• Ashkin, Michael, "Horizont", TIS Books, New York (2018)
• Ashkin, Michael, "Long Branch",  A-Jump Books, Ithaca (2014)