# Dave McKenzie

URL: https://vielmetter.com/artists/dave-mckenzie/
Has exhibited with Vielmetter Los Angeles

Dave McKenzie creates videos, performances, installations, and objects that examine the inner workings of the structures of desire and belief in contemporary culture. McKenzie explores how public space and the private self are simultaneously alienated, connected, and restricted. At the heart of his diverse practice lies a poetic quest for interaction that lays bare the complications of social rules and obligations with which we navigate personal relationships. McKenzie describes his work as an attempt to produce new situations that may become models for himself or for others. He examines the incessant flow of digital images to explore social rules and amplify the nonsensical nature of the most dominant images on the internet; to query the contemporary obsession with producing and disseminating images of anything and everything; and to produce or find a photographic image that can stand on its own from the crowd.

McKenzie’s 2018 performance, *Furtive Movements*, uses manners and gestures described as suspicious in legislation that targets people of color, like the stop-and-frisk campaign in New York City. McKenzie presented these rehearsed gestures as a choreographed performance while reciting excerpts from a summary of a court case to decide what entails a furtive movement. In his recontextualizing of this real-world issue, McKenzie describes himself as a magician, adding another layer of performativity to reconsider the implications of policing people of color.

Dave McKenzie was born in 1977 in Kingston, Jamaica, and lives and works in New York. In 2000, he earned a BFA in printmaking from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. McKenzie’s recent solo exhibitions include *And sometimes y*, at Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; *AEIOU*, Barbara Wien Berlin, Berlin, Germany; *The Story I Tell Myself*, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; *Speeches, Speeches, Speeches*, Galerie Barbara Wien; *An Intermission*, University Art Museum, State University of New York, Albany; *Where the Good Lord Split You*, Vielmetter Los Angeles; *Dave McKenzie*, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado; *Screen Doors on Submarines*, REDCAT, Los Angeles; and *Momentum 8: Dave McKenzie*, ICA Boston.

McKenzie’s work has been included in several biennials and notable group exhibitions including: the 2022 Whitney Biennial: *Quiet as It’s Kept*, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; *Prospect.5: Yesterday we said tomorrow*, at The Hancock Whitney Welcome Center, New Orleans, LA; *Soft Power*, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; *Stories of Almost Everyone*, at UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the 2014 Whitney Biennial; *Etched in Collective History*, at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; *Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art*, at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX; and *Prospect.1*, New Orleans, LA.

## Exhibitions

- [Dave McKenzie: And sometimes y](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/dave-mckenzie-and-sometimes-y.md): March 25 — May 20, 2023 · Gallery II · Artists: Dave McKenzie
- [Rodney McMillianDave McKenzie inWhitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It’s Kept](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/whitney-biennial-2022-quiet-as-it-s-kept.md): April 6 — September 5, 2022 · Whitney Museum of American Art · Artists: Rodney McMillian, Dave McKenzie
- [Laura Aguilar Dave McKenzieRodney McMillianWangechi MutuProspect.5 New Orleans: Yesterday you said tomorrow](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/prospect-5-or-with-laura-aguilar-rodney-mcmillian-wangechi-mutu-dave-mckenzie.md): October 23, 2021 — January 23, 2022 · The Hancock Whitney Welcome Center, New Orleans, LA · Artists: Laura Aguilar, Rodney McMillian, Wangechi Mutu, Dave McKenzie
- [20 Years Anniversary Exhibition Part 2](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/20-years-anniversary-exhibition-part-2.md): June 26 — August 7, 2021 · Gallery I & II · Artists: Nick Aguayo, Edgar Arceneaux, Sadie Benning, Ellen Berkenblit, Andrea Bowers, Kim Dingle, Sean Duffy, Nicole Eisenman, Louise Fishman, Charles Gaines, Karl Haendel, Samuel Levi Jones, My Barbarian, Rodney McMillian, Mary Reid Kelley & Patrick Kelley, Elizabeth Neel, Yunhee Min, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Hugo McCloud, Dave McKenzie, Nicola Tyson
- [20 Years Anniversary Exhibition Part 1](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/20-year-anniversary-exhibition.md): July 18 — August 29, 2020 · Gallery I · Artists: Edgar Arceneaux, Math Bass, Whitney Bedford, Andrea Bowers, Kim Dingle, Sean Duffy, Nicole Eisenman, Genevieve Gaignard, Liz Glynn, Karl Haendel, Raffi Kalenderian, Ruben Ochoa, Stanya Kahn, Hayv Kahraman, Mary Kelly, Shana Lutker, Dave McKenzie, Rodney McMillian, Wangechi Mutu, Esther Pearl Watson, The Estate of Pope.L, Deborah Roberts, The Estate of Steve Roden, Stefanie Schneider, Amy Sillman, Arlene Shechet, John Sonsini, Monique van Genderen, Tâm Văn Trần, Patrick Wilson
- [Soft Power](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/soft-power.md): October 26, 2019 — February 17, 2020 · San Francisco Museum of Modern Art · Artists: Dave McKenzie
- [Dave McKenzie: 2014 Whitney Biennial](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2014-03-dave-mckenzie-2014-whitney-biennial.md): March 7 — May 25, 2014 · 2014 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY · Artists: Dave McKenzie
- [Dave McKenzie: Where the Good Lord Split You](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2013-09-dave-mckenzie-where-the-good-lord-split-you.md): September 14 — October 19, 2013 · Artists: Dave McKenzie
- [Dave McKenzie: Body Language](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2013-07-dave-mckenzie-body-language.md): July 18 — October 27, 2013 · The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY · Artists: Dave McKenzie
- [Dave McKenzie: Declaration](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2012-12-dave-mckenzie-declaration.md): December 6 — 9, 2012 · Art Public: Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, FL · Artists: Dave McKenzie
- [Dave McKenzie: The Ungovernables](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2012-02-dave-mckenzie-the-ungovernables.md): February 15 — April 22, 2012 · 2012 New Museum Triennial, New York, NY · Artists: Dave McKenzie
- [Dave McKenzie](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2010-04-dave-mckenzie-dave-mckenzie.md): April 18 — May 9, 2010 · Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO · Artists: Dave McKenzie
- [Dave McKenzie: Old Fashioned Fourth of July Parade](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2010-04-dave-mckenzie-old-fashioned-fourth-of-july-parade.md): April 16 — July 4, 2010 · 4th of July Parade, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO · Artists: Dave McKenzie
- [Dave McKenzie: On Premises](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2009-09-dave-mckenzie-on-premises.md): September 12 — October 31, 2009 · Artists: Dave McKenzie
- [Dave McKenzie: Museum as Hub: Dave McKenzie, On Location](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2008-09-dave-mckenzie-museum-as-hub-dave-mckenzie-on-location.md): September 1 — November 1, 2008 · New Museum, New York, NY · Artists: Dave McKenzie
- [Dave McKenzie: Screen Doors on Submarines](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2008-04-dave-mckenzie-dave-mckenzie-screen-doors-on-submarines.md): April 24 — June 15, 2008 · REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA · Artists: Dave McKenzie
- [Dave McKenzie: While Supplies Last](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/2003-06-dave-mckenzie-while-supplies-last.md): June 21 — August 16, 2003 · Sculpture Center, New York, NY · Artists: Dave McKenzie

## Biography

1977 Born in Kingston, Jamaica  Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY    2000 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Somerset County, ME  BFA in Printmaking, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

**Selected Solo and Two Person Exhibitions**

  2023 "And sometimes y," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA  "AEIOU," Barbara Wien Berlin, Berlin, Germany 2021 "The Story I Tell Myself," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY 2018 "Speeches Speeches Speeches," Galerie Barbara Wien, Berlin, Germany ([Link](http://www.barbarawien.de/gallery.php)) 2017 "Dave McKenzie: An Intermission," University Art Museum, University at Albany SUNY, Albany, NY 2016 “Joy Syringe,” Practice Gallery, New York, NY 2015 "Pants full of hope, pockets full of adventure, or... dont call me Cheesuz," Wien Lukatsch, Berlin, Germany 2013 "Where the Good Lord Split You," Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA 2012 "Everythings Alright, Nothings Okay!" Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA  2011 "Citizen," Wien Lukatsch Galerie, Berlin, DE 2010 "Dave McKenzie," Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO 2009 "On Premises," Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA 2008 "Present Tense," Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA  "Screen Doors on Submarines," REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA 2007 "Momentum 8: Dave McKenzie," Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, Boston, MA  "Tomorrow will be Better," Small A Projects, Portland, OR 2006 "Havent Seen You in a Minute," Gallery 400, Chicago, IL 2005 "Portrait as a Ghost," Savage Art Resources, Portland, OR 2004 "Together is Forever", Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Culver City, CA

**Selected Group Exhibitions**

  2023 "Friends & Lovers," The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY 2022 "Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It’s Kept," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY 2021-2022 "Prospect.5: Yesterday we said tomorrow," The Hancock Whitney Welcome Center, New Orleans, LA 2021 "20 Years," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2020 "20 Years," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2019-2020 "SOFT POWER," SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA  "Colored People Time: Mundane Futures," Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA; MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA 2018 “Stories of Almost Everyone,” Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA 2017 “Postcards from America,” Celaya Brothers Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico   “The Times,” The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY ([Link](http://flagartfoundation.org/exhibitions/the-times/))  “The Half-Life of Love,” MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA ([Link](http://massmoca.org/event/the-half-life-of-love/)) 2016 “Wound: Mending Time and Attention,” Cooper Union, New York, NY 2015 "Morning Pages," Laurel Gitlen, New York, NY  "Glen Ligon: Encounters and Collisions," Nottingham Contemoprary, Nottingham, UK 2014 Whitney Biennial, curated by Stuart Comer, Anthony Elms, and Michelle Grabner, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY  Biel Biennial, Le Mouvement: Performing the City, Movement III: The City Performed, Art Centre Centre PasquArt, Biel Switzerland, curated by Gianni Jetzer 2013 "Radical Presence: Black Performance In Contemporary Art," Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX; traveling to Grey Art Gallery at New York University, New York, NY; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN  Blues for Smoke, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH  "Body Language," The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY  "Assembly Required," Selections from the Permanent Collection, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY  Sinister Pop Family Day, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY 2012 "The Ungovernables," New Museum Triennial, New Museum, New York, NY  "Art Public," Bass Museum of Art, Miami, FL  "The Living Years: Art after 1989," Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN  "Typical Frankenstein," Laurel Gitlen, New York, NY  "Optotype," 92YTribeca, New York, NY  "Year of Cooperation," Broadway 1602, New York, NY  "Configured," Benrimon Contemporary, New York, NY 2011 "The Bearden Project," The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY.  "Drawn to Disaster," ICA, Maine College of Art, Portland, ME. 2010 "The Production of Space," The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY.  "Held Up By Columns," Renwick Gallery, New York, NY.  "At Home/Not At Home: Works From the Collection of Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg, CCS Bard Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.  "The Absolutely Other," The Kitchen, New York, NY.  "'Collected.' Reflections on the Permanent Collection," Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY 2009 "30 Seconds off an Inch," Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY  "Unusual Behavior," Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA  "Character Generator," Eleven Rivington, New York, NY  "Convention," MOCA, North Miami, FL  "To the left of the rising sun," Small A Projects, New York, NY  "Collected. Propositions on the Permanent Collection," The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY  "Gravity," Cornish Main Gallery, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA  "Rockstone and Bootheel: Contemporary West Indian Art," Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT 2008 "Prospect.1 New Orleans," International Biennial, curated by Dan Cameron, New Orleans, LA (catalogue)  "This Shadow is a Bit of Ideology," Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, curated by Kelly Chen and Anthony Elms  "As Others See Us: The Contemporary Portrait," Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT  "Alternating Beats," RISD Museum, Providence, RI  "Museum as Hub: Six Degrees," New Museum, New York, NY (brochure)  "Free Parking," Boston Center for the Arts' Mills Gallery, Boston, MA  "On Procession," Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN  "Black is, Black Aint," The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL (curated by Hamza Walker); traveling to the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI; H & R Block Artspace, Kansas City, MO  Disinhibition: Black Art and Blue Humor, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL  "You & Me," Sometimes, Lehmann Maupin, New York, NY  "Good Doll Bad Doll," Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA  "A New High in Getting Low (NYC)," John Connelly Presents, New York, NY  "2000 Years of Sculpture," Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA  "Working History: African American Art and Objects," Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, Portland, OR (catalog)  "Slightly Unbalanced," Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL; traveling to Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington WV; Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, Lafayette, LA; Rodman Hall Arts Center, St. Catharines, Ontario; Museum London, London, Ontario; Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art at the University of Richmond Museums, Richmond, VA (catalog) 2007 PERFORMA 07 Biennial: All Together Now, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Harlem, NY (Catalogue)  "Looking Back: The White Columns Annual," selected by Clarissa Dalrymple, White Columns New York, NY  "A New High in Getting Low," Artnews Projects, Berlin, Germany  "Just Kick it Till it Breaks," The Kitchen, New York, NY, curated by Debra Singer and Matthew Lyons, (Catalog)  "Mr. President," University Art Museum, University of Albany, Albany, NY (catalog) 2004 "Me, Myself, and I," Schmidt Center, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL  "Figuratively: Dave McKenzie, Wangechi Mutu, William Villalongo," The Studio Museum, Harlem, NY  "Open House: Working in Brooklyn," Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY (catalog)  "The Sneeze 80 x 80", Gazon Rouge Gallery, Athens, Greece 2003 "American Idyll," Metrotech Center Commons, Brooklyn, NY. (Catalog)  "24/7," Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania  "In Practice," Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY 2002 "Videodrome II," New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY  "Americas Remixed," The Factory of the Vapor, Milan, Italy (catalog)  "Queens International," Queens Museum of Art, NY (catalog)  "Listening to New Voices," P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY  "Supervideonight," Gale Gates, New York, NY  "Slow Dive," Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA  "Video Marathon: Bringing up the (Mediated) Body," Art in General, New York, NY  "Multiplicity," Midway Gallery, St. Paul, MN  "Room for a Revolution," Deluxe Gallery, Chicago, IL 2001 "Video Call," ICA, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA  "Something/Nothing-Passport to the State of Flux," Art in General, NY  "Material World," Susquehanna Art Museum/VanGo, Harrisburg, PA  "Freestyle," The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY (Catalog) and traveled to Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA  "In/SITE/Out: Inquiries into Social Space," Apexart, New York, NY

**Screening**

   Ethnography/Biography/Whimsy: Three Contemporary African American, Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies, Rochester, NY  Declassified Daytime Screening, New Museum, New York, NY  Declassified: Recent Videos by Erik van Lieshout, Dave McKenzie, Museum, New York, NY  Enactment, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, UK  Videos In Progress: Dave McKenzie, Stairwell Gallery, The RISD Museum, Providence, RI  Videodrome II, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY [Traveled]   Video Cafe: Dave McKenzie, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY  Selections from Art in General: A Program of Short Video Works in Russia, Various Venues, Russia.  Supervideonight, Gale Gates, Brooklyn, NY  Fourth Annual Video Marathon: Bringing up the (Mediated) Body, Art in General, New York, NY  Video Call, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA  Something/Nothing-Passport to the State of Flux, Art in General, New York, NY

**Bibliography**

  2022 Lakin, Max. "Addicted to the Shindig," Artforum, April 2 ([Link](https://www.artforum.com/diary/max-lakin-around-the-2022-whitney-biennial-88339))  Cotter, Holland. "A Whitney Biennial of Shadow and Light," The NY Times, March 31 ([Link](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/arts/design/whitney-biennial-review.html)) 2021 Klett, Maddie. "Dave McKenzie with Maddie Klett," The Brooklyn Rail, July/August ([Link](https://brooklynrail.org/2021/07/art/DAVE-MCKENZIE-with-Maddie-Klett))  Colby Chamberlain. "The Stranger," ArtForum, May ([Link](https://www.artforum.com/print/202105/colby-chamberlain-on-the-art-of-dave-mckenzie-85477))  Kotecha, Shiv. "Dave McKenzie’s Elegiac Reminder of Cultural Debts," Frieze, April 19 ([Link](https://www.frieze.com/article/dave-mckenzies-elegiac-reminder-cultural-debts))  Lopez Cassell, Dessane. "Dave McKenzie Brings His Methodical Approach to the Whitney Museum’s Façade," Hyperallergic, April 27 ([Link](https://hyperallergic.com/641361/dave-mckenzie-disturbing-the-view-whitney-museum/)) 2020 Durón, Maximiliano. "2020 Prospect New Orleans Triennial to Consider America’s ‘Unprecedented’ Political Moment," ArtNews, March 2 ([Link](https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/prospect-new-orleans-2020-artist-list-1202679724/))  Valentine, Victoria L. "Artist List for Prospect New Orleans Triennial Includes Mark Bradford, Willie Birch, Simone Leigh, Dawoud Bey, Glenn Ligon, Karon Davis, Naudline Pierre, and Kevin Beasley," CultureType, March 2 ([Link](https://www.culturetype.com/2020/03/02/artist-list-for-prospect-new-orleans-triennial-includes-mark-bradford-willie-birch-simone-leigh-dawoud-bey-glenn-ligon-karon-davis-naudline-pierre-and-kevin-beasley/))  "Prospect New Orleans Announces Artist List for Prospect.5," Artforum, March 2 ([Link](https://www.artforum.com/news/prospect-new-orleans-announces-artist-list-for-prospect-5-82357)) 2019 Copeland, Huey and Meg Onli. "ABOUT TIME: Huey Copeland in conversation with Meg Onli," Artforum, May ([Link](https://www.artforum.com/print/201905/huey-copeland-in-conversation-with-meg-onli-79522))  "ICA Philadelphia Explores Black History in "Colored People Time" Exhibition," Hypebeast, February 15 ([Link](https://hypebeast.com/2019/2/colored-people-time-mundane-futures-ica-philadelphia)) 2018 Hanson, Sarah P., "The public joins the protest in Frieze’s Live programme," The Art Newspaper (web), May 4 ([Link](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/the-public-joins-the-protest-in-frieze-s-live-programme))  Schneider, Tim, "‘It’s About a Sort of Twisted Magic’: How One Artist Is Revealing the Tricks of Racial Profiling at Frieze New York," Artnet news (web), May 2 ([Link](https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/dave-mckenzie-frieze-1277072))  Greenberger, Alex,"Frieze New York Will Present Adam Pendleton–Designed Black Lives Matter Flag, Hank Willis Thomas Works on Gun Violence," Artnews, April 5 (web) ([Link](http://www.artnews.com/2018/04/05/frieze-new-york-will-present-adam-pendleton-designed-black-lives-matter-flag-hank-willis-thomas-piece-works-gun-violence/))  Speed, Mitch. "Critics' Picks: Dave McKenzie," Artforum, February (web) ([Link](https://www.artforum.com/picks/dave-mckenzie-74897)) 2017 Yerebakan, Osman Can, “In ‘The Times,’ Artists Make the Media Their Message,” ArtSlant (web), July 21 ([Link](https://www.artslant.com/ew/articles/show/48239-in-the-times-artists-make-the-media-their-message)) 2016 Shaw, Anny, “Performa teams up with the contemporary African art fair in New York,” The Art Newspaper (web), April 12 2015 Pilger, Zoe, Black people in post-war America: New exhibition documents an often brutal experience, The Independent (web), April 7  Petersen, Sarah. "Risk Assessment," X-TRA, Summer 2014 Tuero, Natalia, "Corin Hewitt and Dave McKenzie Among Rome Prize Winners," Art in America online, April 11 ([Link](http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/news/corin-hewitt-and-dave-mckenzie-among-rome-prize-winners/))  Schnadt, Sara, "Artists on the Whitney Biennial", KCET Art Bound, May 8 ([Link](http://www.kcet.org/arts/artbound/counties/whitney-biennial-artists.html))  Vogel, Shane, Touching Ecstasy, Social Text 121, Winter 2013 Johnson, Ken, "Riffs on Race, Role and Identity," New York Times, September 19  Newton, Mike, "Clashing Visions of Black American Life," The Indypendent, October 30 ([Link](https://indypendent.org/2013/10/30/clashing-visions-black-american-life))  Backer, Yona, "Performance Trace: Staged Actions, Live Art, and Performance Made for the Camera," catalogue for "Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art," Contemporary Art Museum Houston  Schwabsky, Barry, Post-White? On Blues for Smoke: The Whiteys adventurous, awkard attempt to explore abstract art through the blues, The Nation, May 20 2012 Schmelzer, Paul, Yesterdays Newspaper: November 8, 2012, Untitled (blog), Walker Art Center, November 8   Simpson, Bennett, Blues for Smoke, exhibition catalogue, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Prestel  Chou, Kimberly, Local Talent Leads Downtown Triennial, Wall Street Journal, February 10  Buchmaier, Barbara, Dave McKenzie, Artforum, January 6  "The Bearden Project", Exhibition Catalogue, The Studio Museum in Harlem 2011 Clifford Owens BOMB, December 15 2009 Haddad, Natalie, Dave McKenzie at Susanne Vielmetter, Frieze, p. 136, November/December  Woodard, Josef, Off the Off Radar Art, Santa Barbara News Press, November 20  Shaw, Michael, Continuing and Recommended, ArtScene, October  Ligon, Glenn, Civic Engagement: To Miss New Orleans, Artforum, January  Born, Katheryn, This Shadow Is A Bit of Ideology, Time Out Chicago, Issue 210, January 1  New York Artists Dictionary Part 1, Flash Art, Volume 62, Number 264, January/February 2008 MacCash, Doug. Prospect.1 New Orleans artist Dave McKenzie practices inspired unproductiveness, The Times-Picayune, November 14  Copeland, Huey, The Blackness of Blackness, ArtForum, October  Foumberg, Jason. Slightly Unbalanced, Frieze, Issue 115, p. 171, May  Weinberg, Lauren, Black Comedy, Time Out Chicago, Issue 164, April  Prospect.1 New Orleans, Exhibition Catalogue, texts by Barbara Bleomink, Dan Cameron, Lolis Eric Elie, and Claire Tancons, Picturebox Inc., Brooklyn, NY, November  McQuaid, Cate, Humor Drives Free Parking exhibit, The Boston Globe, October 15  Just Kick it till it Breaks, Exhibition Catalogue, The Kitchen  Goings on About Town, The New Yorker, May 5  Farrugia, Mallory, Art:Installation, Dave McKenzie, Flavorpill, April  Riggot, Julie, The Season of the Idea, Los Angeles Downtown News, April 28  Mizota, Sharon, Dave McKenzie at REDCAT, Los Angeles Times, April 18  Boucher, Brian, Dave McKenzie, All Together Now, at or near the Studio Museum in Harlem, Art In America, March  Bowie, Chas, Working History: African American Objects, Portland Mercury, February 7 2007 Cotter, Holland, Celebrating the Intangibles Money Cant Buy, The New York Times, December 23  Cotter, Holland, Art is Brief, You Just Have To Be There, The New York Times, November 9  Johnson, Ken, Goldfish, Warhol, and basketball in a video riff on identity politics, Boston Globe, August 10  Malone, Micah, Dave McKenzie Portland, OR Art Papers, May/June  Cotter, Holland, Art In Review, The New York Times, April 13 2006 Moulton, Aaron, 40000, Flash Art, p.72, May/June 2005 Ligon, Glenn, "Black Light", Artforum, pg. 248, September issue  Dirks, Ryan, Dave McKenzie, Portrait as a Ghost, The Portland Mercury, Feb 3 2004 Weinberg, Michelle, Its All About Me, Miami New Times, November 25  Mills, Michael, Through a Fractured Lens, New Times, November 18  Ligon, Glenn, Black Light: David Hammons and the Poetics of Emptiness, Art Forum, 43, no1, pp. 242-249, September  Cotter, Holland, " 'Black' Comes in Many Shadings", New York Times, August 13  Firstenberg, Lauri, "Hit Me, Take Me, Wear Me, Fake me", "Figuratively" at the Studio Museum Harlem, exhibition brochure essay  Laster, Paul, "Back-to-back At SMH - Interviews with Mickalene Thomas and Dave McKenzie", WBURG.com, Vol.4, No.2, Summer  Brockington, Horace, "Extra Open: A conversation with Charlotta Kotik, Dread Scott, Bill Scan", NY Arts Magazine, July-August 2003 Ranger, Abby. Whats Paul Bunyan Doing at Metrotech? Brooklyn Eagle, September 26. 2002 Heuer, Megan. "Queens International." The Brooklyn Rail, Autumn.  Van Dyke, Aaron. Multiplicity. New Art Examiner, May-June.  Knighton, Andrew. An Expanding Pluriverse. Object Magazine. 2001 Princenthal, Nancy. Freestyle. Artext, August-October.  Knight, Christopher, " Cultural Evolution in 'Freestyle' ", Los Angeles Times, October 2.  Valdez, Sarah. Freestyling. Art in America, September.  Cotter, Holland. A Full Studio Museum Show Starts With 28 Young Artists and a Shoehorn., The New York Times, May 11  Saltz, Jerry. POST-BLACK Radical Intelligence at the Studio Museum in Harlem.The Village Voice, May 22  Schjeldahl, Peter. Breaking Away: A flowering of young African-American artists. The New Yorker. June 11  Brockington, Horace. Freestyle: Studio Museum in Harlem. NY Arts Magazine, Vol. 6 No. 6 June 2000 Jones, Karen E., "MoMovements Against the Grain", Freestyle Catalog

**Awards, Grants and Fellowships**

  2018 Artist Grant, Visual Arts, Foundation for Contemporary Arts ([Link](https://bucketeer-c7695ed3-6edb-4e3b-8141-d6c9d727fec6.s3.amazonaws.com/public/system/comfy/cms/files/1412/files/original/2018_FCA_Grants_Press_Release.pdf)) 2011 Guna S. Mundheim Visual Arts Fellow, The American Academy in Berlin 2009 USA Rockefeller Fellow, United States Artists  Art Matters Foundation Grant 2008 Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant 2005 The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation  William H. Johnson Prize  Michael Richards Fund, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council 2003 Artist-in-Residence, The Studio Museum in Harlem, 2003-2004 2001 Artist-in-Residence, P.S.1 National and International Studio Program, 2001-2002

**Group Exhibition Catalogues and Books**

  2022 Pindell, Howardena. "Howardena Pindell - A New Language," Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh in collaboration with Kettle's Yard, Cambridge and Spike Island, Bristol. pp 67 2012 Simpson, Bennett. Blues for Smoke, exhibition catalogue, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Prestel