Through video, performance, sculpture and installation, Dave McKenzie explores notions of public space and cultural exchange in relation to the private self. Often informed by humble actions and everyday circumstances, his modest proposals examine the world around us, revealing a larger set of social and political truths that are evidenced in the everyday. McKenzie’s diverse practice presents a quiet but critical model for engagement, one that poetically examines our dependence upon prescribed social roles and responsibilities while contemplating the place of the individual within this particular moment in time.

Born 1977 in Kingston, Jamaica, Dave McKenzie graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and participated in residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, P.S.1 National Studio Program and the Studio Museum in Harlem. He presented solo exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Small A Projects, Portland; Gallery 40000, Chicago; and Savage Art Resources, Portland. His work has also been included in Performa 07, New York; Freestyle, Studio Museum in Harlem; Queens International, Queens Museum of Art; 24/7, Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius; and Listening to New Voices, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center. In 2005, McKenzie was the recipient of the William H. Johnson Prize and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award. He lives and works in Brooklyn.