Born in Mamou, Louisiana, 1941.
EDUCATION
University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana, B.A., 1963.
Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, M.F.A., 1966.
Lives in New York City.
SELECTED SOLO SHOWS
1968
Galerie Rolf Ricke, Koln, West Germany.
1970
Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
1971
The Museum of Modern Art, NYC, NY.
1973
The Kitchen, NYC, NY.
1974
Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
1975
Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
1976
Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
1977
Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
1978
Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
The Clocktower, Institute for Art and Urban Resources, NYC, NY.
1979
Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany.
Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.
1981
Portland Center for the Visual Arts, Portland, Oregon.
1982
Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
1983
P.S. 1, Institute for Art and Urban Resources, Long Island City, New York.
1984
The Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan.
Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
1985
Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
1987
Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, Louisiana.
1988
The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia.
1989
Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC.
Cranbrook Academy, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
1990
Städtisches Museum Abteiber
Mönchengladbach, Mönchengladbach,Germany.
California State University Art Museum, Long Beach, California.
1992
Musée-Chateau d’Annecy, Annecy, France.
Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany.
Kunsthalle Nurnberg, Nurnberg, Germany.
Kunstverin St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
1994
The Drawing Center, NYC, NY.
1996
University Art Gallery, Staller Center for the Arts, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York.
1997
Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
1999
Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria.
2000
Marlborough Gallery, NYC, NY.
2002
Neue National Galerie, Berlin, Germany.
2003
Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
Sonnabend Gallery, NYC, NY.
2004
Galerie Proarta, Zurich, Switzerland.
2005
Pace Wildenstein, NYC, NY.
The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Joseloff Gallery, University of Hartford, Hartford, Connecticut.
2008
Sculptural Light Works from the 1980s, Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY.
Dis-Play, Sadie Coles HQ off-site, London, England.
Keith Sonnier: Selected Works 1994-2004, Texas Gallery, Houston, Texas.
Keith Sonnier: Recent Work, PaceWildenstein, NYC, NY.
Selected Works, 1969/1989/2005, Häusler Contemporary, Munich, Germany.
2009
Shelf Works 1975/2008,
Häusler Contemporary, Zurich, Switzerland.
Keith Sonnier: Early Sculpture and Drawings, Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
Wood Work, Galerie Jürgen Becker, Hamburg, Germany.
2010
Keith Sonnier: Dis-Play II, JGM Galerie, Paris, France.
Keith Sonnier: Selected Works 1996-2008 in Light, Metal and Cloth, Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Athens, Greece.
Keith Sonnier: New Work - Flocked Relics, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Keith Sonnier: Fort Crèvecoeur, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Keith Sonnier: Fluorescent Room, Art Club 1563, Seoul, South Korea.
2011
Keith Sonnier: Files 1965-1969, Leo Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
Modern Relic and Selected Works, Häusler Contemporary, Munich, Germany.
2012
Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke-Heist, Belgium.
Keith Sonnier: Cannes Series and Selected Works, Häusler Contemporary Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
2013
Keith Sonnier: 68-70, Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY.
Demi-Lune, Early Neon Works, JGM. Galerie, Paris, France.
2014
Elysian Plain + Early Works, Pace Gallery, NYC, NY.
Keith Sonnier: Elliptical Transmissions, Tripoli Gallery, Southampton, New York.
2015
Keith Sonnier: Castelli Warehouse 1970/Castelli Gallery 2015, Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
Keith Sonnier: Early Neon, Hall Art Foundation, Reading, Vermont.
Keith Sonnier: Light Works, Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain de Nice, Nice, France.
Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
2016
Keith Sonnier: Portals, Maccarone, Los Angeles, California.
Aaron Aujla and Keith Sonnier, The National Exemplar, NYC, NY. (two-person show)
Pace Gallery, London, England.
Keith Sonnier: Light Works, 1968-70, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, England.
Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland.
Ebo River and Early Works, Pace Gallery, NYC, NY.
2017
Keith Sonnier: Three Neons/Three Decades, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut.
2018
Keith Sonnier: Early Concepts / Recent Sculptures, Castelli Gallery, NYC, NY.
Inflated Works (1965-1966), The National Exemplar Gallery, NYC, NY.
Tragedy and Comedy, Tripoli Gallery, Southampton, New York.
Keith Sonnier: Until Today, Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York.
Keith Sonnier: Dis-Play II, The Dan Flavin Art Institute, Dia Art Foundation, Bridgehampton, New York.
Light Works: 1968-2017, Galleria Fumagalli, Milan, Italy.
2019
Keith Sonnier, 6 Videos, Torre Velasca/Converso, Milan, Italy.
Keith Sonnier: Until Today, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana.
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
1969
New Methods: New Media, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC, NY.
When Attitudes Become Form, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England.
Square Pegs in Round Holes, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
1972
La 36 Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy.
Documenta 5, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, West Germany.
1973
1973 Biennial Exhibition: Contemporary American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, NY.
1974
Art/Voir, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France.
Projects: Video 1, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC, NY.
1976
200 Years of American Sculpture, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, NY.
American Artists: A New Decade, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan.
1977
1977 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, NY.
A View of a Decade, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois.
1978
Aspekte der 60er Jahre: Aus der Sammlung Reinhard Onnasch, Nationalgalerie, Berlin, West Germany.
1980
Hièr et Aprés, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada.
1982
La 40 Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy.
1983
The First Show: Paintings and Sculpture from Eight Collections 1940-1980, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California.
1985
Lightworks: Works of Art Using Light as Medium, Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia.
1987
Illuminations: The Art of Light, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio.
The Sonnabend Collection, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain.
1990
The New Sculpture 1965-1975: Between Geometry and Gesture, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, NY.
Neon Stücke, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany.
1991
The New Sculpture 1965-1975: Between Geometry and Gesture, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California.
1993
Gravity and Grace: The Changing Condition of Sculpture 1965-1975, Hayward Gallery, London, England.
1996
Reel Work: Artists Films and Videos of the 1960s and 1970s, Center of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida.
1997
Selections from the Video Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC, NY.
1999
Afterimage: Film and Video Program, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California.
The American Century: Art and Culture 1950-2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, NY.
2001
The Projected Image in American Art 1964-1977, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, NY.
2002
The 1970s: Art in Question, CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, France.
2006
View Nine: I Love My Scene/Scene 1, Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY.
2007
E Ricomincio da Tre, Studio La Città, Verona, Italy.
2008
Geometry as Image, Robert Miller Gallery, NYC, NY.
View: Fourteen/Hooking Up, Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY.
2009
Just What Are They Saying…, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana.
A Tribute to Ron Warren, Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY.
Portrait of the artist as a biker, MAGASIN – Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble, France.
2010
Contemporary Art From the Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC, NY.
50 Years at Pace, The Pace Gallery, NYC, NY.
2011
Burning, Bright: A Short History of the Light Bulb, The Pace Gallery, NYC, NY.
2013
When Attitudes Become Form: Bern 1969/Venice 2013, Prada Foundation, Ca’ Corner della Regina, Venice, Italy.
2014
In The Beginning/End-States, Sgorbati Projects, NYC, NY.
2015
America Is Hard To See, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, NY.
2016
Forty, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York.
2018
A Luta Continua. The Sylvio Perlstein Collection, Hauser & Wirth, NYC, NY.
Drawing Space: 1970-1983, David Nolan Gallery, NYC, NY.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pincus-Witten, Robert, Keith Sonnier: Materials and Pictorialism, ARTFORUM, October 1969, pp. 39-45.
Antin, David, Keith Sonnier, STUDIO INTERNATIONAL, July 1970, p. 8.
Sharp, Willoughby, Keith Sonnier at Eindhoven: An Interview, ARTS MAGAZINE, February 1971, pp. 24-27.
Pincus-Witten, Robert, Keith Sonnier: Film and Video as Colorfield, ARTFORUM, May 1972, pp. 35-37.
Davis, Douglas, Art Without Limits, NEWSWEEK, 24 December 1973, pp. 68- 74.
Harlan, Calvin, Keith Sonnier: An Interview, PARACHUTE, March 1977, p. 28.
Smith, Phillip, Keith Sonnier: Moments in Connection, ARTS MAGAZINE, November 1977, pp. 134-135.
Muchnic, Suzanne, Radio-Based Work: Sonnier Setting the Dial for Art, LOS ANGELES TIMES, 12 July 1978, p. 13.
Castle, Ted, Keith Sonnier’s Pictograms, ARTFORUM, January 1981, pp. 34-35.
Kuspit, Donald, Keith Sonnier, P.S. 1, ARTFORUM, September 1983, pp. 71- 72.
Kuspit, Donald B., Photographs of an Outsider, ART IN AMERICA, February 1985, pp. 116-127.
Raynor, Vivien, Keith Sonnier: Media Oriented Sculptor, Goes His Own Way, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 4 October 1985.
Javault, Patrick, Keith Sonnier: du bamboo au néon, ART PRESS, April 1986, pp. 8-11.
Kertess, Klaus, Report from Brittany: In Nature’s Shadow, ART IN AMERICA, September 1987, pp. 57-59.
Morgan, Robert C., Eccentric Abstraction and Postminimalism, FLASH ART, January 1989, pp. 73-89.
Robinson, Walter, Keith Sonnier’s Elusive Art, ELLE, January 1989, p. 40.
Smith, Roberta, For Keith Sonnier, Two Shows 20 Years Apart, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 13 January 1989.
Richard, Paul, Sonnier’s Signature: At the Hirshhorn, Giving Light to Classic Images, THE WASHINGTON POST, 13 August 1989, p. G2.
Mc Greevy, Linda, The Janus Strategy: Keith Sonnier Looks East and West, ARTS MAGAZINE, October 1989, pp. 52-57.
Sherman, Mary, Keith Sonnier: Works in Light, 1972-1990, THE BOSTON GLOBE, 17 May 1990.
Hapgood, Susan, Remaking Art History, ART IN AMERICA, July 1990, pp. 115-124.
Bookhardt, D. Eric, Interview, Keith Sonnier, ART PAPERS, January- February 1991, pp. 22-23.
Knight, Christopher, MOCA’s ‘New Sculpture’ a Fine Match of Work, Space, LOS ANGELES TIMES, 20 February 1991, p. F10.
Baker, Kenneth, It’s the 60s Again with ‘New Sculpture’, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, 20 May 1991.
Liebmann, Lisa, Grand Elisions, ARTFORUM, April 1992, pp. 88-91.
Dodge, Alan, Keith Sonnier’s Hi-Tech Aura, WORLD ART, November 1993, pp. 86-91.
Turner, Elisa, Miami Heliotrope beckons in neon, THE MIAMI HERALD, 24 April 1996, pp. D1-D2.
Sussler, Betsy, Keith Sonnier, BOMB, March 1997, pp. 52-55.
Yablonsky, Linda, Powering Up, ART IN AMERICA, March 1998, pp. 88-95.
Lovelace, Carey, Keith Sonnier at Location One, ART IN AMERICA, February 2002.
Saltz, Jerry, Blinded by the Light: Reassessing Keith Sonnier, a homegrown Arte Povera artist who brightened up the ‘70s, THE VILLAGE VOICE, 5 January 2004.
Johnson, Ken, Keith Sonnier, Ace Gallery, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 9 January 2004.
Kalina, Richard, Drawing with Light, ART IN AMERICA, April 2004, pp. 114-119.
Kuspit, Donald, Keith Sonnier at Pace Wildenstein, ARTFORUM, April 2005, pp. 187-188.
Rosoff, Patricia, Electrifying the Inert: A Conversation with Keith Sonnier, SCULPTURE, January-February 2006, pp. 52-59.
Rosenberg, Karen, On, and Off, the Wall/Upper East Side: Linger (Quietly) for a While, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 14 November 2008, pp. C29-C30.
Carlin, T.J., Reviews Marathon, New York: Keith Sonnier/Lever House, ART REVIEW, April 2009, pp. 95-96.
Ebony, David, Contemporary Collection Debuts in Istanbul, ART IN AMERICA, October 2009, p. 30.
Stillman, Nick, Keith Sonnier/Louisiana Art & Science Museum, ARTFORUM, February 2011, p. 233.
Kemp, John R., Keith Sonnier/Louisiana Art & Science Museum, ART NEWS, March 2011, p. 119.
De Jongh, Karlyn, Keith Sonnier: Light and Space, FLASH ART INTERNATIONAL, March-April 2011, pp. 78-81.
Staff, Licht als Volumen und Farbe, UNTITLED (Berlin), October 2011, pp. 140-149.
Russeth, Andrew, On View: Keith Sonnier, THE NEW YORK OBSERVER, 14 January 2013, p. B5.
Plagens, Peter, The Subconscious Unleashed, Bold Plays of Light, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2-3 February 2013, p. A22.
Vogel, Carol, Inside Art: A Watershed Show, Restored, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 31 May 2013, p. C24.
Russell, Anna, An Artist Who Is Always Looking Toward the Light, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, 23 January 2014, p. A21.
Yablonsky, Linda, Arena: Master of Neon, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 2 February 2014, p. ST3.
Pincus-Witten, Robert, Keith Sonnier/Castelli Gallery, ARTFORUM, March 2015, p. 279.
Knight, Christopher, Keith Sonnier's neon drawings open portals to another place, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, 26 February 2016.
Takac, Balasz, How Keith Sonnier Redefined the Parameters of Sculpture, WIDEWALLS.COM, 1 July 2018.
Farago, Jason, Artwork That Glows Under the Hamptons Sun, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 3 August 2018, pp. C13, C16.
Straus, Michael, Art in Conversation: Keith Sonnier with Michael Straus, THE BROOKLYN RAIL, 3 October 2018.
Schwabsky, Barry, Keith Sonnier, ARTFORUM, November 2018, p. 243.
