JAMES W. SULLIVAN
Sullivan’s sculpture is based in figurative, natural, and fabricated forms that address issues of our bodily experience, seeking the relationship between materiality, space, and tactile perception. These works explore the notion that the body as provisional in construction and image, in a constant state of coming into being and dissolution. His most recent work includes cast iron vessels, figures in straw and paster and bronze, site-specific installation, large-scale prints, and collected and fabricated objects in brass, cardboard, cement and other materials, as well as prototyped digital models. He has been represented by Conduit Gallery, Dallas, since 1990.
An artist with more than 40 years’ experience, Sullivan is an innovative educator and cultural leader in the visual arts. He is currently President of the Board at the Corsicana Artist and Writer Residency, and Professor Emeritus of Sculpture in the Division of Art at Southern Methodist University, where he served as chair for 17 years. He exhibits widely in a number of media including sculpture, printmaking, drawing, and sculptural installation. He has had over 25 solo or two-person exhibitions including at JIAAF, Hadong S. Korea; Galerie Sol del Rio and Concepción 41, Guatemala; Museum Moderner Kunst, Passau; Meadows Museum of Art, Dallas; Art Museum of South Texas; Amerika Haus, Berlin; Galerie Muhlenbusch, Düsseldorf. He has participated in group exhibitions throughout the Americas, Asia, and Europe. He is a 1989 recipient of the Philip Morris Skulptur Stipendiat to work in residency in Berlin, Germany, and the 2018 Distinguished International Artist at the Jurisan International Art Foundation in Hadong, South Korea.
Sullivan earned the MFA degree in sculpture at California State University, Long Ca and the BA in philosophy at Yale University. He has taught as Visiting Professor at the Hochschule der Kunste, Berlin, and Gachon University, Seoul S. Korea, and acted as Visiting Critic at the Yale School of Architecture, New Haven.
SOLO and TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS (selected)
James Sullivan : thinking sculpture. Pollock Gallery, Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX 2022
Architectures of the Body. The Anteroom, Corsicana TX, 2021 (catalogue)
Unfinished Business. Conduit Gallery, Dallas TX 2020
Mi Cuerpo no Esta Aqui/Mi Cuerpo Esta Aqui (Collaborative site-specific installation with Hellen Ascoli) Conduit Gallery, Dallas TX July/August 2017.
Mi Cuerpo Esta Aqui/Mi Curepo no Esta Aqui. (Collaborative site-specific installation with Hellen Ascoli). C-41 (Concepcion 41) La Antigua, Guatemala. Dec 2016-April 2017.
James Sullivan. Dallas City Performance Hall, Dallas TX 2015
Pensado Desde mi Cuerpo. Hellen Ascoli et Jay Sullivan. Galerie Sol del Rio, Guatemala City, Guatemala,2015
Searching for ….and other things. Hellen Ascoli and Jay Sullivan. S 1, Guatemala City, Guatemala, 2014
Alice Leonora Briggs/James Sullivan. The Gallery at UTA, University of Texas at Arlington, 2014 (catalogue)
Le Corps Propre. Artspace at Untitled, Oklahoma City, OK, 2013
Remains.Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX, 2013
The Reluctance of Things. Robert and Elaine Stein Gallery, Wright State Univ., Dayton, OH 2012 (catalogue)
New Work. Conduit Gallery, Dallas TX, 2010
Variations. Conduit Gallery, Dallas TX, 2007
Four Figures. Meadows Museum, 2006 (installation, with dance performance)
Natural Histories. Conduit Gallery, Dallas TX April, 2005
Provisional Self: Sculpture and Drawings. Meadows Museum of Art, Dallas, TX , 2002 (catalogue)
Presence/Absence. Museum Moderner Kunst, Passau, Germany, 2002
Recent Sculpture. Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX 2000
Matter and Meaning, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX 2000 (catalogue)
Sculpture and Drawings, Longview Museum of Fine Art, Longview, TX, 1998
Requia: Recent Sculpture and Drawings, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, 1998
Sculpture and Drawings, Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, TX, 1997
Body : Fragment, Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 1996 (catalogue)
Figur/Umgekehrte Figur, Installation, Berliner Dom, Berlin, Germany, Nov. 1994
Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX, 1994
James Sullivan: Plastiken. Amerika Haus, Berlin and Conduit Gallery, Dallas TX, 1990 (catalogue)
INSTALLATIONS / SITE-SPECIFIC / PERFORMANCE WORK
“If I was Here, If you were there.” Permanent site-specific installation, Jurisan Art Farm, Hadong, S. Korea. October 2018
Mi Cuerpo no Esta Aqui/Mi Cuerpo Esta Aqui. (Collaboration with Hellen Ascoli) Architecture, Video and Sound installation, Conduit Gallery, Dallas TX. July/August 2017.
Mi Cuerpo Esta Aqui/Mi Curepo no Esta Aqui. (Collaboration with Hellen Ascoli) Architecture, Video and Sound Installation, C-41 (Concepcion 41) La Antigua, Guatemala. 2017.
Conversations and Gifts (Collaborative installation with Hellen Ascoli). Artspace Kamin, Comalapa, Guatemala, Dec. 2014-Jan 2015
Art is Me, Art is You. (What is the Sound of US) Collaborative Performance, DUMBO art Festival, Brooklyn, NY, 2014
Living Room. Collaborative installation. Center for Creative Connections, Dallas Museum of Art Dallas TX, 2010-2011
Art is Me, Art is You. Performance, Los Angeles CA, 2010
“Loud Room: Quiet Room” Installation in “Prelude: works in Progress and Unfinished Works” Pollock Gallery, SMU, Dallas, TX, 2001
Garden. Collaborative installation with Kaleta Doolin, 20TH Anniversary Invitational, Connemara Conservancy, Plano, TX, 2000
“Loud Room/Quiet Room” Fort Burgwin Research Center, Ranchos de Taos, NM 1996 (destroyed)
Figur/Umgekehrte Figur, Installation, Berliner Dom, Berlin, Germany, Nov. 1994
“2 Houses” Collaborative installation with Stephen Mohring, Connemara Invitational Plano, TX, 1992
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
The Printer’s Proof: Artist and Printer Collaborations. Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque NM, 2022
Hot Damn, Conduit Gallery, Dallas TX, 2021
American Contemporary Craft, Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Lubbock TX, 2020
Remind. Jurisan Contemporary Art Museum, Hadong, S. Korea 2020
Jirisan International Arts Festival 2018. Hadong Jirisan Art Farm and Seoul Arts Center, S. Korea
Gesture and Reluctance, Robert and Elaine Stein Gallery, Wright state University, Dayton OH, 2017
Arte 12, Colectiva de fin de Año. Galerie Sol del Rio, Guatemala, Guatemala. 2016
Primary Research. Sean Cairnes, Linnea Glatt, James Sullivan. St. Paul Place, Dallas, TX, 2016.
Ceramicists and Sculptors in Two Dimensions. The Andrews Gallery, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 2015
Longitude/latitude: 30 years at Conduit Gallery. Conduit Gallery, TX 2014
Sculpture Walk. Allied Arts Council, St. Joseph, MO, 2014 (Tumulus, 2014)
Fountainhead. The Art Foundation, Dallas, TX 2012
Wunderkammer. Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX 2011
Small Sculpture. College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, 2011
Check Up : Recent Additions to the Art Collection. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX, 2010-1
Natural Translation: Harry Geffert and James Sullivan. Old Jail Art Center, Albany, TX, 2010
Art is Me, Art is You. Exhibition and Performance. Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA 2010
Rapid Artists 2010. Conference of the Society for Manufacturing Engineers, Los Angeles, 2010
Rapid Artists 2010. One Arts Place, Dallas, TX, 2010
Collections, Cultures, and Collaborations with Flatbed Press. UNT Art Gallery, Denton, TX, 2010
Face and Form: Modern and Contemporary Sculpture in the Meadows Collection. Meadows Museum, Dallas TX. 2009
Experiencing Perspectives II. Daimler Financial Services, Fort Worth, TX. 2009-11
The Plan is the Body. Big Chimney Art Space, Chicopee, MA 2009
Print Club of Cleveland Fine Art Print Fair. Cleveland, OH, 2009, 2011
Experiencing Perspectives 2008-9. Daimler Financial Services, Fort Worth, TX, 2008-9
Meadows Art Now ,McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas TX 2009
Indexing the Moment. CADD Art Lab, Dallas TX 2008
The Chair Show. Austin Museum of Art, Austin TX, 2008
Small Work. Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX, 2008
Alchemy or Change. Main Gallery, University of Texas at Dallas, 2008
“The Chair Show”. Austin Museum of Art, Austin TX, 2008
Red Dot Fair—Art Miami 2007, Conduit Gallery Artists , Dec. 2007
Printmaking Invitational. Carillon Gallery, Fort Worth, TX, 2007
Pollock Gallery, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, 2006
Drawing as Alterity. Studio Gallery, Brookhaven Colege, Dallas, TX 2005
The Third Coast: Texas on Townsend. Haley Martin Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2004
Conduit Gallery 20th Anniversary Exhibition. Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX 2004
Form. AIA Gallery, Dallas, TX 2003
I-45 Combined, Lowell Collins Gallery, Houston, TX, 2002
Daou, Letscher, Robertson, Sullivan. Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX, 2002
3 x 3 x 3: Contemporary Figurative Art. The Gallery at UTA. University of Texas, Arlington. 2002
Vessels of the Soul,Lowell Collins Gallery, Houston, Texas, 2001
Counterpoint: Six Artists from Conduit Gallery, University Art Gallery, Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, TX, 2001
Vision and Movement, 2000: Public Art, Public Transit. The Gallery at UTA, Arlington, TX, 2000
Inevitable Progression I. Arthur Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, 1999
The Figure: Experiencing Views. University of Texas, San Antonio, 1999
Faculty Exhibition, Meadows Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, 1998
34th Longview Museum of Art Invitational, Longview, TX 1998 (Awarded Best in Show, Purchase Prize)
New Dallas Art: Small Works, Lowell Collins Gallery, Houston, TX, 1998
Six Ways of Seeing, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX, 1996
Uber Grenzen Miteinanderen, Stadt Museum, Erlangen, Germany, 1995
Body and Spirit, Galveston Art Center, Galveston, TX, 1994
Human Nature, Human Form, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX, 1993
Senses Beyond Sight, D-Art Center, Dallas, TX, and Abilene Art Center, Abilene, TX, 1993
Drawings by Gallery Artists, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX, 1993
Kaleidoscop, Haus Am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany, 1992
Connemara Invitational (site-specific installation), Plano,TX, 1992
Drawings by Texas Artists, Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo, TX, 1991
Werkspuren, Bildhauerwerkstatt, Berlin, Germany, 1990
VISITING LECTURESHIPS
Visiting Artist and Critic, Gachon University, Seoul, Korea, 2017
Adjunct Faculty, The Guildhall School of Digital Gaming, Dallas, TX, 2004, 2006
Visiting Critic in Drawing, Yale Graduate School of Architecture, New Haven, CT, 1984-2004
Visiting Artist, Haverford College, Haverford, PA, 2002
Visiting Artist, Kilgore College, Kilgore, TX, Spring, 2001
Visiting Artist, Texas A & M, Corpus Christi, TX, Spring 2000
Visiting Artist, Hampshire College, Hampshire MA, Fall, 1999
Visiting Artist, Carleton College, Northfield MN, Spring, 1999
Visiting Professor, Hochschule der Kunste, Berlin, Germany, 1994
Visiting Artist, University of Portland and Portland Museum College of Art, 1995
Visiting Lecturer, Hochschule der Kunste, Berlin, 1994
GRANTS, AWARDS, RESIDENCIES
Distinguished International Artist in Residence, 2018. JIIAF, Hadong, South Korea
Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professorship, 2012-2014
Provost’s Instructional Technology grant, SMU 2006, 2009, 2013 (co-researcher)
University Scholar/Teacher award, Methodist Council, SMU 2005
Jentel Artist’s Residency, Sheridan, Wyoming, 2004, 2007
Dean’s Award—Research in Art, 2003; Administrator, 2000
Golden Mustang Award for Teaching, Southern Methodist University, 1993
Rotunda Teaching Award, 1990
Faculty Development Grant, Meadows School of the Arts, 1995, 2002, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2016
University Research Grant, Southern Methodist University, 1989, 1992, 1994, 2002, 2016, 2019
Connemara Conservancy. Grant for Site-specific installation, Dallas, TX 1992, 1999
Phillip Morris Sculpture Fellowship, Berlin, W. Germany, 1989
Massachusetts Artists' Foundation. Finalist Grant, Sculpture, 1987
Resident Sculptor, Bildhauerwerkstatt, Berlin, Germany, 1989, 1992, 1995
Resident Sculptor, Triangle Workshop, Pine Plains, NY, 1987
BIBLIOGRAPHY (*catalogues)
*Austin Museum of Art. Chair: the Texas Chair Project. Austin, TX: 2009
Bird, Sarah. "Jay Sullivan at Mead" In Other Words, October 8, 1986
*Caesar, Catherine. Alice Leonora Briggs / James Sullivan. University of Texas, Arlington, 2014
Camplin, Todd. “James Sullivan at Conduit Gallery”, Modern Dallas .net, April, 2013
Daimler Financial Services GMBH: Experiencing Perspectives I, II, 2008, 2010, 2013
Damsker, Matt. Hartford Courant. August 16, 1987
Daniel, Michael. “James Sullivan at Conduit” Dallas Morning News, Dec. 15, 2000
Daniel, Mike. “James W. Sullivan at the Meadows Museum”, Dallas Morning News, Oct. 4, 2002
Der Tagesspiegel. "Grusel und Grauen." Berlin, Germany, January 23, 1990
Greiler, Fritz. “Amerikanische Kunst in MMK,” Passauer Woche Kulture, 19 June 2002
Harman, Andi. “Over the Weekend”, frontrow.dmagazine.com April 9, 2013
*Hicks, Tracy. “James Sullivan” Photographic essay. Gulf CoastVol. 16 No.2, Spring 2004
Huerta, Benito. Vision and Movement, 2000: Public Art, Public Transit. Exhibition catalogue, University of Texas, Arlington, June, 2000
Inman, Marcie. "Komodore and Sullivan...." Art Times, Irving TX, October 1991
Kohl, Ines. “Glitter ins Grau,” Bayern Staatzeitung, July 7, 2002
*Kudielka, Robert. James Sullivan: Plastiken- Skulptur. Exhibition catalogue, Amerika Haus, Berlin, Germany, 1990
*Kim, Sungho. JIIAF 2018—Ecological Discourse and the Natural Environmental Arts Festival. Exhibition catalogue, Seoul, S. Korea November 2018
Kutner, Janet. “Bodies of Work.” Dallas Morning News, April 4, 1996
Kutner, Janet. "A Force in Anti-Gravity." Dallas Morning News, June 16, 1990
Kutner, Janet. "James Sullivan." Art News, October 1990
Lee, Jody. “3 x 3 x 3” Exhibition Catalogue, The Gallery at UTA, Texas, 2002
Levy, Rebecca. “Human Relations: Sculpture at Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Art View, Austin American Statesman, April, 1993
Meadows Museum of Art. At the Meadows. Fall, 2009, p. 13
*Mead, Elizabeth. Provisional Self. Exhibition catalogue, Meadows Museum, Dallas, TX, 2002.Massengale, Jean. Westport News, August 26, 1987
Mitchell, Charles D. "Art Lovers' Annual...."Dallas Morning News, March 16, 1992
Mitchell, Charles D. “Heady Experience.” Dallas Morning News,February 17, 1994
Mrozek, Donald. "Kren, Marak and Sullivan." Kansas City Artists Coalition FORUM, February,1982
Museum Moderner Kunst, Passau. 30-year Exhibition History. Passau, Germany, 2004
Museum of Texas Tech University. Check Up 1/Check Up 2. Lubbock TX, 2010
Ossoy, Renato and Fernandez, Camila. "My body is here. My body is not here." Tr. James Sullivan. Guatemala, Guatemala and Dallas TX 2017
*Newman, David. James Sullivan: Matter and Meaning. Exhibition Catalogue, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX, 2000
*Philip Morris GmbH. Werkspuren: Stipendiaten 1987-1990. Berlin, Germany, 1990
*Philip Morris GmbH. Die Kunst zu Fördern: 25 Jahre Phillip Morris und die Kunst in Deutschland. Munich: Phillip Morris GmbH, 1999
Ruff, Dale. "A Decade of Pluralism." Art Week, February 9, 1980
Russell, Gloria. Sunday Republican (Springfield, MA), Dec. 6, 1987
Sattler, Stephan. "Tabakduft und die Shoen Kunste." Pan. December 1989
Schlesinger, T. Chicago Reader, April 13, 1984, #8.
*Searcy, David. Allegory’s Reach. Catalogue essay—Architectures of the Body. Corsicana TX. 2021
Search, David. “Big Ideas in a Small Town.”. D magazine, June, 2021.
*Stadt Museum Erlangen. Uber Grenzen Miteinanderen. Exhibition catalogue, Erlangen, Germany, 1995.
Stutz, Karl. “An- und Abwesend Zugleich,” Passauer Neue Presse, July 30, 2002
_______. “Thank You Amerika,” Aktuelle Kunst no. 46, July-August 2002
"The Lawndale Competition" Houston Chronical, December 3, 1982.
Triangle Foundation. Triangle Workshop, 1987, Exhibition and workshop catalogue, New York, NY, 1987.
Van Keuren, Philip. Body : Fragment. Exhibition catalogue, Meadows Museum, Dallas, TX, 1996.
Wagner, Helmut. “Glamour und meditativer Ernst,” Landshuter Zeitung, June 26, 2002
Wellen, Laura A.L. "Hellen Ascoli &Jay Sullivan at Concepci6n 41, Antigua, Guatemala" Art Review, April 2017
Wilour, Clint. In Body and Spirit. Exhibition Catalogue, Galvaston Art Center, Galvaston, TX, 1994
RECENT LECTURES / SYMPOSIA / INTERVIEWS
Uncertain Nature: Nature vs Naturalism. International Climate Change and Environment Forum, 2021, Korea Institute of Climate Change and Environment, Hadong, S. Korea, 2022.
Conversation--Acts of Aggression. Laura Wellen, moderator. Hellen Ascoli, Reyes Josue Morales, James Sullivan. Pollock Gallery, Dallas TX, Oct. 14, 2017.
The Body Jtself II. Gachon University, Seoul, Korea. May 25, 2017
Experimento Cuerpo. Symposium, Reading, Performances by Hellen Asccoli, Jay Sullivan, Jorge de Leon, Camila Fernández. La Casa de Cervantes, Guatemala City, Sept 21, 2016.
A Discussion on Materiality. College of William and Mary, VA. Lecture and seminar by James Sullivan, Professor of Art, SMU, and Andrew Mitchell, Professor of Philosophy, Emory University, 2016
“An Icon at 50: North Park’s Artworks.” Interview, Art and Seek, KERA. August 18, 2015
Figurative Association: the Human Form Symposium. Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN. Panel Moderator: “The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, Her Lover: Contemporary Figuration and the Grotesque”; “Sensuous Material, Sensuous Form: Addressing the Body.” 2014
“Gesture and Reluctance”, Wright State University, Dayton, OH, 2012
“Objects and Things: meta-pseudo code”, Meadows School of the Arts, 2011
“Research in Computer Based Haptic Modeling”, SMU, March, 2009
“On Gesture” Meadows Museum, SMU, 2007
“Surface, Shadow and Spatiality: Implied Worlds in Computer Rendering and Visualization”,
Four lectures, The Guildhall, Dallas, TX November, 2004
“Variable States: Intention, Appearance, and Interpretation in Modern Sculpture” Nasher Sculpture Center and the J. Paul Getty Center, Workshop Panelist, Oct. 2004
“Open Work: The Collaborations of Anthony Caro” Meadows Museum of Art, Nov 2003
“A Walk through the Nasher Center” Deep in the Arts, KERA November 30, 2003
“New Texas Artists…” Report by Suzanne Sprague, KERA, Dallas, March 3, 2003.
“50th Annual Europaische Festwochen” Symposium, Passau, Germany, June 2002
“Henry Moore, Bound to Fail: Sculpture after Moore” Dallas Museum of Art, March, 2001
Program Coordinator, “Questioning Quality” National Council of Art Administrators Annual Conference, Dallas, TX, Nov 9-11, 2000 Robert Hughes, Keynote Speaker
“The Architect as Artist” Panel Discussion with Santiago Calatrava, Paul Goldberger, Lawrence Speck, James Sullivan, Meadows School of the Arts, November 3, 2000.
“How Does Space Mean?” Symposium on the Theory and Practice of Theatrical Space. Faculty of University of Texas, Austin, Columbia University, Southern Methodist University. Dallas, TX, May, 1998.
“Sculpture in Context--The Nasher Collection” Collecting Context, the Context of Collecting. Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, October, 1997
“Is Art Art, or is Art an Idea?” Collectors Forum, Conduit Gallery, 1997
Program Director, 1996 Meadows Award, November, 1996--Jacob Lawrence
“An Evening with Jacob Lawrence” Interview and Discussion with Jacob Lawrence, Southern Methodist University, November, 1996
WRITINGS
“Mary Vernon’s Open Places.” Emerita: Retrospective of Debora Hunter and Mary Vernon, Pollock Gallery, Dallas TX. 2018
“A Material Wrapper” & “Materialism Itself”. Lecture and Symposium, William and Mary College, Williamsburg, VA. 2016
“John Lincoln’s Drawing”. Introduction and interview (with Barnaby Fitzgerald and John Lincoln) inConversations 3: John Lincoln: The New York and Paris Drawings Pollock Gallery, Meadows School of the Arts, Dallas, TX 2006
“Solitary Shape: 50 Years of Drawings of Nathan Oliveira” Exhibition Catalogue, Pollock Gallery, Meadows School of the Arts, Dallas, TX 2003
“Seeing Unseen” Introduction to The Observant Hand: Forty Years of Drawings by Sigmund Abeles. Pollock Gallery, Meadows School of The Arts, Dallas, TX, 1998
"Daniel Buren: Metamorphoses..." ART NEW ENGLAND, Nov. 1987
"Erwin Hauer: Sculpture." ART NEW ENGLAND, July/August 1986.
"NCECA 1981: The Problem of Tradition." CERAMICS MONTHLY, October, 1981. pp43-49
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
JIIAF Jurisan Art Art Farm, Hadong, S. Korea
Stein Gallery, Wright State University, Dayton, OH
Meadows Museum, Dallas, TX
Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX
Old Jail Art Center, Albany, TX
Texas Sculpture Garden, Hall Financial Group, Frisco, TX
U. S. Trust Collection, Dallas, TX
Longview Museum of Art, Longview, TX
Felician College, Chicago, IL
POSITIONS
President, Board of Directors, Corsicana Artist and Writer Residency
Professor of Sculpture and Design, Meadows School of the Arts, 1988-2019
Chair, Division of Art, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 1995-2009, 2013-14, 2017-18
Assistant Professor, Fine Arts. Amherst College, Amherst, MA, 1983-1988
Chair, Fine Arts. Amherst College, Amherst, MA, 1985-1986
Assistant Professor of Art. Wichita State University, Wichita, KS, 1980-1983