BIOGRAPHY

Cosmo Whyte (b. 1982, St. Andrew, Jamaica) employs drawing, sculpture, and photography to explore the intersections of race, nationalism, and displacement. His large scale drawings pose the celebratory body of Jamaican and diasporic communities in states of jubilation. His figures, adorned with gold leaf and black glitter, defy their colonial past, tearing it from their bodies through unbridled dance. 

Whyte received a BFA from Bennington College, a post-baccalaureate at Maryland Institute College of Art, and a MFA from University of Michigan. Whyte has exhibited his work widely including, the 13th Havana Biennial, Cuba (2019), as well as the Atlanta Biennial (2016) and the Jamaica Biennial (2017). In 2019 he had a solo exhibition at MOCA Georgia, Beneath Its Tongue, The Fish Rolls The Hook To Sharpen Its Cadence, curated by Allison Glenn, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. He has also participated in exhibitions at The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA (2019); The Drawing Center, New York, NY (2019); The Somerset House, London, UK (2019); Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, CA (2017); Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA (2016); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (2016); and the National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica (2014). His work is in public museum collections including the High Museum, Atlanta; Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia; National Gallery of Jamaica; and the Pérez Art Museum Miami.

EXHIBITIONS

When They Aren’t Looking We Gather By The River, November 7, 2020 – January 9, 2021

Home is Not a Place, June 8 – July 13, 2019

CV

Cosmo Whyte

1982

Born in St. Andrews, Jamaica

Lives in Atlanta, GA

Education

2015

Master of Fine Arts, University of Michigan Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, MI

2007

Post Baccalaureate, Maryland Institute College of Art, MD

2001

BFA Painting, Bennington College, VT

Solo Exhibitions

2020

When They Aren't Looking We Gather By The River, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA

No Longers Yours, Lux Art Institute, Encinitas, CA

2019-2020

Beneath Its Tongue, The Fish Rolls The Hook To sharpen Its Cadence, MOCA GA, Atlanta, GA

2017

Starting A Bush Fire, Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Don’t Whistle In The House, Chastain Art Center, Atlanta, GA

2015

Wake the Town and Tell the People, Russell Industrial Center, Detroit, MI

2010

High Tide, Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Group Exhibitions

2021

Good Company: Pt.1, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA

2020

This Is America, Kunsthal KAdE, Netherlands

The Beginning of Everything: An Exhibition of Drawings, The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Prospect.5: Yesterday We Said Tomorrow, New Orleans, LA

2019

Art Basel Miami Beach, with Anat Ebgi Gallery, Miami, FL

Life Through Extraordinary Mirrors, October Gallery, London, UK

The Sea is History, Museum of Cultural History, Oslo, Norway

13th Havana Biennial, Matanzas, Cuba

Get Up Stand Up, The Somerset House, London, UK

What's Love Got to Do With It, The Drawing Center, New York, NY

Of Origins and Belonging, Drawn from Atlanta, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

Home is Not a Place, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA

2017

Hudgens Prize Finalist Exhibition, Hudgens Center, Duluth, GA

P.O.V., Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Building A Ship From The Shipwreck, MOCA GA, Atlanta, GA

Selling the Shadow, C-Gallery, Milan, Italy

Open Scene, Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Relational Undercurrents, Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, CA

Jamaica Jamaica, La Philharmonie de Paris, Paris, France

2016

Selling the Shadow, Gallery Momo, Cape Town, South Africa

Beautiful Tangle, Dalton Gallery, Agnes Scott College, Atlanta, GA

Atlanta Biennale, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA

Musée On/Off, Musée L'ont Leux, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

Wake the Town and Tell the People, Mana Contemporary, Newark NJ

Jamaican Routes, Punkt ø/Galleri F 15, Oslo, Norway

Masculinities, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica

2015

Rites, Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA

After-Afropolitan, The Weeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn, NY

Young Talent, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica

2014

The Jamaica Biannual, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica

In Retrospect: 40 years of the National Gallery of Jamaica National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica

Bottom Feeders and the Distant Self Slusser Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI

2013

Forward Arts Foundation Artist of the year Retrospective, Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2012

Outward Reach: 9 Jamaican Photography and New Media Artists, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC

Talent Loves Company, Barbara Archer Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2011

The African Continuum, United Nations Gallery, New York, NY

Emerging Artists of 2011, Mutual Life Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica

Home, Chastain Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Movers and Shakers, Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia, Atlanta, GA

2010

The Jamaica Biannual, National Museum of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica

Open Season, Flanders Gallery, Raleigh, NC

Art Fresh, Mutual Life Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica

2009

Three Visions, Three Thoughts Southwest Art Center Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Small Works Show, Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Summer Guest House, Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA

Small Redux, Agnes Scott College’s Dalton Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2008

Pepper Pot, UNC Chapel Hill, Robert and Sallie Brown Gallery,Chapel Hill, NC

2007

ArteFeria: Rutas y Raices, CEFATI Gallery, Portobelo, Panama

Icosahedrons, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

Awards

2019

The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation

Art Matters

2018

Working Artist Program Award, Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia

NBAF 2018 Fashion and Fine Art: Visual Art Award Finalist

2018-2020 Open Sessions Award/Fellowship, Drawing Center, NYC

Avalon Humanities Professorship, Morehouse College, Atlanta GA

2017

Hudgens Prize Finalist

Arbes Award

2016

Artadia Award

Walthall Artist Fellowship

Southern Constellation Fellowship, Elsewhere Museum, NC

2015

The Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant nominee

CUE Foundation Finalist, NY

Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award, ISC, NJ

Ned Dybvig Memorial MFA Thesis Exhibition Award

Vermont Studio Residency Full Fellowship, VT

2014

Rackham International Travel Grant, University of Michigan

Smucker Wagstaff Grant, University of Michigan

2011

Finalist for the Jamaica Super-Plus under 40 Artist of the year, Kingston, Jamaica

2010

The Forward Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award, Atlanta, GA

Press

2020

Gaugh, Catherine. "The migrant’s journey: Artist Cosmo Whyte forges a new identity in a new land." The San Diego Union-Tribune. September 19, 2020. (Link)

"20 Artists received Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grants," Artsy. May 12, 2020. (Link)

Smith, T.K. "Cosmo Whyte: Mining the Body for Gold." Art Papers. January 15, 2020. (Link)

2019

Olsen, Katie. "Miami Art Week 2019: Opulent Art Work." Cool Hunting. December 10, 2019. (Link)

Smith, T.K. "Review: In MOCA GA show, Cosmo Whyte displays breadth, and hints at what’s next." Arts ATL. December 3, 2019. (Link)

Brown, Griselda Murray. "How African and diaspora artists are holding a mirror to society." Financial Times. November 2, 2019. (Link)

Tafoya, Harry. "Finding Both Comfort and Challenge in the Idea of 'Home'." Hyperallergic. July 2, 2019. (Link)

Haunt, Journal of Art Issue 005 November, University of California, Irvine

Get Up Stand Up, Exhibition Catalogue, The Summerset House, London, England

The Sea is History, Exhibition Catalogue, Museum of Cultural History, Oslo, Norway

2018

The Enigma of Arrival, Exhibition Catalogue, The Mason-Scharfenstein Museum

2017

Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, Exhibition Catalogue, Museum of Latin American Art

I WAS HERE. BUT I DISAPEAR: Ivanhoe ‘Rhygin’ Martin and the Effect of Photographic Disappearance in Jamaica,” Art Journal

Afrotropes and Other Things That Run – A conversation with Heuy Copeland and Krista Thompson, OCTOBER, JSTOR

2016

Jamaican Routes, Exhibition Catalogue, Punkt ø/Galleri F 15, Norway

2015

Afrikadaa Politics of Sound (December)

Sculpture magazine (October)

Infinite Mile a journal of art and culture(s) in Detroit Rites, Exhibition Catalogue, Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA

WASH, Free Oxyn Press, Ann Arbor, MI

2014

The Jamaica Biannual 2014, Exhibition Catalogue, National Gallery of Jamaica

2010

The Jamaica Biannual 2010, Exhibition Catalogue, National Gallery of Jamaica

2008

Pepper Pot, Exhibition Catalogue, UNC Chapel Hill

Teaching

2015 - Present

Visual Art Lecturer, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA

2016

MFA Mentor Low-Residency School of the Art Institute of Chicago

2012-2015

Teacher Assistant, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

2010-2012

Artist Assistant to Sculptor Basil Watson, Atlanta GA

2009-2012

Art Teacher, Cook Elementary, Atlanta, GA

2007-2008

Art Teacher, Vivian T. Thomas Academy (High School), Baltimore, MD

Residencies

2020

Lux Art Institute, Encinitas, CA

Surf Point Foundation, York, ME

2018

Camargo Foundation, Cassis, France

Drawing Center Open Session, NY

2016

Elsewhere Museum, NC

2015

Vermont Studio Residency, VT

2007

Creative Currents Residency, Panama

Lectures & Presentations

2018

“The Enigma of Arrival” Piedmont College

Visiting Artist Program Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

“BLACK PORTRAITURE[S] IV: The Color of Silence- Color-Coded Practices: Caribbean Arts Professionals Perspective on Race” Harvard University

2017

“(En)Lightning Talks Atlanta” Phi Beta Kappa Society, Woodruff Center, Atlanta

“Guess Who is Coming to Dinner” University of Alabama, Alabama

2014

“Shonibare in Context”, Henry Brown Bag Festival, Philadelphia

“Conversation Without Walls: Considering Contemporary Artistic Practices and the Distribution of "New" Black Creativity-Dancespace Project, New York

Public Collections

21 c Collection

Hallmark Art Collection

High Museum

Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia

National Gallery of Jamaica

Pérez Art Museum Miami