BIOGRAPHY

Drawing inspiration from historical works, which are intentionally kept anonymous, Joshua Petker’s paintings rely instead on their ability to evoke the familiar and uncanny, teasing and tantalizing. Rather than draw specific conclusions from these juxtapositions, his work unleashes an exhilarating proliferation of meanings and pictorial puzzles. The artist offers the history of art and visual culture reshuffled—Picabia, Bronzino, soviet era cartoons. Petker makes these his own and the outcome is a timeless dreamlike mix of perspective and emotionality.

Joshua Petker (b. 1979, Los Angeles, CA) completed his MFA at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 2015 and his BFA at Evergreen State College in 2002. He has exhibited his work recently at La Loma Projects, Pasadena, CA; ASHES/ASHES, New York, NY; Park Life Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA; and ACME, Los Angeles, CA. Petker lives and works in Los Angeles.

EXHIBITIONS

The Flirt, May 10 – June 5, 2021

CV

Joshua Petker

1979

Born in Los Angeles, CA

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

Education

2015

MFA CalArts, Valencia, CA

2002

BA The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2021

The Flirt, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA

2019

4 Works, Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Lisa Kehler Projects, Santa Monica, CA

2017

Here Comes the Waiting For the Sun, Monte Vista Projects, Highland Park, CA

2015

Some Hippies and a Hobo, ASHES/ASHES, Los Angeles, CA

2014

Support Systems, 2A Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2013

Drunk on the Moon, Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2012

Adrift, LeBasse Projects, Los Angeles, CA

Group Exhibitions

2021

Stockholm Sessions, Carl Kostyál Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden

All of Sudden, Galeria Mascota, Aspen, CO

Good Company: The Remix, Anat Ebgi, curated by Anat Ebgi & Paul Schimmel, Los Angeles, CA

2020

So Far, LaLoma Projects, Pasadena, CA

2019

Dark Mode 2014-2019, ASHES/ASHES, New York, NY

Freshly Cut and Softly Bound, Vacation Gallery, New York, NY

2015

Hay Nap, Secret Recipe, Los Angeles, CA

Art.MFA.15, curated by Sarah Leher-Graiwer, Los Angeles, CA

Incognito, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA

Face It, Full Haus, Silverlake, CA

2012

About Face, ACME. Gallery, curated by Daniel Weinberg, Los Angeles, CA

Selected Press

2021

Malone, Tyler. "Joshua Petker." Artforum. May 19. (Link)

"The Flirt." Whitewaller. May.

Pingel, Maile. "SAVE THE DATE “PURPLE PAINTINGS” AT ANAT EBGI." Luxe. May.

Bogojev, Sasha. "The Flirt: A Conversation With Joshua Petker." April 28. (Link)

2015

Knight, Christopher. "Review: Disrupting the conventional at Joshua Petker’s Ashes/Ashes." Los Angeles Times. August 12.

Plenge, Sharsten. "Last Look: Some Hippies And A Hobo." Woah. September 13.