Oliver Herring

Areas for Action series, c. 2011

Digital prints

20 x 14 in (50.8 x 35.56 cm)

$2,500

About the artist

Oliver Herring

Oliver Herring is a visual artist known internationally for his use of experimental techniques as a means to better understand human nature, individual behavior, and interpersonal dynamics. His work has taken on a variety of forms, but since 2000 has focused primarily on brief yet intensive collaborative encounters with volunteer participants. Herring directs and documents these open-ended performances, usually involving a series of improvised actions, which take place in different environments – public and private, cultural and educational – and feature groups of people interacting with each another. The resulting works not only record these impromptu activities, but also reveal the poignancy implicit in humanity when strangers expose their vulnerabilities and embrace trust.

Herring’s work is in the collections of many major institutions, and has been exhibited widely nationally and internationally, including the Museum of Modern Art, NY; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, NY; the Whitney Museum of Art, NY; Performa 09, NY; the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; the Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; The Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; the Blanton Art Museum, Austin, TX; and the Denver Art Museum, CO. Elsewhere, he has exhibited at the Camden Art Center, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Kyoto Art Center, Kyoto; He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen; A4 Art Museum, Chengdu; McAM, Shanghai; OCAT-Xian, Xian; Xth Lyon Biennale, Lyon; Performa 09, NY; Configura II, Erfurt; 2010 Aichi Triennale, Nagoya.