Ashley Bickerton

(b. 1959, Barbados, West Indies; lives and works in Bali, Indonesia) was an original member of a group of artists known as Neo-Geo, which emerged in New York during the 1980s. In 1993, he left New York for Bali, Indonesia, where his work took on a distinct tropical exoticism often in sharp contrast to his Neo-Geo work, which was an abstract and geometric exploration of consumerism and industrialization. Bickerton’s investigation of materiality has remained a consistent thread throughout his practice. Often blurring the boundaries between media, genre, and subject (photography and sculpture; portraiture and landscape; realism and fantasy), he challenges the parameters of art making, calling into question the value and significance of the art object itself. While working in New York, Bickerton established a brand name for himself, Susie, which he has continued to incorporate into much of his work. In his early exploration of self-portraiture, Bickerton placed his invented Susie logo among the logos of highly recognizable name brands that he encountered in his daily life, including: Marlboro, Fruit of the Loom, and Renault. Bickerton used this representation of the self as an accumulation of commercial brands to investigate the complexity of consumer society and valuation. Around the same time, Bickerton produced several “still lives” that incorporated the Susie logo with a digital screen displaying the value of the work and tracks its fluctuating market value. After his relocation to Bali, Bickerton became more focused on hyper-realistic figuration that parodied the Western fantasy of tropical island life. He began depicting himself, his family, and his friends in bright colors, dripping with overt sexuality and exoticism. For these works Bickerton designs intricate stage sets and paints directly onto his models, their clothes, and props, photographing them and then editing the images during post-production to create hyper-realistic, yet artificial and disorienting scenes. Bickerton then works directly onto the photographic print using thick layers of oil and acrylic paint so that the components of photograph, painting, and sculpture become indistinguishable. The result is an eerie and often macabre scene of hypersexualized overconsumption. Bickerton received his B.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts in 1982 and continued his education in the independent studies program at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Solo exhibitions of his work have been organized at Newport Street Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2017); The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (2017); Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore (2006); and Palacete del Embarcadero, Autoridad Portuaria de Santander, Spain (1997). Select group exhibitions featuring Bickerton’s work include , DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, Hydra, Greece (2021); , Massimo De Carlo, London, United Kingdom (2020); , FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (2019); , Deitch Projects, Los Angeles, CA (2019); , K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong (2018); , Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C. (2018); , San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX (2016); , Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2016); , Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria (2016), Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany (2015); , Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY (2015); , The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2013); , Honolulu Museum, Honolulu, HI (2013); , Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Tate St Ives, Cornwall, United Kingdom (2013); , Haus der Kulutren der Welt, Berlin, Germany (2013); , Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (2012); , Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL, traveled to Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; and Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA (2012); , Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada; Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Canada; Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN (2012); , Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Monaco (2011); , National Museum of Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (2011); , Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom (2011); n, New Museum, New York, NY (2010); and , Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2010). Bickerton’s work is in numerous international public and private collections, including the Broad, Los Angeles, CA; Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA; Ellipse Foundation, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan; Museo D'Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina, Naples, Italy; Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; The Robert & Elaine Stein Galleries, Wright State University, Dayton, OH; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Tate Britain, London, United Kingdom; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.