CHRIS SOLLARS Press

CHRIS SOLLARS PRESS

Chris Sollars is a San Francisco based artist and director of 667 Shotwell. Recent Awards include 2007 Eureka Fellowship Award, a 2007 San Francisco Bay Area Artadia Grant, and 2009 Headlands Center for the Arts residency.

BIO \| PRESS \| STATEMENT \| CV


2013
	Chris Sollars: An Appreciation of the In-Between By Jasmine Moorehead for SFAQ May-July 2013 From the beginning, Sollars’ video art has been ambulatory. In his very first video piece from 1997, the artist records himself as he wheels a bucket full of soapy water around the city, picking up trash off the street, washing it, then carefully replacing the trash as he found it.

2012
	Feature: An Interview with Chris Sollars By Max Karnig for JUXTAPOZ 5.15.2012 Karnig: What are your inspirations? Sollars: The street and the immediate space around me influences my ideas directly. My work takes inspiration from a range of art from Bruegel & Durer, to Duchamp to the Diggers & Yippies; Fischli/Weiss, Gordon Matta-Clark, Nauman, Chris Burden, David Hammons, Ana Mendieta, Paul McCarthy. Pipilotti Rist, Kim Jones, Acconci, Adrian Piper, Kaprow, Paul Kos, Bruce Conner and other 60 & 70s artists: that showed or made their work within the world / public spaces immediately within everyday life and often using their body as material. All my early videos in the street of performances are also influenced by Skate videos I grew up watching in the mid 80's to early 90's.

	Hang Your Hat: an artwalk through home galleries By Christy Chan for Bold Italic 1.9.2012 Chris Sollars is a Mission-based artist whose work was picked for both the SFMOMA SECA Award and YBCA’s Bay Area Now show. He started his gallery as a response to the disappearing art spaces in San Francisco during the dot-com boom. The first event was A Site Launch in 2001, parodying the extravagant tech parties of the 1990s.

2011
	Hairy: An Interview with Chris Sollars By Danielle Sommer for Daily Serving 7.28.2011 For the last year, Bay Area artist Chris Sollars has sported a biblical behemoth of a beard, although his cleanly shaven cheeks are once again on view in Sollars’s newest project, Hairy, on view as part of YBCA’s Bay Area Now. It’s an interesting update on an identity-probing lineage that includes predecessors like Chris Burden, Gordon Matta Clark, James Luna, Ana Mendieta, and David Hammons. DailyServing recently had the opportunity to chat with Chris about the work.

	Project Space: Chris Sollars ...might be good issue #174 (fluent collab) July 9 - Sept 25, 2011 For …might be good, Sollars presents a series of works from 1980-2040 juxtaposing time, physical and social space..

	Turning Trash Into Art By Angela Corone KPBS San Diego & PBS Newshour Art Beat And garbage bags can come to life, as in artist Chris Sollars' work. Sollars' installation "Playfill" includes a video of walking trash bags. Teagle explains:Chris has asked kids to pretend that they’re a piece of trash...

	Trash: Fun for Kids at The New Children's Museum NBC San Diego A new exhibit at the New Children's Museum will make you think twice before taking out the garbage. Trash is an exhibition designed to empower kids to be agents of change in their households. Teagle explains:Chris has asked kids to pretend that they’re a piece of trash...

	Around the Nation: Turning Trash Into Art By Saskia De Melker & Angela Corone PBS Newshour Art Beat And garbage bags can come to life, as in artist Chris Sollars' work. Sollars' installation "Playfill" includes a video of walking trash bags. Teagle explains:Chris has asked kids to pretend that they’re a piece of trash...

	Bay Area Now 6 By Leigh Markopoulos Art Practical - Issue 2.22 / Summer Reading There were a number of artworks that I found interesting, such as Tammy Rae Carland’s staged photographs of stand-up comediennes in comic repose; Ben Venom’s outsize Medusa-head quilt fashioned from heavy metal paraphernalia; and Chris Sollars’ refreshingly bizarre and hirsute multimedia installation, to name a few.

	Bay Area Now 6 By Jonathan Curiel SFWeekly - August 17, 2011 Sollars is a kind of clown prince, going for laughs and provocation with his hair-themed art, including a video that has him rubbing his long beard against an ax and removing odd objects (toy baby, Star Wars figure, earbuds, lighter) from inside his brown chin follicles.

	Bay Area Now 6 @ YBCA By Rachel Clarke Square Cylinder - August 11, 2011 Chris Sollars’ multi-channel performance/video installation, Hairy, is about hair—more specifically his hairiness and eventual hairlessness—and veers between offbeat humor and unsettling violence; it ends with an almost ritualistic, bloody beard purging in the woods with an axe blade.

	Bay Area Now 6 @ YBCA By Jonathon Curiel SFWeekly - August 17, 2011 Sollars is a kind of clown prince, going for laughs and provocation with hi hair-themed art, including a video that has him rubbing his long beard against an ax and removing odd objects (toy baby, Star Wars figure, earbuds, lighter) from inside his brown chin collicles. At YBCA, glass heads display the actual beard and long Jesuslike locks that once adorned Sollars' face.

	Wax On by Jennifer Maerz - The Bold Italic - July 28, 2011 There are a lot of great artists showing at YBCA's BAN6 showcase, but I found it really hard to pull myself away from Chris Sollars' Hairy exhibit. This Saturday Chris celebrates the art of "unruly facial hair" with a live event that features something that goes well with beards in this town — drinking whiskey! Between 5 and 7 p.m., you can get the growth on your mug sculpted, trimmed, and otherwise perfected while sipping brown booze cocktails crafted by Comstock Saloon.

	Hairy Men and Hard Alcohol Whiskey Waxing at the YBCA by Walter Green - The Bay Citizen - August 1 2011 Drawing Crowds bravely waded into a gathering of hirsute men (and the people who love them) having their facial hair massaged into wacky shapes as part of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Whiskey Waxing event, designed to accompany the ongoing exhibit, Bay Area Now 6.

	Isn't It Obvious by Mary Anne Kluth March 20, 2011 2.14 Art Practical Two segments in particular point to a critical aspect of Arthur/Allan’s reflexive process. Books by Allan on Arthur and Books by Arthur on Allan show the duo in a library, stacking books and fitting the namesake criteria on one another’s bodies. While the activity is schoolboy unruliness, as a metaphor, it enacts the reciprocal attention and validation that bolsters good ol’ boy networks and gray area ethics possible in any system of power.

	"Isn't It Obvious?" by Mary Eisenhart Jan 20, 2011 SF Chronicle Curator Aimee Le Duc gathers photos, videos, performance and installations by local artists - Matthew Kennedy, Kristina Lewis, Jasmin Lim, Brion Nuda Rosch, Chris Sollars and Lindsey White - examining the common, the ordinary, the banal.

	Ordinary Sublime By Heidi De Vries Jan 12, 2011 SF Weekly Meanwhile, tricksters Brian Nuda Rosch and Chris Sollars have given themselves the official-sounding name Arthur/Allan for their project as they investigate San Francisco civic buildings. They play with the idea of unoccupied space in the city through a series of humorous actions they share in the show.

	Is It Obvious? essay by Zachary Royer Scholz SF Arts Commission Gallery Viewers may not be willing to jump until they no longer can, like Matthew Kennedy in Jumping, 2010; use their bodies as bookshelves, like the collaborative Arthur/Allan in one of their videos from City Hall, 2011; or edit video down to its best moments, like Lindsey White in Common Senses, 2009-11; but they could if they wanted to.


2010
	Chris Sollars talk on Bruce Nauman's Wax Impressions of the Knees of Five Famous Artists in 75 Reasons to Live SFMOMA Jan 17 2010 1:30 PM We invited 75 people from the Bay Area creative community with a passion for artworks in SFMOMA's collection to tell us about their favorites in 75 7.5-minute talks spread over three days.
	Chris Sollars REVIEW by Jeff Hamada 12.11.10 BOOOOOOOM! This summer Brion Nuda Rosch invited Chris Sollars to the SFMOMA to make works using only materials found within the museum. At no point were museum staff made aware of Sollar’s “residency”.

	Secret, Hidden Art At SFMOMA 11.12.10 Huffington Post We applaud low cost-high concept art. This past summer at SFMOMA, artist and curator Brion Nuda Rosch invited Chris Sollars to use SFMOMA as a site for art-making. The one catch? the artist had to use materials on hand in the museum itself, from paper products, posters, bottles, debris left behind, to the shirt off his back.

	Chris Sollars' SFMOMA Residency that the staff didn't know about 11.12.10 Juxtapose We applaud low cost-high concept art. This past summer at SFMOMA, artist and curator Brion Nuda Rosch invited Chris Sollars to use SFMOMA as a site for art-making. The one catch? the artist had to use materials on hand in the museum itself, from paper products, posters, bottles, debris left behind, to the shirt off his back. .

	Visible Alternatives, Part 4 by Christian L. Frock 10.13.10 Art Practical G: Guerrilla Guerilla: Rosch, Brion Nuda. “Chris Sollars: Museum Residency.” SFMOMA Open Space, August 20, 2010.

	How Things Work, Part 2 (cont) by Aimee Le Duc 05.19.10 Art Practical Brion Nuda Rosch and Chris Sollars. "Arthur Allan," 2009; collaborative project, Hallway Projects and 667Shotwell. Courtesy of Hallway Projects and 667Shotwell, San Francisco.

	ri-FLEKT at WE Artspace by Nastia Voynovskaya The Daily Californian Oct 6, 2010 Chris Sollars new solo show at WE Artspace, titled “ri-FLEKT,” adventurously explores (and alters) the ways the small Oakland venue interacts with the surrounding urban landscape. The artist swapped the bus stop bench outside the venue with the couch that usually occupies the inside, augmenting each object to bring out the elements of each respective environment. A blanket with the portrait of Charlie, the WE Artspace dog, lays on the outdoor couch while Charlie herself can be found inside, a few feet away. Meanwhile, the bus stop bench occupies the bulk of the interior’s floor, a sheet of shiny plastic reflecting the walls while a recording of traffic sounds plays on a stack of speakers..

2009
	ARTHUR ALLAN REVIEW by Zachary Royer Scholz ISSUE 4: ART PRACTICAL In light of cooperative creation’s many pitfalls, the success of “Arthur Allan,” is surprisingly refreshing. Developed collaboratively by Brion Nuda Rosch and Chris Sollars, the show not only combines their respective art practices and residential art spaces—Hallway Projects and 667 Shotwell—but also embraces the neighborhood and objects situated between their two homes.

	SFMOMA OPEN FUTURES VIDEO Video Documentation by Hector Escarraman http://vimeo.com/7271512

	SFMOMA OPEN FUTURES PHOTO Documentation The room was full of controlled chaos and cacophony, with video projections on the walls by Chris Sollars, air raid sounds and live audio by sound artist Matt Volla and composer Luciano Chessa, dark and dramatic lighting, and a huge tapestry of the manifesto that originally covered the steer was eventually hung from the second story; afternoon.

	SFMOMA OPEN FUTURES tablehopper REVIEW Oh. My. God. Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod. OH. MY. GOD. That's what kept racing through my mind as I watched a 650-pound spit-roasted steer get lifted out of a bicycle-powered trailer and unwrapped on an equally massive butcher-block table at the latest OPENrestaurant event this past Saturday October 17th. The room was full of controlled chaos and cacophony, with video projections on the walls by Chris Sollars, air raid sounds and live audio by sound artist Matt Volla and composer Luciano Chessa, dark and dramatic lighting, and a huge tapestry of the manifesto that originally covered the steer was eventually hung from the second story; afternoon.

	N&P: Reason to Believe: Andrew Scott Monday, 03 August 2009 Kyle and I opted for the Center for the Arts and we were in luck because when we got there, Chris Sollars (middle), one of the artists in residency was there and invited us up for coffee and a tour of his studio. The studio was incredible; a giant pillared squat-like ballroom with raw paint cracking walls, and windows spilling in natural light on Sollars' sparse, neatly-placed installations.

	667Shotwell in article Making Space by Emily Warner NYFA Current the magazine for artists New York Foundation for the Arts: Redefining the narrow concept of suitable exhibition space, artist-run projects are booming right now, with work being shown in apartment halls and bathrooms, in buildings in transition, and in artists' studios across the country. Emily Warner reports on new projects in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, and speaks to the key players in these renegade initiatives.

	David Ireland Tribute Open Space SFMOMA Blog Left: Chris Sollars, Untitled, 2009 Right: David Ireland, Broom Collection With Boom, 1978/88 I live within three blocks of David’s 500 Capp St. House, and have been making sculptures directly with ready-made-trash and debris I find on streets of our neighborhood. His home has a presence in our neighborhood which has influenced many of the artists’ projects that have happened at my home at 667Shotwell. David’s home sculptures carry the residue of history that came before. This sculpture was made on 20th St, just down the street from Capp St House. —Chris Sollars

	Mumbai San Francisco by Christian L. Frock Unauthorized Anthology A moving and beautifully directed documentary short that explores the emotions of San Francisco-based Indians living abroad in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai in November 2008. Directed by Chris Sollars, a project of 667 Shotwell Films, and produced by Amit Botadkar, Dushyant Agarwal, Poojan Shah.


2008
	SOLLARS. LABAT. INTERVIEW SFMOMA Blog On November 4, we’ll be screening two democracy-themed projects by Bay Area artists. Chris Sollars’ documentary C RED BLUE J explores the red state/blue state divide of 2004, as Chris juggles his beliefs with those of a sister working for the Bush administration, a born-again Christian father, and a lesbian mother. I Want You (Auditions) is Tony Labat’s new work, culled from footage of the original I WANT YOU performances. I asked them to interview each other for the blog & they typed their conversation together in real time in Tony’s studio Weds afternoon.

	With Politics in the Air, a Freedom Free-for-All Comes to Town Review by Holland Cotter September 23, 2008 New York Times Vol. CLVIII Pages B1 & B6 Chris Sollars’s film “C Red Blue J” documents major changes in his family’s history as he moved back and forth between a “normal” suburban childhood and a fraught adulthood that finds him with a born-again Christian father, a right-wing sister and a mother who lives with a female lover. The film opens with Mr. Sollars in bed, as if he would rather sleep through the familial confusion that follows, which he sets against the background of the 2004 election campaign and the Iraq war. VIEW PDF

	Armory Show Explores 'Democracy in America' by Siddhartha Mitter WNYC RADIO September 24 2008

	SFMOMA BLOG: RED BLUE STUDY A special election-week Collection Rotation by San Francisco-based artist & curator Chris Sollars, whose experimental documentary C RED BLUE J will be screening in the Wattis theater Nov 4. All works collection SFMOMA & listed in detail at the bottom of this post. http://blog.sfmoma.org/2008/11/03/collection-rotation5/

	The Liminal Art Space by Aimee Le Duc SF Camerawork Spring/Summer 2008 Pgs 38-41 Chris Sollars, also a successful San Francisco artist,has been running an arts space in his home for over six years. 667 Shotwell serves as a home base for performance, documentation of projects, and conceptual work. This space is certainly an extension of Sollars' artistic practice, allowing him to work with and support other artists while further investigating his own work. VIEW PDF
	Harmanci, Reyhan; “Home is Where the Art Is: Underground art galleries serve a special niche”; SF Chronicle; Sept 4, 2008; Pg E1 & E6
	Martini, Tiffany; “High Five: Chris Sollars”; SF Examiner, Vol. CXLIII No 66; Aug 27, 2008; Pg 14
	Nataraj, Nirmala; “(EDIT) at Mainiac Gallery”; Artweek; Vol. 39, Issue 8; October 2008 Pgs 13-14 14 VIEW PDF

2007	Pugh, Dina; “The Innocent Gaze”; Jack Hanley Gallery; 2007

2006	Le Duc, Aimee; "Chris Sollars Accumulative Dissipation;" Southern Exposure; Vol1, No. 6; 2006; VIEW PDF
	Ysohinori, Niwa; “Chris Sollars Interview”; Tokyo-San Francisco Art Times, Vol. 1, No. 4; 2006 VIEW PDF
	“Kimono News”; Cinra Magazine, Vol. 11; Oct 20, 2006
	Lebuhn, Henrik; “Follow the Leader”; Links Log; Feburary 3 2006; VIEW PDF
	Moore, Kurt; “Malleable on Display at OSUM”; The Marion Star; Feb 4 2006 VIEW PDF
	Miller, James; “Art and Opera on Campus”; The Marion Star; Feb 3 2006
	Kroth, Maya; Talkin Trash”; SF Weekly; January 11-17 2006; `Vol. 24, No.50, Page 21 VIEW PDF
	Trippe, John; “Accumulative Dissipation”; Fecal Face; January 13 2006;
	Bamberger, Alan; “Accumulative Dissipation”; Art business; January 13 2006;
	Lebuhn, Henrik; “Trashbags irritating San Francisco”; Links Log; Feburary 3 2006; VIEW PDF

2005	Buckner, Clark; Critic’s Choice: “Cross Cuts” Southern Exposure; Bay Area Gaurdian; June 1 - 7 2005 `Vol. 39, No.35 Page VIEW PDF
	Orden, Abraham; “Aperto San Francisco”; Flash Art; July September 2005; Vol XXXVIII No.243; Pages 69-70
	Olson, Marisa "Video Personalities"; SOMA Magazine; February, 2005; Vol. 19 Issue 1; Page 86
	"Top Ten 2004"; Art Workers of the World; Courtney FInk of SOEX

2004
	Multiplex Review by Holland Cotter February 20, 2004 New York Times Vol. CLIII Page B32 At least one of these mini-theaters takes the form of an installation: Chris Sollars's video ''Bjorn Again'' -- in which the artist has inserted himself as Bjorn Borg's opponent and feminine alter ego in the final match of the 1980 United States Open -- plays on a television set in a simulated basement rec room, with a ready supply of beer and vintage Playboys at hand. VIEW PDF
	Gershman, Jacob; "Cultural Affairs Chief Defends City’s Support of Pornography Exhibition"; New York Sun ; Monday March 8, 2004, Front Page; Page 1 VIEW PDF
	Gershman, Jacob; "City is Funding Porn Display in DUMBO Show Ð Generous Support For Soft-Core Exhibit"; New York Sun ; Tuesday March 9, 2004, Front Page;VIEW PDF
	Holder Overnight: Montreal CJAD 800 AM w/ Peter Anthony Holder; June 11, 2004
	Magic 98.1 Atlanta: Afternoon Show w/ Benji June 9, 2004.
	DeVaney, Scott "Globetrotting T-shirts"; The Wave Magazine; June 30 – July 13, 2004; Vol. 4 Issue 14; Page 8
	Marr, Madeline; “Putting it Together: with Cheryl Hartup, Associate Curator, Miami Art Museum”; Miami Herald; Style Section; Wednesday June 23, 2004 VIEW PDF
	Buesing, Nicole and Klaas, Heiko; "Before opening sells off... A gallery round course in New York - more police instead of art demanded"; Die Welt; Culture; Art Market; March 27, 2004
	Robinson, Walter; "Weekend Update"; Art Net; Magazine Reviews; March 17, 2004
	Andresen, Kristen ; "Medium Rare Rockport festival highlights Maine's emerging digital, Web and art scene "; Bangor Daily News; Arts & Leisure; Friday March 12, 2004
	Maine, Stephen; "Dateline Brooklyn"; Art Net; February 2004 VIEW PDF
	Westerbeke, Julia; "First Exit to Brooklyn"; Time Out New York; February 26 -March 4, 2004; Issue No. 439; Page 67 VIEW PDF
	ANONYMOUS; "Letter to the Editors"; Aristos; April 1, 2004 VIEW PDF

2003	Morse, Eric; "Mobile Phone"; Trampoline Magazine, Volume 1/Number 1; August 2003
	Rufus, Anneli; "City Focus San Francisco"; Art News Magazine; Volume 102/Number 6; June 2003, Page 66
	Beeler, Monique; "California Impressions: Early artists explore people, places close to home" Oakland Tribune; Arts & Leisure; Tuesday February 18, 2003

2002	Cotter, Holland; "Cinema ˆ la Warhol, With Cowboys, Stillness and Glamour"; New York Times ; Fine Arts & Leisure; Friday April 5, 2002, Vol. CL1 no.52079, Page B29 VIEW PDF
	Porter, William; "Endless Summer Love, Flower Power Tours Revisit Haight-Ashbury"; Denver Post; Travel; Sunday September 29, 2002, Page 1T, 4T, & 5T
	Woods, Micheal; "News: New York"; Contemporary Magazine; June- Aug 2002, Page 47-48
	Storts, Brian; "Words from 7 artists in San Francisco"; NY Arts Magazine; Vol.7 No.6 June 2002, Page 40-46
	Lewczuk, Margrit; "Naked @ 667Shotwell"; NY Arts Magazine; Vol.7 No.5 May 2002, Page 95 VIEW PDF
	Chen, Vivian; "Urban Evidence"; City on a Hill Press; UC Santa Cruz; Vol 36 Issue 23;April 18, 2002; Page 25 VIEW PDF

2001	Cook, David; Art Picks "We're Waiting" New Langton Arts; SF Weekly; September 19- 25 2001; `Vol. 20, No.35 VIEW PDF

2000	Helfand, Glen; Critic's Choice: art "Closed Circuit" New Langton Arts; Bay Area Gaurdian; Feb. 23-29 Vol. 34, No.21
	Westbrook, Lindsey; Over There: visual arts "Closed Circuit" New Langton Arts; East Bay Express; March 3, 2000 Vol. 22, No.21 VIEW PDF
	Allen, Gwen; "Closed Circuit Essay" New Langton Arts; Feb 2000 VIEW PDF