billy sullivan (b. 1946 in New York), lives, works, and teaches in new york.
Sullivan is best known for a diaristic practice that straddles the vitality of fleeting moments and the construction of retrieved remembrance. as he was raised in New York City, and attended the School of Visual Arts, sullivan came of age in the social milieus around Andy Warhol, Max’s Kansas City, and Parisian fashion designer Kenzo. he absorbed such influences as Fairfield Porter’s domestic realism and Joan Mitchell’s dynamic pastels. Sullivan’s paintings, drawings, and photographs are saturated with the intimacy of the “muses” in his own life, present and past—friends, lovers, artists, writers, allies and other collaborators, both known and obscure. Noted for their loose, gestural mark-making and unexpected color combinations, his portraits and still lives draw viewers into the atmosphere as participants rather than mere observers.
Sullivan was the subject of a solo exhibitions in 2016, curated by Sarah McCrory, at Sarteano, Tuscany, and his work has been included in international exhibitions such as Ugo Rondinone’s I Love John Giorno at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2015) and subsequently at White Columns, New York (2017); GLAM! The Performance of Style, Tate Liverpool (2014); and Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery, 1969-1989, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2012).
Sullivan’s work was included in Whitney Biennial: Day for Night, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2006); The Second Parrish Art Museum Design Biennial: Mirrors, The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York (1994); and The First Parrish Art Museum Design Biennial: Weathervanes, The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY (1991).
Sullivan’s work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Parrish Art Museum, the Detroit Institute of Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, Norton Museum, West Palm Beach, Florida, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, and the Denver Art Museum, as well as many other public and private collections.
studio visit, 2023, solo show at kaufmann repetto new york
muses, 2019, solo show at kaufmann repetto Milan
Billy Sullivan, 2016, solo show at kaufmann repetto New York
still looking, 2012, solo show at kaufmann repetto milan
billy sullivan, 2007, solo show at francesca kaufmann Milan
billy sullivan, 2005, solo show at francesca kaufmann Milan
billy sullivan (b. 1946 in New York), lives, works, and teaches in new york.
Selected solo exhibitions
2023
studio visit, kaufmann repetto, new york
2021
Billy Sullivan: Flowers & Birds, The madoo Conservancy, Sagaponack, New York
2019
Muses, kaufmann repetto, Milan
2018
Rental Gallery, East Hampton
2016
Billy Sullivan, Monteverdi Art Gallery, Sarteano
kaufmann repetto, New York
2015
Summer Diaries, Ille Arts, Amagansett
2014
Blush, Galerie Sabine Knust, Munich
Time after Time, Freymond-Guth Fine Arts Ltd, Zurich
2012
Bird Drawings, Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, East Hampton
Nicole Klagsbrun, New York
2011
Still, Looking, kaufmann repetto, Milan
Now & Then, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen
2010
Susanne Hilberry Gallery, Ferndale, Michigan
East End Photographs 1973-2009, Salomon Contemporary, East Hampton
2009
Galerie Sabine Knust, Munich
Conversations, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York
2008
Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Rebecca Ibel Gallery, Columbus
Texas Gallery, Houston
2007
francesca kaufmann, Milan
The Museum at Guild Hall, East Hampton
2006
Friends, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York
New Work, Rebecca Ibel Gallery, Columbus
2005
francesca kaufmann, Milan
2004
Aspen Portrait, Harley Baldwin Gallery, Aspen
2003
Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York
2002
Photographs 1969-2002, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York
2001
Rebecca Ibel Gallery, Columbus
My World, Fischbach Gallery, New York
2000
Judy Ann Goldman Fine Art, Boston
1999
Fischbach Gallery, New York
Galerie Aurel Scheibler, Cologne
Texas Gallery, Houston
1998
Rebecca Ibel Gallery, Columbus
1997
Fischbach Gallery, New York
Hollywood Chronicles, Regen Projects, Los Angeles
1996
The Back Room, Allez les Filles, Columbus
1994
Allez les Filles, Columbus
Barney Wyckoff Gallery, Aspen
Fischbach Gallery, New York
Stux Gallery, New York
1993
Marguerite Oestreicher Fine Arts, New Orleans
1992
Fischbach Gallery, New York
1990
Fischbach Gallery, New York
Petersburg Press, New York
1989
Fischbach Gallery, New York
Selected group exhibitions
2024
dog days of summer, timothy taylor, new york
2023
Friends & Lovers, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York
Like a Good Armchair: Getting Uncomfortable with Modern and Contemporary Art, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin
2021
Friends and Strangers, Over the Influence, Hong Kong
2020
Flora & Fauna, Barry Whistler Gallery, Dallas
Drawing 2020, Gladstone Gallery, New York
vent’anni – twenty years, kaufmann repetto, New York
Figures and Faces, McCabe Exhibitions, New York
2019
What Have We Done?, Tripoli Gallery, Sagaponack
Nicolas Party: Pastel, FLAG Art Foundation, New York
Stonewall 50/50, 1969 Gallery, New York
Go figure!, Eric Fire Stone Gallery, East Hampton
Flora, Texas Gallery, Houston
2018
This Must Be the Place, 55 Walker, New York
In Dog We Trust, Ille Arts, Amagansett
2017
Billy Sullivan & Kathy Rudin, Ille Arts, Amagansett
I (Love) John Giorno, White Columns, New York
ABOUT FACE, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton
Still(ed) Life (Part 2), Texas Gallery, Houston
2016
Portraits, Ille Arts, Amagansett
Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York
DECADE, Freymond-Guth Fine Arts, Zurich
2015
THIRTY NINE YEARS: Anniversary exhibition honoring the memory of Susanne Feld Hilberry, Susanne Hilberry Gallery, Ferndale
I (Love) John Giorno, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
12x12x12, Black Ball Projects, Brooklyn
11th Annual Thanksgiving Collective, Tripoli Gallery, East Hampton; and Southampton Arts Center, Southampton
A World of Influence, Passage(Pop-Up Window), New York
Undressed, Philip Bloom Gallery, Nantucket
Selfies and Portraits of the East End, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton
Nudes, Philip Bloom Gallery, Nantucket
2014
Le Salon Particulier, Freymond-Guth Ltd Fine Arts, Zurich
2013
Ladies & Gents, Solomon Contemporary, New York
GLAM! The Performance of Style, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, and Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; and Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz
Water, Tripoli Gallery, Southampton
2012
Open Windows: Keltie Ferris, Jackie Saccoccio, Billy Sullivan, and Alexi Worth, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover
Come Closer: Art Around the Bowery, 1969–1989, The New Museum, New York
Habeas Corpus, Halsey Mckay Gallery, East Hampton
Watercolors, Phillips de Pury & Company, New York
Birds Drawings, Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, East Hampton
Inside the Painter’s Studio, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston
2011
American Portraits: Treasures from the Parrish Art Museum, Parrish Art
The Big Show, Silas Marder Gallery, Bridgehampton
2010
American Still Life: Treasures from the Parrish Art Museum, Parish Art Museum, Southampton
Plank Road, Salomon Contemporary, New York
Redressing (Family & Friends), Bortolami Gallery, New York
In the Company of…, Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport
Face to Face, Denver Art Museum, Denver
TROMPE L’OEIL, Rebecca Ibel Gallery, Columbus
2009
Still/Moving/Still, Knokke-Heist Cultural Center, Knokke-Heist
WALL ROCKETS: Contemporary Artists and Ed Ruscha, FLAG Art Foundation, New York
Better History, New York
2008
Listen darling, the world is yours, Ellipse Foundation Contemporary Art, Collection Centro Cultural de Cascais, Alcoitã
SAND: Memory, Meaning and Metaphor, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton
The Annual Hamptons Show, The Fireplace Project, East Hampton
2007
Max Headroom, ScheiblerMitte, Cologne
NeoIntegrity, Derek Eller Gallery, New York
Tease, Mireille Mosler Ltd., New York
Sex & Sensuality, Salomon Contemporary, East Hampton
2006
Whitney Biennal: Day for Night, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Open House, Ellipse Foundation Contemporary Art Collection, Centro Cultural de Cascais, Cascais
The name of This Show is not Gay Art Now, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
The food show: The Hungry Eye, Chelsea Art Museum, New York
Likeness (Portraits From All Angles), Geoffery Young Gallery, Barrington
2005
Art and the Garden, Spainerman Gallery, East Hampton
Painting, Susanne Hilberry Gallery, Ferndale
Paper, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York
2004
Beginning Here: 101 Ways, Visual Arts Gallery, New York
North Fork / South Fork, Parrish Art Museum, South Hampton
Il Nudo, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna
Gio Ponti: Furnished Stetting & Figuration, ACME, Los Angeles
On Paper, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York
2003
Ideale e Realtà: Una storia dal Neoclassicismo ad oggi, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna
Plain Air, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
2001
Sex-Vom Wissen und Wunschen, Stiftung Deutsches Hyginene Museum, Dresden Happiness, Galleria Presença, Porto
Rocks & Trees, Photographic Resource Center at Boston University, Boston
Still Life, Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Cambridge
Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
1999
Souvenirs: Collecting, Memory and Material Culture, Guild Hall of East Hampton, New York
Parallel Lines: Mix and Match, Karen McCready Fine Art, New York
View from the Edge of the World: Landscape Photography, Marlborough Gallery, New York
Armory Show International Fair of New Art, Galerie Aurel Scheibler, New York
1998
Augenlust, Kunsthaus Hannover, Hannover
Drawings, Meyerson & Nowinski, Seattle
Summer, Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York
Still Lives, Marlborough Gallery, New York
1997
Sex/Industry, Stefan Stux Gallery, New York
Private Worlds: 200 Years Of American Still Life Painting, Denver Art Museum, Denver
1996
Summer 1996, Allez les Filles/Ibel Simeonov, Columbus
Garden Themes, Heckscher Museum, Huntington
1995
Face Value: American Portraits, The Parish Art Museum, Southhampton; and The Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus; and the Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa
Robert Harms, Billy Sullivan, Allez les Filles, Columbus
Inaugural Exhibition, Paul Morris Gallery, New York
Group Show, The Gramercy International Contemporary Art Fair, New York
1994
Oeuvres Choisies, Allez les Filles, Columbus
Demystifying the Contemporary Portrait: A Primer for the Patron, Allez les Filles, Columbus
Dirty Pictures, Regan Projects, The Gramercy International Contemporary Art Fair, Los Angeles
The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Holly Solomon, New York
Some People, Tom Cugliani Gallery, New York
Révellion ‘94, Stux Gallery, New York
Landscapes Ideas, Apex Art, New York
Vered Flower Show, Vered Gallery, East Hampton
Inaugural Group Exhibition, Offshore Gallery, East Hampton
Truth Be Told: It’s All About Love, Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York
Absence, Activism and the Body Politic, Fischbach Gallery, New York
Pride In Our Diversity, 24 hours for Life Gallery, New York
Summer Review, Stux Gallery, New York
Swan, Tom Cugliani Gallery, New York
The Second Parrish Art Museum Design Biennial: Mirrors, The Parrish Art Museum, Southhampton
1993
Fruits, Flowers and Vegetables: the Contemporary Still Life, Kavesh Gallery, Ketchum
1992
Slow Art: Painting in New York Now, Institute of Contemporary Art, P.S.1, Museum, Long Island City
Some People, Tom Cugliani Gallery, New York
1991
An Artist in the Garden, National Academy of Design, New York
The First Parrish Art Museum Design Biennial: Weathervanes, The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton
Urban Icons, Klarfeld Perry Gallery, New York
1990
Festivals and Festivities, Lehman College Art Gallery, The City University of New York, New York
Menagerie, Pfizer, Inc., New York
A Little Night Music – Manhattan in the Dark, One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York
1989
The Scarf, Bergdorf Goodman, New York
Collector’s Gallery XXII, Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio
The Food Show, Grand Central Art Galleries, New York
Don’t Bungle the Jungle, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
1988
Situations, organized by the Art Advisory Service of the Museum of Modern Art for General Electric Co, Fairfield
The Art of Music, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Bronx
Drawn From Life: Contemporary Interpretive Landscape, Sewall Art Gallery, Rice University, Houston
1987
Portraits, Ginza Art Space, Tokyo
Major Works in Small Format,Lever/Meyerson, Galleries, Ltd., New York
Animal Life, One Penn Plaza, New York
Water Works, One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York
1986
Summer Issue, Fischbach Gallery, New York
1985
Animals, Animals, Animals!, The Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Stamford
The New Portrait, P.S.1, Long Island City, New York
The Painterly Figure, The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton
1984
Sex, Cable Gallery, New York
The Innovative Landscape, Holly Solomon Gallery, New York
The American Still Life, Contemporary Arts Center, Houston
1983
The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown
U.S.F. Galleries, University of South Florida, Tampa
The Painterly Figure, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton
1982
Pittura di Corta Memoria, Arts Studio, Palazzo della Permanente, Milan
Roger Ramsay Gallery, Chicago
Color it Pastels, Paul Creative Arts Center, University of New Hampshire
Body Language: Figurative Aspects of Recent Art, Hayden Gallery, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; and The Fort Worth Art Museum, The University of South Florida Galleries, Tampa; and The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati
1981
Menagerie, Goddard-Riverside Community Center, New York
New Dimensions in Drawing, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield
Galleria del Cavallino, Venice
Still Life, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
1980
Still Life: A Selection of Contemporary Paintings, Kent State University, Kent; and Tangeman Fine Art Gallery, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Portland Center for the Visual Arts, Portland
P.S.1, Long Island City
Art for Your Collection, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
1979
Imitation of Life, Joseloff Gallery, University of Hartford, Hartford
American Watercolor, Mitchell Museum, Mt. Vernon; Cedar Rapids Art Center, Cedar Rapids
1978
Artists’ Postcards, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, New York
Body Language, New Gallery, Schacht Fine Arts Center, Russel Sage Collage, University Art Gallery, Boston
1971
Robin Bruch and Billy Sullivan, J.H. Duffy & Sons, New York
selected collections
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin
Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York
Commerce Bankshares, Kansas City
Deloitte and Touche, Stamford
Denver Art Museum, Denver
Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit
Dow Jones Company, New York
Ellipse Foundation Contemporary Art Collection, Lisbon
General Electric Company, Fairfield
Guild Hall Of East Hampton, New York
Hyde Museum, Glens Falls, New York
Metropolitan Bank and Trust Collection, New York
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Neuberger and Berman, New York
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans
Norton Museum, West Palm Beach
NYNEX, New York
The Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison, New York Portland Museum of Art, Portland
Reader’s Digest, Pleasantville
Grants
1987 National Endowment for the Arts
Teaching
1997–current
The School of Visual Arts, New York: BFA Photo Thesis
2012–current
New York University, MFA Program, Studio Art, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development: Visiting Critic
2003–06
New York University, Interactive Telecommunication Progra
1999
Harvard University, The Department of Visual and Environmental studies
Education
1964
School of Visual Arts, New York
1964
High School of Art and Design, New York
