ABOUT
Viewing Pulitzer's array of ceramic figures, both human and animal, one is struck by an immediate impression of formidable craftsmanship. The roughly half-scale sculptures suspend the creatures in a state of perpetual youth. Indeed Pulitzer's role seems at once maternal and god-like. Her creations with their mile-high antlers and engorged genitalia possess traits that may not be favored in the natural world. Pulitzer's animal kingdom is one without natural selection—one that encourages inter-species breeding and which loves its freakishly beautiful offspring.
Beyond an obvious love of animalia and a whimsical version of biology, Pulitzer's work is greatly informed by nature's role in the histories of art. In this body of work the artist invokes the exaggeratedly elegant lines of Italian Renaissance painting, the almost mythological animals of French Mannerism, and the detail of Meissen porcelain. She does this, however, with a clearly contemporary bent. Varying shades of automotive finish and nail polish are the final layer of her multifaceted work. This final coat adds more than a touch of humor while updating the language of decorative arts from which Pulitzer draws.
TIA PULITZER
Lives and works in Los Angeles CA
EDUCATION
2006 MFA in Fine Art, University of California Los Angeles
2001 BFA in Fine Art, Kansas City Art Institute
1997 Diploma, University of North Carolina School of the Arts
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 45 at 45, LA Louver Gallery, Venice CA
Eureka, Rio Hondo College Art Gallery, Whittier CA
2018 Contemporary Craft II, DENK Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
C’est Comme Vous Voulez, Praz Delavallade, Los Angeles
2017 All The Small Things, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
2016 Los Angeles Contemporary Archive, Opening&Auction, Los Angeles, CA
Chromaphobia, Grand Arts Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2011 Los Angeles Museum of Ceramic Art, Acme Gallery, Los Angeles CA
Goldmine, Cal State Long Beach Art Museum (catalog)
2010 125thAnniversary KCAI, H&R Block Artspace at the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City MO
Alpha &, On Stellar Rays, New York, NY
2009 Baker’s Dozen, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA (catalog)
Rogue Wave, L.A. Louver Gallery, Venice, CA (catalog)
Superficiality and Superexcrescence, Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College
of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA (catalog)
1999, China Art Objects, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Take Me There (Show Me the Way), Haunch of Venison, New York, NY (catalog)
The View, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
A Seer Out of Season, On Stellar Rays, New York, NY
Emerson vs Nietzsche, China Art Objects Galleries at Cottage Home, Los Angeles, CA
Apocalypse Yesterday, East and Peggy Phelps Galleries, Claremont, CA
2007 LA Bodies: Figuration in Sculpture, Angles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Distinctive Messengers, House of Campari, Los Angeles, CA (catalog)
2006 Then, Now and Again, Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles, CA
MFA WMD’s, Track 16, curated Tom Christie and Holly Meyer, Track 16, Los Angeles, CA
Eco Lux, Lightbox, Los Angeles, CA
Bestiary, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2007 Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles, CA
PRESS
2018 O’Brian. John David, Artillery Magazine, Conceptual Craft II, July 26
https://artillerymag.com/byline/john-david-obrien/
2010 Levy, Michelle. Hints of Something Human- Alpha & at On Stellar Rays January 31
www.artslant.com/ny/articles/show/13217
2009 Pagel, David. Rogue Wave 09 at L.A. Louver Gallery, Los Angeles Times. July 24
Buckley, Annie. Rogue Wave. THE Magazine for the Arts. September. www.themagla.com
2008 Ollman, Leah. Review: The View at Steve Turner Contemporary, Los
Angeles Times. December
Lee, Sasha. “Tia Pulitzer,” BeautifulDecay.com, February 7
2006 Tom Christie and Holly Meyer. “State of Emergence 2006,” The LA
Weekly.
2001 Hackman, Kate. “Show at Jan Weiner Gallery,” The Review.