Avery Z. Nelson
Avery Z. Nelson ( they / he ) lives and works between NYC and Berlin. Recent solo exhibitions include Lunar Anus at Blade Study, Rachel Uffner ( NYC ) and Nogueras Blanchard ( Barcelona ), with group exhibitions at Para Site ( Hong Kong ), Mrs. Gallery ( Queens ) and JDJ ( NYC ). They were awarded a Sharpe-Walentas Studio Residency in 2019 and an FST Studio Projects Grant in 2021.
Exhibitions
Selected Works
Education
2009
M.F.A. in Visual Art
Columbia University, New York, NY
2006
B.A. in Art History, Visual Art Concentration, summa cum laude, Department Honors
Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY
Solo Exhibitions
2023
Lunar Anus
Blade Study, New York, NY
2022
I don’t want to live in a world without feathers
Nogueras Blanchard, Barcelona, Spain
Ashes to Ashes
Rachel Uffner Gallery
2019
The Measure of a Boi
Rubber Factory, New York, NY
2018
8 Body Building
JDJ |The Ice House, Garrison, N
2017
Legacy Exhibition Series: New Work by Avery Z. Nelson
The Lighthouse Works Gallery, Fishers Island, NY
2015
Recto/Verso
Cleve Carney Art Gallery, McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL
2014
Avery Z. (fka Zoe) Nelson
Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
2012
Deep Cuts
Lloyd Dobler Gallery, Chicago, IL
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022
While we are embattled
Para Site, Hong Kong
2021
36 Paintings
Harper’s Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Both And
Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL
Theorem Y
Mrs. Gallery, Maspeth, NY
Family Business
JDJ | NYC, New York, NY
Theorem X
Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York, NY
2019
Sower
Rubber Factory, New York, NY
Paint School
Klaus Von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York, NY
Surreality
Crush Curatorial, New York, NY
Drinking the Reflection
Russo & Lee, Portland, OR
2018
Now You See It
1969 Gallery, New York, NY
RE_ARRANGE
Juxtapoz Projects, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ
New Acquisitions Exhibition
DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL
Wish Fulfillment
SineProjects, Brooklyn, NY
Love Letter to Miró
Fresh Window Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Cinnamon
Produce Model, Chicago, IL
2017
Summer Skin: Judy Ledgerwood + Zoe Nelson
Practise, Oak Park, IL
From Off to On: Katy Kirbach + Zoe Nelson
Yellow Door Gallery, Des Moines, IA
The Shape of Things
O’Connor Art Gallery, Dominican University, River Forest, IL
Zone of Totality
Fernwey Gallery, Chicago, IL
Terrain Biennial
Outdoor Installation in Hyde Park, Chicago, IL
Simultaneous Contrast
Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, CA
In Between Two Bodies
South of the Tracks, Chicago, IL
2016
Never Far Away
LVL3 Gallery, Chicago, IL
A World Where Flowers Mean Something
ACRE, Chicago, IL
How Much Land
McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
XYZ
Greenpoint Terminal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2014
Rocket Run, Abstraction from Chicago
Elder Gallery, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE
Yr It: Zoe Nelson, Window Installation
Roots & Culture Contemporary Art Center, Chicago, IL
Information Processors
Usable Space, Milwaukee, WI
Power of 10
Threewalls, Chicago, IL
2012
Material Assumptions
Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts, Chicago, IL
Issuing Forth
Robert Bills Contemporary, Chicago, IL
Dear Resonance & the Memory Hole: Bradley Biancardi & Zoe Nelson
Roots & Culture Contemporary Art Center, Chicago, IL
Portrait of a Soul
Nurture Art, Brooklyn, NY
Re-turn
McCagg Gallery, Barnard College, New York, NY
2009
Settlements
Horse Trader Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
MFA Thesis Exhibition
Fisher Landau Center for Art, Long Island City, NY
Selected Fairs
2020
Dallas Art Fair, JDJ
The Ice House, Dallas, TX
2018
Untitled Art Fair
South of the Tracks Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
2017
Untitled Art Fair
South of the Tracks Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
Collections
Soho House, New York, NY
DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL
Jiménez - Colón Collection, Ponce, Puerto Rico
Press
2022
Myriam Erdely, “In the Studio with Avery Z. Nelson,”
FST Studio Projects
2021
On the Spot with Avery Z. Nelson
The Brooklyn Rail
Brainard Carey, “Artist Interview: Avery Z. Nelson"
WYBCX, Yale University Radio
Annette LePique, “How to View a Solar Eclipse: Both And at Tiger Strikes Asteroid”
Sixty Inches from Center
2019
William Corwin, “Zoe Avery Nelson: The Measure of a Boi"
The Brooklyn Rail
Torey Akers, “Two Shows, One Q: The ‘Un-Body’ with Kristen Sanders and Zoe Avery Nelson"
Artspace
2018
Editor’s Pick
ArtMaze Magazine
Christina Nafziger, “Zoe Nelson: The (Im)Possibility of Fully Inhabiting My Own Fluidly Gendered Body”
ArtMaze Magazine
2017
Bailee Penski, “Artist Spotlight: Zoe Nelson"
Chicago Woman Magazine
2016
Kate Sierzputowski, “Zoe Nelson: The Reverse of the Reverse"
INSIDE\WITHIN
Chris Miller, “Maximalist Paintings with Frenetic Color”
Newcity Art
2015
Thea Nichols, “Critic’s Pick: Zoe Nelson"
Artforum
Sam Schwindt, “DePaul art professor’s work explores feminist intersectionality"
The DePaulia
Bridget Kingston, "Recto / Verso slices its way into Cleve Carney Art Gallery"
College of DuPage Courier
Matt Morris, “Bonus Holes"
Catalogue Essay for Recto/Verso Exhibition at Cleve Carney
Art Gallery
Artist of the Week
LVL3 Media
2014
Stephanie Cristello, Perpendicular Painting: Zoe Nelson at Western Exhibitions
New American Paintings
Chris Miller, Zoe Nelson/Western Exhibitions
Newcity Art
Kevin Blake, Off the wall, through the surface, and around the painting: A conversation with Zoe Nelson
Bad at Sports
Steven Zevitas, Must-see Painting Shows: Jan. 2014
Huffington Post
Shane McAdams, From the Curb in Milwaukee: Usable
Bad at Sports
2013
Eric Crosby, Editors Pick
New American Paintings: No. 107 Midwest Edition
Stephanie Cristello, Bradley Biancardi & Zoe Nelson/Roots & Culture
Newcity Art
2011
Julie Rodrigues Widholm, Editor's Pick
New American Paintings: No. 95 Midwest Edition
Balasz Takac, “Painting and Living New Bodies – Zoe Avery Nelson at Rubber Factory"
Widewalls