Christopher Sperandio (born 1964) is an American artist known for his collaborative work with British artist Simon Grennan.

Biography

Sperandio was born in Kingwood,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, and attended

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

, receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking in 1987. He pursued graduate coursework at the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...

receiving a Master of Fine Arts in painting in 1991. Both Grennan and Sperandio were classmates of Tom Friedman. Sperandio is an assistant professor at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

in the School of Visual and Dramatic Arts.

Artworks

The "We got it!" bar was the result of the artists collaboration with the unionized workforce of a suburban Chicago chocolate factory for Sculpture Chicago's

Culture in Action Culture in Action was an art exhibition that took place in Chicago from May to September 1993. It was a landmark event in the development of public art. Exhibition Mary Jane Jacob, the curator of the exhibition, originally conceived it in 1991, ...

exhibition. Grennan and Sperandio were commissioned to make new work for the international contemporary art survey

Traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...

, curated by

Nicolas Bourriaud Nicolas Bourriaud (born 1965) is a curator and art critic, who has curated a great number of exhibitions and biennials all over the world. With Jérôme Sans, Bourriaud cofounded the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, where he served as codirector from 199 ...

, and their works have often been exhibited with other "

Relational Art Relational art or relational aesthetics is a mode or tendency in fine art practice originally observed and highlighted by French art critic Nicolas Bourriaud. Bourriaud defined the approach as "a set of artistic practices which take as their theor ...

" practitioners, such as

Rirkrit Tiravanija Rirkrit Tiravanija ( th, ฤกษ์ฤทธิ์ ตีระวนิช, pronunciation: [] or Tea-rah-vah-nitJerry Saltz (May 7, 2007)Conspicuous Consumption''New York Magazine''.) is a Thai contemporary artist residing in New York City, Be ...

and Maurizio Cattelan. Grennan and Sperandio have produced 18 comic books for museums with

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was found ...

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

and under their own imprint Kartoon Kings. Typical of these is the "Invisible City" project for the Public Art Fund and "Modern Masters" produced for PS1/

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

Kartoon Kings: The Graphic Work of Simon Grennan and Christopher Sperandio
a monograph collecting images and information on their collaborative practice was published in 2007. Sperandio is credited as creator and executive producer of

ARTSTAR ''Artstar'' is an unscripted reality television series set in the New York City art world, considered to be the first in the visual arts. Selected from an open call of over 400 applicants, eight artists participate in a group exhibition at Deitch ...

, an eight-part unscripted television series set in the New York art world of

Deitch Projects Jeffrey Deitch (pronounced ''DIE-tch'';Mike Boehm (January 12, 2010)L.A.'s MOCA picks art dealer Jeffrey Deitch as director''Los Angeles Times''. born 1952) is an American art dealer and curator. He is best known for his gallery Deitch Projects ( ...

airing on American television (

Voom Voom HD Networks is a suite of 25 original high-definition television channels owned by AMC Networks. The channels were produced in Crystal Clear Hi-Definition with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and were the largest suite of HD channels in t ...

) in 2006.

References

External links

Kartoon Kings - Official web site of Simon Grennan and Christopher Sperandio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sperandio, Christopher American contemporary artists West Virginia University alumni University of Illinois Chicago alumni Rice University faculty Living people People from Kingwood, West Virginia 1964 births