Glenn Akira Kaino (born 1972 in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
) is an American
conceptual artist
Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called instal ...
based in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.
Early life, education and artistic training
Kaino grew up in
Cerritos and
East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...
; he is fourth-generation Japanese-American. He attended
UC Irvine
UC may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''University Challenge'', a popular British quiz programme airing on BBC Two
** '' University Challenge (New Zealand)'', the New Zealand version of the British programme
* Universal Century, one of the ti ...
and received a
BA in 1993 after which he attended
UC San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...
where he completed an
MFA in 1997.
Trained as a sculptor, Kaino came of age in the late 1980s – early 1990s, at the height of the
culture wars
A culture war is a cultural conflict between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal value ...
. Working closely with teachers and mentors who at the time were engaged in a critically important reevaluation about the role of
identity and politics in contemporary art, Kaino emerged as a member of the first generation of artists of color in the U.S. to begin to consider the ways through which contemporary art could be responsive to the conceptual turn while remaining faithful to the political project of artists and activists of prior decades.
Early career
Developing his practice at the height of the
Internet boom
The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet.
Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...
, Kaino began to explore ideas of systems as a way to bring distinct wisdoms and knowledge forms into the language of contemporary art. Informed by the process of
kit-bashing, akin to a model-maker's process of reassembling standard models and structures into new and innovative forms, Kaino began to approach his sculptural process as a form of conceptual kit-bashing—appropriating the languages, logics, production processes, and value systems of various fields of study to apply them to his artistic process as a way to consolidate improbable materials.
Artwork
Kaino's work ranges across a wide range of media including drawing, painting, sculpture,
video
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...
, and
performance
A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function.
Management science
In the work place ...
.
Kaino's most well-known works include ''Desktop Operations'', a large-scale
sand castle structure he debuted at the 2004
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...
; ''In Revolution'', a kinetic sculptural illusion encompassing a rapidly spinning
Aeron chair
The Aeron chair is an office chair sold by Herman Miller (manufacturer), Herman Miller, first released in 1994. In 2010, it was called "America's best-selling chair". It is featured in the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection. It was desig ...
that unveils the image of a chalice as it rotates inside its incubator; ''Untitled (Reverse Inverse Ninja Law)'', a large-scale levitating hammer sculpture made from thousands of small
Zapatista dolls made through a collaboration with
Zapatista activists in
Chiapas
Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...
;
[Firstenberg, Lauri (2006)]
"Ninjas and Pirates, Revolution and Romanticism: Lauri Firstenberg in Conversation with Glenn Kaino"
''Art Papers'', November/December 2006 issue. Retrieved February 25, 2013 ''The Burning Boards'', a sculptural moment first shown at the Whitney Museum at Altria that encompasses a
chess tournament
A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard form of chess competition amo ...
played with burning candles; ''Safe'', a sculpture made from amassed secrets that visualizes secrecy in material form; ''Arch'', a large-scale sculpture commissioned by the
City of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsyl ...
and the
Heinz Endowment;
[Thomas, Mary (July 16, 2008)]
"L.A. artist's work transforms at Warhol Museum"
''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...
''. Retrieved February 25, 2013. and ''In Every Grain'', a sculptural environment in which he used air and sand to construct an ephemeral and temporary city-like sculpture for the US Pavilion at the 13th International Cairo Biennale in 2013, where he represented the US.
Kaino's work has been exhibited internationally and is included in the collections of the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); the
Hammer Museum
The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...
, Los Angeles,
CA; the
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (or MCASD), in San Diego, California, US, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present.
Mission
The stated mission of ...
; the
Orange County Museum of Art
The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located on the campus of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. The museum's collection comprises more than 4,500 objects, with a concentration o ...
(OCMA),
Newport Beach, California
Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...
; the Museum Folkwang
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
; and
the Studio Museum in Harlem
The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...
, New York City.
Influences and collaborations
In addition to his studio practice, Kaino has collaborated with a wide range of organizations and companies on creative projects. An expansion of his ongoing interest in finding platforms in which art and creativity expand beyond the boundaries of the cultural institution, Kaino has worked with
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...
on
Farmclub.com
''Farmclub.com'' is an American TV show, which aired on USA Network. It was broadcast from January 31, 2000 to June 15, 2001. The show's content featured "it" musical artists of the moment and promoted unsigned bands through national exposure and ...
and
Napster 2.0.
Kaino has also helped create various experimental venues to support the work of other artists.
Working with collaborators Daniel Joseph Martinez, Rolo Castillo, and Tracey Shiffman, Kaino co-founded the
seminal artist-run gallery Deep River in Los Angeles in 1997.
[Yun, Michelle (2011)]
"Kaino, Glenn Akira"
in ''The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art'', Vol. 1, pp. 8–9. Oxford University Press Throughout its five years of existence, it was a beacon for artists and experimental practices in Los Angeles. Kaino was also
a founding board member of LA>
Derek DelGaudio
Derek DelGaudio is an American interdisciplinary artist, primarily known as a writer, performer and magician.
He created the theater show ''In & Of Itself,'' directed by Frank Oz, and co-founded, along with artist Glenn Kaino, the performance-a ...