Rita McBride (born 1960) is an American artist and sculptor. She is based in Los Angeles and Düsseldorf. Alongside her artistic practice, McBride is a professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, and served as its director until 2017. McBride is married to Glen Rubsamen, an American painter from Los Angeles. Working at the intersection of architecture, design, and public space, McBride is known for her large scale works and installations, with her wider oeuvre incorporating performance, texts, and smaller scale sculptural work.

Life

Rita McBride was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1960. She received her BA from

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

in New York in 1982 and her MFA from

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

in 1987, where she studied with Michael Asher and John Baldessari. After receiving her MFA, McBride began to exhibit her work widely initially with art galleries in Porto and Los Angeles. Her work has been the subject of more than seventy one-person exhibitions and twenty monographs.

Work and commissions

McBride’s practice is concerned not only with sculptural or architectural form, but likewise the situations and happenings which arise in the audience’s relation to the works. Her most exhibited work, ''Arena'' (1997), for instance, is a modular structure which is assembled into a concave, arena-like seating area. First shown at the

Witte de With Witte Corneliszoon de With (28 March 1599 – 8 November 1658) was a Dutch naval officer. He is noted for planning and participating in a number of naval battles during the Eighty Years War and the First Anglo-Dutch war. Early life and ch ...

in Rotterdam, ''Arena'' is activated by a calendar of programming curated by McBride and the host institution which range from lectures and artist talks to performance pieces by guest artists. McBride is the editor and co-author of a series of collaborative novels entitled ''Ways'', each of which engage with a particular literary subgenre. Major public commissions include ''Particulates'', Dia Art Foundation, New York; ''Obelisk of Tutankhamum'', Cologne, Germany (2017); ''Donkey’s Way'', Moenchengladbach (2016); ''Artifacts'' ''(C.W.D)'', P.S. 315, Queens, New York (2015); ''Bells and Whistles'',

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

, New York, (2014). ''Mae West'' (2011), one of McBride's most known public works, is a 52-meter tall carbon structure in Munich. Built for the Effnerplatz, a hub for public and private transit in eastern

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

, it remarkably includes access for a tram line to run through its latticed base. ''Mae West'' caused a number of debates within the city. The sculpture and its reception by the residents of the area is the subject of ''Day After Day'', a film by Alexander Hick.

Selected exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

* 2017-18: ''Particulates'', Dia:Chelsea, New York * 2017: ''Rita McBride: Explorer'', Wiels, Brussels * 2015-16: ''gesellschaft'',

kestnergesellschaft Kestner Gesellschaft (Kestner Society) is an art institution in Hanover, Germany, founded in 1916 to promote the arts. Its founders included the painter Wilhelm von Debschitz (1871–1948). The association blossomed under the management of and , ...

Kunsthalle Düsseldorf Kunsthalle Düsseldorf is an exhibition hall for contemporary art in Düsseldorf. Building The present art centre was built in 1967 in Brutalist architecture by the architects Konrad Beckmann and Brockes. They used commercially available preca ...

* 2014: ''Public Tilt'',

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 ...

* 2013-14: ''Public Transaction'', Museo Tamayo, Mexico City * 2012: ''Public Tender'', Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Spain * 2010: ''Previously'', Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland * 2008: ''Public Works'', Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany *2008: ''Some Settlements'', Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf *2007: ''Rita McBride'', Galleria Alfonso Artiaco, Naples * 2004: ''Exhibition'',

SculptureCenter SculptureCenter is a not-for-profit, contemporary art museum located in Long Island City, Queens, New York City. It was founded in 1928 as "The Clay Club" by Dorothea Denslow. In 2013, SculptureCentre attracted around 13,000 visitors. History Fou ...

, Long Island City, New York * 2002: ''Naked Came the Stranger'', Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz * 2000: ''Her House with the Upstairs in It'', Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Galerie (DAAD), Berlin * 1999: ''Aloof and Incidental'', Annemarie Verna Galerie and Mai 36 Galerie, Zürich * 1997: ''The Donkey’s Way and Piggybackback'' (in collaboration with Catherine Opie and Lawrence Weiner), Galeria Pedro Oliveira, Porto * 1997: ''Hyperinclusion'', OSMOS, Berlin * 1997: ''Rita McBride'', Alexander and Bonin, New York * 1997: ''Arena & National Chain'',

, Rotterdam * 1994: ''Backsliding, sideslipping, one Great Leap and the “forbidden”'', Michael Klein Gallery, New York * 1990: ''Rita McBride New Work'', Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles * 1989: ''Rita McBride'', Galeria Atlântica. Porto

Selected group exhibitions

* 2017-18: ''Studio for Propositional Cinema , in relationship to a Spectator'', kestenergesellschaft, Hannover * 2016: ''EVERYTHING ARCHITECTURE'', BOZAR, Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels * 2016:

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Every two years, the city of Liverpool hosts an extensive range of artworks, projects, and a programme of events. The biennial commissions leading ...

2016 * 2011: ''Making Is Thinking'',

, Rotterdam * 2007: ''The World as a Stage'',

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...

, London and Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston * 2003: ''Living Inside the Grid'',

New Museum The New Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is a museum in New York City at 235 Bowery, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-named New Sch ...

, New York * 2002: ''Taipei Biennial 2002: Great Theatre of the World'', Taipei Fine Art Museum * 2000: ''What If: Art on the Verge of Architecture and Design'', Moderna Museet, Stockholm * 1998: ''Where: Allegories of Site in Contemporary Art'',

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

at Champion, Stamford, CT * 1994: ''Breakdown'', Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego * 1991: ''There's no There, There'', Indianapolis Museum of Art

Collections

* Ellipse Foundation, Alcoitão/Cascais * Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona * Bundeskunstsammlung Zeitgenössischer Kunst, Bonn *

The Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mil ...

Museum Ludwig Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lic ...

, Cologne *

Des Moines Art Center The Des Moines Art Center is an art museum with an extensive collection of paintings, sculpture, modern art and mixed media. It was established in 1948 in Des Moines, Iowa. History The Art Center traces its roots to 1916, when the Des Moines A ...

, Iowa * FRAC Bourgogne, Dijon *

Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is the art collection of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, in Düsseldorf. United by this institution are three different exhibition venues: the ''K20'' at Grabbeplatz, the ''K21'' in the ...

, Düsseldorf * Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung, Hannover * San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California *

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 *

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...

, Los Angeles *

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ...

* De Vleeshal, Middelburg, Netherlands * Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach *

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress) ...

* Queens Museum of Art, New York *

, New York *

Neues Museum The Neues Museum (English: ''New Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1843 to 1855 by order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in Neoclassical and Renaissance Revival styles ...

, Nuremberg * FRAC Île-de-France, Paris * Museu de Serralves, Porto * Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam * The Achenbach Foundation, San Francisco * De Young Museum, San Francisco *

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, San Francisco * Kunstmuseum St. Gallen * De Pont Foundation for Contemporary Art, Tilburg * Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz * Institut d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne * Wake Forest University Collection, Winston-Salem, North Carolina * Kunstmuseum Winterthur * Kunsthaus Zürich

Bibliography

* ''Rita McBride: Public Works, 1988 – 2015''. Texts by Gina Ashcraft, Gregor Jansen, Mark von Schlegell, Susanne Titz, and Christina Végh. Hannover, Kestner Gesellschaft; Kunsthalle Düsseldorf; Cologne; Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2016 * Fernández-Galiano, Luis, Mark Wigley, Bartomeu Marí and Anne Pöhlmann. Rita McBride. ''Oferta pública / Public Tender''. Barcelona: Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), 2012 * Schwarz, Dieter, Daniel Kurjakovic, and Iris Wien. ''Previously''. Winterthur: Kunstmuseum Winterthur, 2010

References

External links

Official Website

McBride at Alexander and Bonin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcbride, Rita 1960 births Living people Artists from Des Moines, Iowa American women sculptors Sculptors from Iowa 21st-century American women artists 21st-century American sculptors 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American sculptors Kunstakademie Düsseldorf faculty American women academics