Kalup Linzy is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 video and performance artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Early Life and Work

Linzy grew up in a small rural community in Florida called Stuckey. He had a large, close-knit extended family, and was raised by his Aunt and Grandmother. His has described his childhood and place of upbringing has thematically influential for his well-known video and performance work. For example, Linzy has produced a series of soap opera video works, and has described soap operas as having been a key social component for his family and community. He has said that shows such as Guiding Light were a part of daily life when he was growing up, and he often includes soap opera stereotypes in the characters and plot of his videos. His soap opera videos can be characterized by their low-tech quality, themes of community, socializing, family, the church, sexuality and homosexuality. Linzy pushes the boundaries of gender in his work through dressing himself and other characters in drag

Drag (clothing)

Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...

, using pre-recorded voices or manipulating voice through video editing, and playing with different dialects. He also uses friends with little or no acting experience for some parts. In addition to video work Linzy performs on stage, writes songs, and collaborates with other artists.

Education

Born in Clermont, Florida

Clermont, Florida

Clermont is a city in Lake County, Florida, United States, west of Orlando. The population was 13,100 in 2008. The city is essentially residential in character and its economy is centered in retail trade, lodging, and food and beverage establishments, which are tourism oriented. The historic...

, Linzy graduated from the MFA

Master of Fine Arts

A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...

 program at the University of South Florida

University of South Florida

The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...

 in 2003. He also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture video art workshop, and in 2005 received a grant from the Louis Comfort Tiffany

Louis Comfort Tiffany

Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau  and Aesthetic movements...

 Foundation. Linzy was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2007. On July 13, 2010, with an invitation from James Franco

James Franco

James Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author, painter, performance artist and instructor at New York University. He left college in order to pursue acting and started off his career by making guest appearances on television series in the 1990s...

, he made his debut appearance on the daytime television soap opera General Hospital

General Hospital

General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....

. Linzy's work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Art in America, and Artforum.

Solo

• Le Petit Versailles, East Village, NY (2004)
• Kalup Linzy and Charles Nelson, Romo Gallery, Atlanta, GA (2005)
• All My Churen, LAXART, Los Angeles, CA (2006)
• Kalup Linzy, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center
  P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center
  MoMA PS1 is one of the largest and oldest institutions in the United States dedicated solely to contemporary art. It is located in the Long Island City neighborhood of New York City...
  
  , Long Island City, New York (2006)
• Taxter & Spengemann, New York (2006)

Group

• Sunday in the Arts, Scarfone/Hartley Gallery, Tampa, FL (2002).
• All Together Now, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY (2003)
• Faith, Champion Fine Art, Culver City, CA (2004)
• Mommy! I'm! Not! An! Animal!, Capsule Gallery, New York, NY (2004)
• African Queen, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY (2005)
• Frequency, Studio Museum in Harlem
  Studio Museum in Harlem
  The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American contemporary art museum in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, New York. It was founded in 1968 as the first such museum in the U.S. devoted to the art of African-Americans, specializing in 19th and 20th century work as well work of artists of...
  
  , New York, NY (2005)
• Do You Think I'm Disco, Longwood Art Gallery, Bronx, NY (2006)
• Masquerade: Representation and the Self in Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art
  Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
  The Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia is an Australian museum solely dedicated to exhibiting, interpreting and collecting contemporary art, both from across Australia and around the world...
  
  , Sydney, Australia (2006)
• Black Alphabet, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland (2006)
• Empathetic, Temple Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA (2006)
• AFI FEST 2006, Los Angeles, CA
• Vocal Verbal, Studentski Center, Zegreb, Croatia (2007)
• Uncertain States of America - American Video Art in the 3rd Millennium, Moscow Biennial, Moscow, Russia (2007)
• Spotlight Film and Video Series, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, Wisconsin (2007)
• Prospect.1 New Orleans (2008)

External links

• www.kaluplinzy.net
• YouTube channel
• WPS1 Variety Show (from the Museum of Modern Art
  Museum of Modern Art
  The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
  
  )
• http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-south-lake-general-hospital-actor-20100715,0,385200.story - Orlando Sentinel
  Orlando Sentinel
  The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008...
  
  
• Conversations ... with Kalup Linzy - NYFA Interactive
  New York Foundation for the Arts
  The New York Foundation for the Arts was created in conjunction the in 1971. The organization gives grants to individual artists and writers and developing arts organizations with a mission to '.'-NYFA's Programs:...
  
  
• Kalup Linzy - Temple University
  Temple University
  Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
  
   Empathetic (arts publication)
• Art News
• Audio companion to PS1 show - exclusive to Time Out New York