Tony Labat

Tony Labat (born 1951) is a Cuban-born American multimedia artist, installation artist, and professor. He has exhibited internationally, developing a body of work in performance,^[1] video,^[2] sculpture and installation.^[3] Labat's work has dealt with investigations of the body,^[4] popular culture,^[5] identity,^[6] urban relations,^[7] politics,^[8] and the media.^[9]

Tony Labat
Born	1951 Havana, Cuba
Education	San Francisco Art Institute
Occupation(s)	Multimedia artist, installation artist, professor, academic administrator

Early life and education

Labat was born in Havana, Cuba in 1951.^[10][11][12] He emigrated from Cuba to Miami, Florida in 1965, when he was fifteen years old.^[13][14] He received his BFA degree (1978) and his MFA degree (1980) from the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI).^[15]

Career

Since the early 1980s, Labat has been a participant in the California performance and video scene and has spend most of his career in San Francisco.^[16] Labat taught in the New Genres department at SFAI from 1985 until its closure in 2022, he also served as the MFA director.^[17]

His artwork is included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York;^[18] Centre Pompidou, Paris;^[19] and Oakland Museum of California.^[20]

Exhibitions

In 2005, Labat had a survey exhibition of his work in conjunction with the publication of "Trust Me" at New Langton Arts.^[16] Other exhibitions include:

• “I Want You,” San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California
• "Tony Labat and Ignacio Lang," at Harris/Lieberman Gallery, New York City, New York
• "I Like To Watch," The Canal Chapter, New York City, New York
• "Xtreme Sparring," El Museo del Barrio, New York City, New York
• Gallery Paule Anglim,^[21] San Francisco, California
• "Time and Transition in Contemporary Cuban Art," Mestna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• "Mata Crush," Havana Bienal, Havana, Cuba;^[22]
• "Trading Places," Gallery Hit, Bratislava, Slovakia, Czech Republic
• "Mapping the Outside: (Fat Chance Bruce Nauman)," Seville Biennial, Seville, Spain
• "Mayami: Between Cut and Action," Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
• "Moving Target," Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki
• "Random Topography," NoD Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
• "Performance Anxiety," UC Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California
• "Tony Labat: Four Installations," Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, California^[23]

References

1. "Tony Labat: Left Jab". Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA). 2005. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
2. "Tony Labat". Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI). Retrieved 2017-03-31.
3. Anreus, Alejandro; Greeley, Robin Adèle; Sullivan, Megan A. (2021-10-26). A Companion to Modern and Contemporary Latin American and Latina/o Art. John Wiley & Sons. p. 432. ISBN 978-1-118-47539-3.
4. Baker, Kenneth (2005-10-08). "Conceptual artists who pack a wallop". SFGate. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
5. "Gladstone Gallery, New York". re-title.com Features. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
6. "Tony Labat. Lost in the Translation. 1984". The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Retrieved 2020-06-27.
7. Lauzon, Claudette (2017-04-24). The Unmaking of Home in Contemporary Art. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4426-2159-6.
8. "Tony Labat: I WANT YOU". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
9. "Ñ (enn-yay), Tony Labat". Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI). Retrieved 2020-06-27.
10. Novakow, Anna (1998). "Carnal pleasures: Desire, public space and contemporary art".
11. Artists' Video: An International Guide. Cross River Press. 1991. ISBN 9781558593572.
12. Ayres, Anne (1986). 2nd Newport Biennial: The Bay Area. Newport Harbor Art Museum. ISBN 9780917493072.
13. Damian, Carol (1997). Breaking Barriers: Selections from the Museum of Art's Permanent Contemporary Cuban Collection. Art Museum Fort Lauderdale. Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.
14. "Art Papers Magazine". 2006.
15. "Bay Area Now Two". 1999.
16. Hainley, Bruce (January 2006). "Tony Labat, New Langton Arts". Artforum, Vol. 44, No. 5. Retrieved 2023-09-12.
17. "San Francisco Art Institute's Tower As Video Canvas". San Francisco News. 2020-08-31. Retrieved 2023-09-12.
18. "Tony Labat". MoMA.
19. "Tony Labat". Centre Pompidou. Retrieved 2023-09-12.
20. "Tony Labat". OCMA Collections. Retrieved 2023-09-12.
21. "Tony Labat | Anglim Gilbert Gallery". anglimgilbertgallery.com. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
22. "BOMB Magazine — Vale La Pena: The 11th Havana Biennial by Liz Munsell". bombmagazine.org. Retrieved 2017-03-31.
23. "Tony Labat: Four Installations". The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Retrieved 2017-03-31.