Peter Coffin (artist)

Photo documentation of Peter Coffin's outdoor cloud installation.

Peter Coffin (born 1972, Berkeley, California, United States) is an artist based in New York City. Coffin's work is exhibited internationally and featured in several prominent collections.

Peter Coffin is currently collaborating with Al Jaffee inspired by his undergraduate personal encounter with the modern dance choreographer Twyla Tharp.^[1] He is the nephew of artist Robert Smithson who introduced Coffin to the study of plant consciousness before Smithson died July 20, 1973 when Coffin was just a year old.^[2] In 2010, Coffin developed a library cataloguing system for the Library of the American Society for Psychical Research in New York City utilizing the colors cast on the library's shelves by the natural light passing through the library's windows.^[3]

Education[]

Coffin received a BS and BA from the University of California, Davis in 1995 and MFA from Carnegie Mellon University in 2000.^[4]

Select exhibitions[]

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Coffin has showed in over 25 solo exhibitions both internationally and domestically. Installations include:

• Here and There (2013), Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., U.S.
• Peter Coffin (2013), The National Exemplar, New York City, U.S.
• The Prelapsarian (2012), Carl Kostyál Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• All Robots Welcome (2010), Social Grease Gallery, Liechtenstein^[5]
• Don't Knock If You Wouldn't Enter (2009), Al Abarr gallery, Dubai, UAE.^[6]
• Model of the Universe (e.g. sweet harmonica solo, e.g. the idea of the sun, e.g. Frisbee dog catch in mid air, e.g. brightly colored gem stomes, e.g. the desire for a tropical drink, e.g. dance sweat) (2007), Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris, France^[7]
• Tree Pants (2007), The Horticultural Society of New York, Peter Coffin & Djordje Ozbolt, Herald St. London, United Kingdom
• The Idea of the Sun (2007), Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France.^[8]
• Limousine Code (2005), Living Room D Lyx Gallery, Malmö, Sweden
• Hello Headspace (2005), Gallery Fonti, Naples, Italy
• The Feraliminal Lycanthropizer (2005), Champion Fine Art, Los Angeles, U.S.^[9]
• Collection (or, How I Spent a Year) (2004), MoMA, New York City, U.S.
• Turn on the Lights (2004), South London Gallery, London, United Kingdom
• It Chooses You (2004), Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York City, U.S.
• Natural Habits (2004), The Paine Art Center, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, U.S.
• When Interwoven Echoes Drip into a Hybrid Body Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Long Island City, New York City, U.S.

Galleries[]

Coffin is represented by Herald Street in London and Haydon Boss in San Francisco. Peter Coffin also recently exhibited at Venus Over Manhattan in New York with the solo exhibition A.E.I.O.U.

Permanent works[]

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Works by the artist can be seen at:

• Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO
• Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
• sculpture park, Skåne, Sweden:
  • Untitled (Tree Pants); jeans tailored to trees in the park (collaboration with Levi Strauss & Co).
• MoMA, New York, NY ^[10]
• Storm King Art Center New Windsor, NY ^[11]

Audio work[]

In 2005, Coffin released the Music for Plants compilation album with tracks from forty artists including Ara Peterson, Ariel Pink, Arto Lindsay, Sun Burned Hand of the Man, , , Christian Marclay, Dearraindrop, and Mice Parade.^[12][13]

References[]

External links[]

• Peter Coffin Studio, artist page
• Saatchi-Gallery, artist page
• Peter Coffin at Artfacts