EDUCATION
2015 Master of Fine Arts, University of California, Riverside
2007 Bachelor of Fine Arts, San Francisco Art Institute
GRANTS, AWARDS, HONORS
2023 Guggenheim Fellowship, United States
2020 Light Work Photo Book Award, Syracuse, NY
2020 Rema Hort Mann Foundation, Emerging Artist Grant, Los Angeles
2019 Aperture Portfolio Prize, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY
2008 Fulbright Scholar, Helsinki, Finland
RESIDENCIES
2019 Light Work, Syracuse, NY
2017 Storm King Art Center / Shandaken Projects, New York, NY
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Posthume (with James Ensor), La Maison de Rendez-Vous, Brussels, Belgium, 2023
Posthume, Paul Soto, Los Angeles, CA, 2023
Kiss of the Sun, Kendall Koppe, Glasgow, Scotland, 2022
Hunger for the Absolute, Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York, NY, 2021
Hunger for the Absolute, Park View / Paul Soto, Los Angeles, CA 2021
In this temporarily prevailing landscape, Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York, NY, 2020
Aperture Portfolio Prize, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY, 2019
Turn Into, James Harris Gallery, Seattle, WA, 2018
…if water forgets how to play mirror, QUEENS, Los Angeles, CA, 2018
He's Time. I'm Just a Clock., Strongroom, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
Objects & Actions of Consequence (MFA Thesis), Culver Center for the Arts, Riverside, CA, 2015
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS *denotes two or three person exhibition
Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, 2024
Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York, NY, 2024
Finding Aid (Curated by Matt Connors), Goldsmiths, London, UK, 2024
Mark McKnight & Maria Antelman, Outer Space, Bedford, NH, 2023
This Long Century, Dunes, Portland, ME, 2023
Light Work, Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY, 2023
; (Organized by Mark McKnight), Vielmetter, Los Angeles, CA, 2022
Hot Concrete, K11 Musea, Hong Kong, 2022
Dewdrops in the Garden, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA, 2022
Aqux, The Mistake Room, Los Angeles, CA, 2022
87 Franklin Inagural, Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York, NY, 2022
Perris, Tyler Park Presents, Los Angeles, CA, 2022
Garage Sale II, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA, 2022
Queer Moments, Lightwork, Syracuse, NY, 2021
Working from Home: New Commissions, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, AZ, 2020
Hold on Tight, Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA, 2020
A Time for Monsters, Fort Gansevoort, New York, NY, 2020
*Voidpull, Koppe Astner, Glasgow, Scotland, 2020
*Shadow & Shadow of Shadow, Roger’s Office, Los Angeles, CA, 2019
The Procession, VACATION, New York, NY, 2019
Automatic Door, Park View / Paul Soto, Los Angeles, 2019
20 / 20, James Harris Gallery, Seattle, 2019
Close to Home, Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA, 2019
Defining Photographs and Radical Experiments in Inland Southern California, 1945 to Present, California Museum of Photography & Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA, 2019
Monotasking, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA 2018
A Spaghetti Dress for world Peace, Park View / Paul Soto, Los Angeles, CA, 2017
Facing, BBQLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2017
La Mesa Brutal, Arturo Bandini, Los Angeles, CA, 2017
The Upper Deep, Open House, Los Angeles, CA, 2016
9-11, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA, 2016
Russian Doll, M+B, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
Surface of Color, The Pit, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
20/20 Vision: An International Photography Biennial, Christophe Guye (Selection of Grupa o.k.), Zurich, Switzlerland, 2015
The Year of the Goose, Either Way, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
Dressed in Gray, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2013
Greater Los Angeles MFA, Cal State Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, 2013
California Continued: New Approaches in West Coast Photography, Smith Andersen North, San Rafael, CA, 2011
Gray Day, Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, CA, 2010
The Informers, J-MoCA, Los Angeles, CA 2010
The Lightbearers, POST Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2010
10 x 10 x 10, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA, 2009
Involved, Socially, Triple Base, San Francisco, CA, 2009
Young Curators, New Ideas, Bond Street Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2008
Various Photographs, Curated by Tim Barber, The New York Photo Festival, New York, NY, 2008
TinyVices, White Flag Projects, St. Louis, MO, 2007
TinyVices, La Esquina, Kansas City, MO, 2007
MONOGRAPHS
Posthume, Oakland, CA: TBW Books, 2025
Heaven is a Prison, Marseilles, France: Loose Joints, 2020
OTHER BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, PUBLICATIONS, ZINES
A Queer History of Photography, London, England: Thames and Hudson, 2024
Mark McKnight and John Keene, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY: Image Text Press, 2023
Responses to Forbidden Colours (1988) by Felix Gonzales-Torres, London, UK: Pilot Press, 2023
Situating Queer in Photography, New York, NY: Routledge, 2023
The Debris of an Unknown Celebration, Tucson, AZ: Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson, 2021
Photo No-Nos, New York, NY: Aperture, 2021
Humans, New York, NY: Abrams, 2021
Primal Sight, Brooklyn, NY: Gnomic Books, 2021
Contact Sheet Annual 2020, Syracuse, NY: Light Work, 2020
New Queer Photography, Dortmund, Germany: Verlag Kettler, 2020
Aperture Magazine #236, New York, NY: Aperture Foundation, September 2019
In the Sunshine of Neglect: Defining Photographs & Radical Experiments in Inland Southern California 1950 - Present, Riverside, CA: Inlandia Institute, 2019
NOUNS, Los Angeles, CA: Bread & Butter, 2017
Pescador, Paul. Surface of Color, Los Angeles, CA: The Pit, 2015.
Myers-Szupinska, Julian & Szupinska-Myers, Joanna. 20/20 (Exhibition Catalog), Zurich, Switzlerland: Sturm & Drang, 2015.
Smoke Bath, New York, NY: Seems Books, 2010
Icons & Allegories, Los Angeles, CA: Bread & Butter Books, 2010
Involved, Socially, San Francisco, CA: Triple Base, 2009
Various Photographs, New York, NY: TV Books, 2008
Vol. 1, Remain in Light, Cambridge, MA: Lay Flat, 2008
COLLECTIONS
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
The Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
LightWork, Syracuse, NY
CURATORIAL
2015 FLASH!, The California Museum of Photography, Riverside, CA.
2010 Icons & Allegories, Sight School, Oakland, CA.
CRITICAL REVIEWS, ESSAYS
Cameron, Red. The Cemetery Illuminates, The Conversation Pit, Los Angeles, CA, Online, November 2, 2023.
O’Brien, Kean. Maritescu, Corina. The Desire for Ugliness, Playing Shakespeare’s Beautiful People, Peter Lang Verlag, New York, NY, 2023.
Suzuki, Emika. Between the Legs: Photography as Ars Erotica, Musee Magazine, New York, NY, Issue 26, 2021.
Campbell, Andy. Mark McKnight at Park View/Paul Soto, ArtForum, New York, NY, Summer Issue, 2021.
Akers, Tyler. Mark McKnight, GayLetter Magazine, New York, NY, Issue #14, Summer 2021.
Berardini, Andrew. Captured and Released: Mark McKnight, MOUSSE Magazine, Milan, Italy, Spring Issue, 2021.
Staff. Mark McKnight at Park View/Paul Soto, Contemporary Art Writing Daily, Online, April 23, 2021.
O’Leary, Erin F. Snap Review: Mark McKnight at Park View / Paul Soto. Contemporary Art Review LA, Los Angeles, CA, April 15, 2021.
Ritter, Zach. Mark McKnight, Hunger for the Absolute, Brooklyn Rail, Brooklyn, New York, March 17, 2021.
Warwick, Steven. Liberating the Taxonomic: Mark McKnight Reviewed by Steven Warwick, BOMB, New York, NY, March 16, 2021.
Hadland, Gracie. Mark McKnight Photographs Hardcore Vistas, Hunger for the Absolute Reviewed, Frieze, New York, NY, March 16, 2021.
Knight, Christopher. Review: Landscape and Body in Sensuous Shadow: The Photos of Mark McKnight, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, March 3, 2021.
Shinkle, Eugenie. Heaven is a Prison: Review, 1000 Words, London, UK, 2021
Dorris, Jesse. Heaven is a Prison: Jesse Dorris on Mark McKnight, Aperture’s PhotoBook Review, New York, NY, Fall 2020
Campion, Darren. Mark McKnight: Heaven is a Prison, Paper Journal, Australia, October 29, 2020.
Greenwell, Garth. The Pornographic High Art of Photographer Mark McKnight, GQ Magazine, New York, NY, September 29, 2020
Wiley, Chris. Mark McKnight and the Bodies That Modernist Photography Didn’t See, The New Yorker, New York, NY, June 15, 2020.
Hance McElroy, Nich. Portfolio: Mark McKnight, BOMB Magazine, New York, NY, March, 2020
Tafoya, Harry. Review: Mark McKnight Turns Queer Bodies Into Abstract Landscapes, Art in America, March, 2020
Yáñez, Marcelo Gabriel. Mark McKnight. Contact Sheet Annual 2020, Light Work. Syracuse, NY, Summer 2020
Greenwell, Garth. “Spotlight: Mark McKnight”, Aperture Magazine #236, New York, NY, September 10, 2019
Feinstein, Jon. “Review: Mark McKnight at James Harris Gallery,” Photograph Magazine, November/December, 2018
Cameron, Andrew. “Mark McKnight: Object Permanence,” (Supplementary exhibition text), James Harris Gallery, Seattle, Washington, 2018
Darling, Nikki. "Shadow Boxing Mark McKnight" (Supplementary exhibition text), QUEENS, Los Angeles, 2018
Myers-Szupinska, Julian & Szupinska-Myers, Joanna. "20/20: Mark McKnight" (Exhibition catalog text), Sturm & Drang, Zurich, Switzlerland, 2015
Ahn, Abe. “Forging Queer Identity with Abstraction,” HyperAllergic. October 19, 2015
PRESS, INTERVIEWS
Denman,Tom. Matt Connors Plays a Game of Forms at Goldsmiths CCA, Ocula Magazine, London, UK, March 26, 2024.
Moffitt, Evan. On Fire Island, a Home for Art – and the Artists Who Make It, The New York Times Style Magazine, New York, NY, August 31, 2023.
Veitch, Mara. Frieze Los Angeles Announces Its Biggest Program Yet, Cultured Magazine, Los Angeles, CA, February 5, 2023.
Vankin, Deborah. Everything you need to know about L.A.’s February 2023 Art Fair Extravaganza, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, February 4, 2023.
Naci, Silvi. Mark McKnight and Paul Sepuya in Conversation. Hunter Fashion Magazine, Milan, Italy. April, 2022.
Dinsdale, Emily. Love, Lust and Emancipation…, Dazed, London, UK, February 14, 2022.
Duffy, James. VAMA Welcomes Eminent Photographer, Los Angeles Collegian, Los Angeles, CA, April 29, 2021.
Stalnaker, Liberty. Prolific LA Photographer Returns to Roots at UNM Photo Department, Daily Lobo, Albuquerque, NM, April 28, 2021.
Staff. Mark McKnight at Park View/Paul Soto, Contemporary Art Daily, Online, April 23, 2021.
Staff. Top 5 Shows to See in the US and Canada, Frieze, New York, NY, March 19, 2021.
Diner, Eli. Five Los Angeles Shows to See this Month, Cultured Magazine, March 1, 2021.
Kwon, R.O., Greenwell, Garth. On Taking Kink Seriously: A Reading List, Literary Hub, New York, NY, February 11, 2021.
Staff. The Best Photo Stories of 2020, AnOther Magazine, London, England, December 24, 2020
Staff. Sex, Sand, and Seduction: Ten Photo Books to Buy This Month, AnOther Magazine, London, England, November 10, 2020.
Feuerhelm, Brad. Episode 100: Mark McKnight, Nearest Truth, Slovakia, October 24, 2020.
Park, Frederika. Mark McKnight: Objects, Landscapes, Queer Bodies, Metal Magazine, Barcelona, Spain, October 15, 2020.
Staff. Review: Heaven is a Prison, Mark McKnight, Tank Magazine, London, England, October 8, 2020.
Jean, Ciara. MOCA’s first pandemic-era in-house exhibition looks at life in a COVID bubble, Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, AZ, October 3, 2020.
Zhengova, Linda. Mark McKnight: Heaven is a Prison. Gup Magazine, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 1, 2020.
Benson, Louise. These are the Essential Art Books You Need to Know Right Now, Elephant Magazine, London, England, September 29, 2020
Yerebakan, Osman Can. Inside a Sensual New Photo Book Capturing Lovers in the California Desert, AnOther Magazine, London, England, September 14, 2020.
Abel-Hirsch, Hannah. Sex as Meaning-making in the work of Mark McKnight, British Journal of Photography, London, England, September 14, 2020.
White, Ryan. A Queer Photographer Explores the Pain and Euphoria of Sex, i-D Magazine, London, September 11, 2020.
Greenwell, Garth. Cleanness Author Garth Greenwell Interviews Mark McKnight About His Daring, Dirty Pictures, Interview Magazine, New York, NY, September 9, 2020.
Editors. ARTnews in Brief… May 11, 2020. ARTnews. New York, NY, May 11, 2020.
Harries, Jack. Q&A: Mark McKnight, The Heavy Collective (Online), March 29, 2020.
Kim, Eonnam. Art Out: Mark McKnight at Aperture Gallery. MUSEE’ (Online), November 26, 2019.
Staff. Highlights from Paris Internationale: Mark McKnight at Park View / Paul Soto. Purple Fashion Magazine (Online), October 23, 2019.
Staff. “Mark McKnight in Automatic Door at Park View / Paul Soto,” Contemporary Art Writing Daily, September 4, 2019
Luquet-Gad, Ingrid. Derhee, Aurélie. “Mark McKnight fait corps avec la nature”, Les Inrockuptibles, Paris, July 23, 2019
Weitzman, Jordan. "Episode 29: Mark McKnight", The Magic Hour: Conversations on Photography (Audio Interview), 2019
Embser, Brendan. “2019 Portfolio Prize Winner: Mark McKnight”, Aperture (Online), April 19, 2019
Weber, Jasmine. “Art Movements: Accolades” HyperAllergic. April 24, 2019
Gladstone, Sophie. “Inspiring Photography from the Wallpaper Picture Desk,” Wallpaper*, April 3, 2019
Miranda, Carolina. “Datebook: An Artistic Space Station, Experimental Sound, and Riotous Pattern,” Los Angeles Times, January 23, 2019
Staff. “Meet Mark McKnight,” Voyage LA Magazine: City Guide, February 11, 2019
Staff. “Mark McKnight: Turn Into, Paul Berger: Multiplex, and more,” City Arts Magazine, Seattle, Washington, 2018
“Photography Highlights…Seattle Art Fair,” Humble Arts Foundation, New York, 2018
Adams, Thomas. "Episode 19: Mark McKnight", Art Traffic, Online (Audio Interview), 2018
Pescador, Paul. "Surface of Color: Mark McKnight" (Exhibition catalog text), The Pit, Los Angeles, CA, 2015
Staff. “Artists meld life and art.” SFGate. August 20, 2009