KERRY SKARBAKKA
EDUCATION
2003
Masters of Fine Art - Photography, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago IL
1994
Bachelors of Art - Studio Arts (emphasis Sculpture), University of Washington, Seattle, WA
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2014–
Oregon State University, School of Visual, Performing and Design Arts, Corvallis, Oregon. Associate Professor of Photography; Head of Photography and Digital Studio.
SELECTED GRANTS, AWARDS, COMMISSIONS
2024
Career Opportunity Grant - Oregon Commission for the Arts and The Ford Family Foundation, Salem, OR
2023
Career Opportunity Grant - Oregon Commission for the Arts and The Ford Family Foundation, Salem, OR
2020
Residency Grant - Ford Family Foundation (Ucross Artist-in-Residence), Salem, OR
2018
Career Opportunity Grant - Oregon Commission for the Arts and The Ford Family Foundation, Salem, OR
2011
Excellence in Teaching Award, CENTER, Santa Fe, NM
2008
Public Art Commission, 1% for the Arts - City of Seattle Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Seattle, WA
2005
Creative Capital Foundation Grant, New York, NY
2004
CAAP Grant, Chicago Center of Cultural Affairs, Chicago, IL
Illinois Arts Council Assistance Grant, Chicago, IL
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
White Noise, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA
2019
White Noise, Portland Community College, Portland, OR
White Noise, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA (Catalogue)
2018
This Is Not What I Imagined! (For Freedoms Exhibition), Joan Truckenbrod Gallery, Corvallis, OR
2016
On the Brink, Fairbanks Gallery of Art, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
2015
Red, White, Black and Blue: The Revenge of Billy Jack, Prescott College Art Gallery, Prescott, AZ
2013
Ten Years of Falling, Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Struggle to Right Oneself, Vivacom Art Hall, Sofia, Bulgaria
2011
Constructed Visions, Hagedorn Foundation Gallery, Atlanta, GA
The Struggle to Right Oneself, Chelsea Market, New York, NY
The Struggle to Right Oneself, U.S. Embassy, Moscow, Russia
2009
The Struggle to Right Oneself: A Survey, Irvine Contemporary, Washington, DC
The Struggle to Right Oneself, FotoLoft Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2007
Re-Presenting the Human Image, Irvine Contemporary, Washington, DC
2006
Fluid, Lawrimore Project, Seattle, WA
2005
Life Goes On, Performance, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
The Struggle to Right Oneself, Fifty-One Fine Art Photography, Antwerp, Belgium
2002
Existential Blues, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
The Thing Itself, Jeffrey J. Hoone Gallery, Light Work, Syracuse, NY
Metamorphosis: Space and Society in idealista Collection, Serreria Belga, Madrid, Spain. Curated by Elisa Hernando. (Catalogue)
Creative Resilience: Critical Mass 2025 Top 50, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR. Curated by C. Meier. (Catalogue)
2025
Critical Mass: Top 50, Duncan Miller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (Catalogue)
2024
Daydream, Guy Hepner Gallery, New York, NY, curated by The Pink Lemonade
2022
Outlandish, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
2021
Transformation, Blowing Rock Art and Art History Museum, Blowing Rock, NC (Curated by Gabe Wilson)
2019
Time Returns: A Continuous Now, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY (Curated by DJ Hellerman and Judy Natal)
2018
Defining the Art of Change in the Age of Trump, The Center for Contemporary Political Art, Washington, DC (Curated by Charles Krause and Robin Strongin)
2017
Created by Light, Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC (Catalogue)
2016
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel
2015
Director’s Cut, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
2014
Private Eye, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
PREP SCHOOL: Prepper and Survivalist Ideologies and Utopian/Dystopian Visions, Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA (Catalogue)
2013
En Dialogo con la Mar, Museo de la Cuidad, Cuernavaca Morelos, México
2011
The Unseen Eye, George Eastman International Museum, Rochester, NY
Collection T - MAMAC, Musée d´Art Moderne et d`Art Contemporain, Nice, France
2010
Intimacy! Bathing in Art, Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Germany (Catalogue)
2008
Rethinking Landscape, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA (Catalogue)
Teleport Färgfabriken, Färgfabriken Norr, Östersund, Sweden (Catalogue)
Art Anonymous, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
2007
The Big Picture, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
On the Walls, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY
ICARE, Salle Saint-Georges du Musée de l’Art wallon, Liège, Belgium
2006
Blessed are the Merciful, Feigen Contemporary, New York, NY
Taking Inventory: Transformation Through Compilation, Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Tina B-The Prague Contemporary Art Festival, Prague, Czech Republic (Catalogue)
2005
ContempoRARITIES Expo, The Contemporary Museum of Art, Honolulu, HI
SELECTED ART FAIRS
2018
The Photography Show, AIPAD, New York, NY with Light Work
2013
PULSE, New York, NY with the Creative Capital Foundation
The Photography Show, AIPAD, New York, NY with Kopeikin Gallery
2010
Art Brussels with Fifty-One Fine Art Photography
2009
Miami Photo with Irvine Contemporary
Art Brussels with Fifty-One Fine Art Photography
2008
Scope Miami with Irvine Contemporary
2007
Scope Miami with Irvine Contemporary
Aqua Art Miami with Lawrimore Project
Paris Photo with Fifty-One Fine Art Photography
Photo London with Fifty-One Fine Art Photography
ArtDC with Irvine Contemporary, Washington, DC
L.A. Photo with Photo-Eye Gallery
2006
Miami Photo with Photo-Eye Gallery
Aqua Art Miami with Lawrimore Project
Paris Photo with Fifty-One Fine Art Photography
2005
Aqua Art Miami with Lawrimore Project
Paris Photo with Fifty-One Fine Art Photography
2004
Paris Photo with Fifty-One Fine Art Photography
The Armory Show, New York, NY with Raid Projects
2003
Art Chicago with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: INTERVIEWS
2024
Photoworld Magazine, “Kerry Skarbakka, The Struggle to Right Oneself,” pp. 60-67. January 2024. Interview and Translation by John Dun. Beijing, China
2017
Steven Rainy, “Ian Sansom is Falling,” interview and contributor, BBC Radio 4, Belfast, Ireland, Sept. 10, 2017
2016
Oren Agmon, “Kerry Skarbakka: Simply Falling,” HDL Magazine, Interview, Tel Aviv, Israel. July 2016
2009
Bryan Clump, “The Fall Guy, Kerry Skarbakka, American Artist: The Art of Falling,” Interview, RADIO NEW ZEALAND National
Cameron and Leila, “Kerry Skarbakka,” Live Interview, Today on Sunday-Australia Channel 9. May 2009
Matt Lauer, “Kerry Skarbakka,” Live Interview, NBC Today Show, April 21, 2009
“Kerry Skarbakka,” Interview, Shanghai Morning Newspaper, China, May 2009
2005
Live Interview, FOX Morning News, Chicago, June 15, 2005
Live Interview, WGN Morning News, Chicago, June 14, 2005
Rich Samuels, “The Art of Falling,” WTTW 11 Chicago (PBS), June 14, 2005
Tori Marlan, “Why is This Man Going to Jump from the MCA?” Chicago Reader, June 9, 2005. Cover/Featured article
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: BOOKS, ACADEMIC JOURNALS, AND TEXTBOOKS
2022
Robert Hirsch, Light & Lens: Thinking About Photography in the Digital Age, Fourth Edition, Focal Press (November 2022): 195
2017
Corey Dzenko, “Continuing to Work toward US Manhood: Contemporary Performance-photographer Kerry Skarbakka’s ‘The Struggle to Right Oneself’,” Men and Masculinities (April 2017): 3-26.
Mark Sandberg, “Mad Men’s Serially Falling Man,” The Velvet Light Trap: A Critical Journal of Film and Television, University of Texas Press (2017).
2015
T. Nikki Cesare Shotzko, Learning to Fall: Art and Culture After September 11, Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2015: pp. 228.
2013
Episode 12: After the Photo, from Photo: a history from behind the lens, a documentary film series by Stan Neumann and Juliette Garcias, co-produced by the Centre Pompidou
2011
Rebekah Modrak and Bill Anthes, Reframing Photography: Theory and Practice, 1st Edition, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-415-77920-3
2010
Robert Hirsch, Exploring Color Photography: From Film to Pixels, Focal Press, 5th Edition. 2010.
2009
Corey Dzenko, “Analog to Digital: The Indexical Function of Photographic Images,” Afterimage: The Journal of Media Arts and Cultural Criticism. Vol. 37. No. 2 (2009): 19-23.
2008
Corey Dzenko, “Anxiety and Remediation: The Photographic Images of Kerry Skarbakka,” Hemisphere: Visual Cultures of the Americas, Vol. I (2008): 83-91.
Here is Always Somewhere Else, a documentary film about Bas Jan Ader, by Rene Daalder
2007
Mack Friedman, Setting the Lawn on Fire, University of Wisconsin Press, 2007: Cover. ISBN-10: 0299213447
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: CRITICAL ESSAYS, REVIEWS, AND CITATIONS
2019
Helen Hill, “Bad Boys: Artist Kerry Skarbakka brings toxic masculinity into uncomfortable clear focus with ‘White Noise’,” Street Roots (Nov. 22-28, 2019): Cover, 4, 5, and 7.
Eleanor Heartney, “Automobile Mon Amour,” 83-95. In Robin Reisenfeld, Life Is a Highway: Art and American Car Culture (exh. cat.). Toledo, Ohio: Toledo Museum of Art, 2019.
2017
Michael Abatemarco, “Witness for the persecution: ‘Art & Oppression’,” Santa Fe New Mexican (June 23, 2017): 6.
2016
Jen Graves, “How Creative Capital Replaced the NEA and Taught Artists to Be Ambitious,” The Stranger, Seattle (March 30, 2016).
2012
“Star Teacher: Kerry Skarbakka,” PDNedu Magazine (2012): 13 and 17.
2009
Jen Graves, “Do-Over on the 28th Floor: What Do You Do When Public Art Is Too Powerful to Be Ignored?” The Stranger, Seattle (June 11, 2009): 23.
2007
Michael Rooks, Contact Sheet: The Light Work Annual 2007, No. 142. (2007): 34-40.
Jessica Dawson, “Kerry Skarbakka’s Flights of Fancy,” Washington Post (July 21, 2007).
Elizabeth Pence, “This is Gallery,” Artweek Vol. 37, Issue 10 (January 2007): 2.
2006
Regina Hackett, “Knockout Work by a Trio of Young Artists,” Seattle Post Intelligencer (Oct. 27, 2006).
2005
Public Art Review, News, St. Paul, Minnesota, Issue 33 (Fall/Winter 2005): 76.
Fred Camper, “Is Art Defaming 9-11 deaths?” New York Newsday (July 10, 2005).
Jon Yates, “Being a Fall Guy All Day Long,” Chicago Tribune (June 15, 2005).
Alan Artner, “Taking the Big Plunge into Art,” Chicago Tribune (June 11, 2005).
Wayne Koestenbaum, “Photographer‘s Project-Kerry Skarbakka,” APERTURE, New York, NY, Vol. 179 (Summer 2005): Cover, 60-65.
2004
João Ribas, “The Faces of the Future,” ArtReview, International Edition, Vol. 2, No. 7 (Oct. 2004): 88.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: MAGAZINE AND NEWSPAPER PUBLICATIONS
2021
Winki Pop, “Kerry Skarbakka,” pp. 82-90. Vol. 1. Sept. 2021. Melbourne, Australia.
2018
Mayer Rus, “Domestic Bliss: Step Inside Ricky Martin's Beverly Hills Home,” Architectural Digest (Feb. 2018): 52.
2017
Bruce Weber, “Glory Be,” All-American XVII, November 2017. Little Bear Press. Inside Cover.
2015
Serio Labate, “Kerry Skarbakka: Dissociate Dissonanti Gravita,” Gente di Fotografia: Quarterly Journal of Photographic Culture, 21st Year, No. 61. Modena, Italy (April 2015): Cover, 60-65.
2014
Shoot Me: Art Revolving, “Kerry Skarbakka: While Falling,” Greece, Issue 18 (Nov. 2014): 62-97.
2013
GUP International Photography Magazine, “In the Name of Gravity: Kerry Skarbakka,” Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Issue 36 (2013): 10-page spread.
European Photography: Art Magazine, “Kerry Skarbakka,” No. 93, Vol. 34, Issue 1 (Summer 2013): 42-44.
Dummy Magazine, “Gefahr, Ein Mann Für alle Falle,” Berlin, Germany, No. 38 (Spring 2013): 12-20.
2011
W.M. Hunt, The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the Unconscious, Aperture Press, pp. 319 (2011): 240.
Lynn Kirshbaum, Male Forms, Excerpts from the Lynn Kirshbaum Photography Collection, pp. 116 (2011): 45.
2010
The Missouri Review, “Crash,” Volume 33, Number 2 (2010): Cover.
2009
Beijing Evening Newspaper (May 1, 2009): 22-23.
2008
Art in America, “Rethinking Landscape: Photography from the Allen G. Thomas Jr. Collection,” Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA (November 2008): 111.
2007
Suddeutsche Zeitung WISSEN, Munich, Germany (October 2007): 9, 74-79.
2006
Le Monde2, “Comment Chutent Les Civilisations,” Paris, France, No. 118 (May 20, 2006): Cover.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: EXHIBITION CATALOGUES
2025
Critical Mass: Top 50 2025. Photolucida. p. 35. (exh. cat.)
2019
White Noise, Torrance Art Museum, Essay by Corey Dzenko. Interview by Paul Shambroom. Torrance, CA, pp. 68. (2019) (solo exh. cat.)
2017
Ann Brennan and Holly Tripman-Fitzgerald (eds.) Created by Light, Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC. pp. 54 (2017): 44 (exh. cat.)
2014
Prep School: Prepper & Survivalist Ideologies and Utopian/Dystopian Visions, Torrance Art Museum, pp. 102 (March 19, 2014). (exh. cat.)
2013
Singapore International Photography Festival, Dominie Press-Singapore International Photography Festival, pp. 184 (2013): 13, 90-91, 170. (exh. cat.)
2010
Burkhard Leismann and Martina Padberg (eds.), Intimacy! Baden in Der Kunst (Bathing in Art), Kunstmuseum Ahlen, Alhen, Germany, pp. 352 (2010): 195. (exh. cat.)
2009
Wim Melis (ed.), The Pursuit of Happiness, Aurora Borealis Foundation-Noorderlict: Netherlands, pp. 104 (2009): 44, 45. (exh. cat.)
2008
Jan Åman and Carlmichael Von Hauswolf (eds.), Teleport Färgfabriken: We Did Everything Wrong, Stockholm: Färgfabriken, 2008. (exh. cat.)
Lisa Martin (ed.), Rethinking Landscape: Photography from the Collection of Allen G. Thomas, Jr., Taubman Museum of Art, pp. 36 (2008): Cover. (exh. cat.)
2006
Matt Carey-Williams (ed.), OUR GENERATION, ‘tina b. The Prague Contemporary Art Festival’, Prague (June 2006): p. 20, 150 ill. (exh. cat.)
2005
Michel Dewilde, Boost in the Shell: The Pursued. Brugge: Cultercentrum BRGGE (2005) (exh. cat.)
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY: ELECTRONIC MEDIA
2023
Janet Mercel, “From Ricky Martin to J Balvin: How Latino music stars became art champions”, Art Basel Miami Beach Magazine. December 2023.
Tommaso Berra, “Bodies in free fall in Kerry Skarbakka’s shots”, Collater.al. Jan. 2023.
2022
Aint-Bad, An Independent Publisher of Contemporary Art, Blog. June 6, 2022.
2020
Sue Taylor, “The person that could have been”, Oregon ArtsWatch, Portland, OR. Jan. 6, 2020.
2013
“Kerry Skarbakka’s Photographs Explore Fear of Falling With, ‘The Struggle to Right Oneself’”, Huffington Post, Jan. 11, 2013.
Christopher Jobson, “Capturing Dramatic Self-Portraits of Falling”, Slate. Jan. 23, 2013.
Jakob Schiller, “Falling Photos Force Us to Face Our Fundamental Fears”, Wired. Jan. 23, 2013.
“Artist Creates Epic Falls”, CBS News. Jan. 2013.
“En Chute Libre”, Slate (France), Jan. 31, 2013.
“The Accidental Art of Kerry Skarbakka”, Phaidon. Jan. 2013.
2009
Eddie Wrenn, “Did you Fall for it? The Photographic ‘Stuntman’ who asks viewers to take a leap of faith in his art”, Daily Mail, April 13, 2009.
2006
Hunter Drohojoska-Philp, “Prague Summer”, Artnet Magazine, June 2006.
2005
“Performance at Chicago Museum Enrages New Yorkers”, Artforum, June 17, 2005.
SELECTED VISITING ARTIST TALKS AND PANELS
2024
Artist Lecture, Robert Morris University, Pittsburgh, PA
Visiting Critic, Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR
2023
Artist Talk, Society for Photographic Education National Conference, Denver, CO
2022
Artist Talk, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL (virtual)
2021
Artist Talk, Monmouth University, Monmouth, NJ (virtual)
Artist Talk/Discussion, SUNY Albany, Albany, NY (virtual)
2019
Artist Talk, Portland Community College, Portland, OR. Moderated by John Farnum, PhD.
Artist Panel, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
Visiting Artist, California State University, Fullerton, CA
2018
Visiting Artist, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
Artist Talk, Society for Photographic Education-National Conference, Philadelphia, PA
Artist Panel, San Juaquin Delta College, Stockton, CA
Artist Talk, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA
2017
Visiting Artist, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
2015
Artist Talk, Society for Photographic Education-NW Regional, Portland Community College, OR
Visiting Artist/Lecture, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
Artist Talk, Prescott College Art Gallery, Prescott, AZ
2014
Invited Speaker and Panel, IdeaFest: Art on the Edge, Louisville, KY
2013
Visiting Artist/Lecture, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, UT
Artist Talk/Interview by E. Brady Robinson, SNAP! Orlando, Orlando, FL
2012
Artist Talk, The Art Academy of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
2011
Artist Panel, College Art Association, with Laura Poitras and Hasan Elahi, New York, NY
Artist Talk, Society for Photographic Education-SW Regional, Santa Fe, NM
Artist Talk/Interview by Michael Rooks, Hagedorn Foundation Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Artist Talk, Cleveland State University Art Gallery, Cleveland, OH
2010
Artist Talk, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH
Artist Talk, The Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Pittsburgh, PA
Artist Talk, Dorkbot-Pittsburgh Chapter, Pittsburgh, PA
Artist Talk and Video Installation Premiere, Irvine Contemporary, Washington, DC
2009
Visiting Artist/Lecture, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR
2008
Artist Talk, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY
Artist Talk, FOTOWEEK DC, Irvine Contemporary, Washington, DC
2005
Artist Talk, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Artist Talk, Robert Morris College, Chicago, IL
2003
Artist Panel, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL
2002
Artist Talk, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
RESIDENCIES
2020
Ucross Artist-in-Residence, Wyoming
2016
Jentel Artist-in-Residence, Wyoming
2006
Light Work Artist-In-Residence Program, Syracuse, New York
2005
Spalding House Residence, Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaii
2004
Spalding House Residence, Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaii
SELECTED COLLECTIONS: PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Duke Ellington School for the Arts, Washington, DC
Light Work, Syracuse, NY
Collection Idealista, Madrid, Spain
City of Seattle - 1% for the Arts, Seattle, WA
Private Collection - Ricky Martin (Actor/Singer)
Private Collection - Anne Wilson (Musician, Heart)