Nancy BUCHANAN was in the first MFA class at the University of California, Irvine. She joined Chris Burden, Barbara Smith and others to form F Space Gallery, where she did her first performance, Hair Transplant. Performance led to video, and she began using open-reel equipment in 1974, adjusting her performances to use the video monitor as a stage for actions and images. She explores the spaces between political essay, poetry, and performance, calling attention to the easily ignored, marginalized ethical issues. Buchanan's strategy of black humor and political critique is deeply informed by her work as a social activist and educator: a ready-made stage for actions and images oppositional to mainstream media.
Since 1988, she has collaborated with craftswoman Carolyn Potter to create miniature houses (1 inch=1 foot) containing video playing on 2-inch monitors. One of these, Use Value, featured a small garage in the midst of a sale. As viewers peered into the space, they saw themselves on a tiny black and white television (a live-feed camera was concealed behind the window of the washing machine). A second small (color) television played interviews collected at numerous garage sales. Interested in alternatives to market capitalism, Buchanan's example of citizen exchange was mirrored outside her sculpture, in the gallery space. Visitors were invited to bring useful items requested by community organizations such as homeless shelters. These contributions were arranged by the artist during the first weeks of the exhibition, and were taken by charities in the final week. In addition to video and performance, she has produced drawing and works on paper, conceptual photo-text work, and most recently, digital photo collage.
Buchanan has also curated exhibitions, such as The Long Week-end (2007), a site-specific collection of 12 artists' videos, performances and installations filling the windows of a former furniture store each evening from Friday to Sunday. She has published critical and creative texts, and was a founding member of several artist collectives, including Grandview Gallery at The Los Angeles Woman's Building; Double X, a feminist art collective, and CLOSE radio. From 1988-1998, Buchanan assisted Michael Zinzun, activist in the Black community, in producing his monthly cable television program, Message to the Grass Roots.
Buchanan has received four National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and in 1996 she was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship to complete Developing: The Idea of Home, an interactive CD-ROM. She was a full-time faculty member in the School of Film/Video at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) from 1988-2012. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris); MoMA (NY); Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago) and MoCA (Los Angeles).
“My video contribution for RE-ACTION replaces Guibert's photograph of Toulouse Lautrec with a portrait of Rosa Bonheur by George-Achille Fould (1865-1951), another woman artist. Along with running a highly successful studio, Bonheur kept many of her beloved animal subjects, including lions, on the grounds of her estate. Her independence and refusal to bow to convention makes Bonheur a fitting model for today's women artists.”
Nancy Buchanan lives and works in Los Angeles (USA).
Since 1988, she has collaborated with craftswoman Carolyn Potter to create miniature houses (1 inch=1 foot) containing video playing on 2-inch monitors. One of these, Use Value, featured a small garage in the midst of a sale. As viewers peered into the space, they saw themselves on a tiny black and white television (a live-feed camera was concealed behind the window of the washing machine). A second small (color) television played interviews collected at numerous garage sales. Interested in alternatives to market capitalism, Buchanan's example of citizen exchange was mirrored outside her sculpture, in the gallery space. Visitors were invited to bring useful items requested by community organizations such as homeless shelters. These contributions were arranged by the artist during the first weeks of the exhibition, and were taken by charities in the final week. In addition to video and performance, she has produced drawing and works on paper, conceptual photo-text work, and most recently, digital photo collage.
Buchanan has also curated exhibitions, such as The Long Week-end (2007), a site-specific collection of 12 artists' videos, performances and installations filling the windows of a former furniture store each evening from Friday to Sunday. She has published critical and creative texts, and was a founding member of several artist collectives, including Grandview Gallery at The Los Angeles Woman's Building; Double X, a feminist art collective, and CLOSE radio. From 1988-1998, Buchanan assisted Michael Zinzun, activist in the Black community, in producing his monthly cable television program, Message to the Grass Roots.
Buchanan has received four National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and in 1996 she was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship to complete Developing: The Idea of Home, an interactive CD-ROM. She was a full-time faculty member in the School of Film/Video at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) from 1988-2012. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris); MoMA (NY); Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago) and MoCA (Los Angeles).
“My video contribution for RE-ACTION replaces Guibert's photograph of Toulouse Lautrec with a portrait of Rosa Bonheur by George-Achille Fould (1865-1951), another woman artist. Along with running a highly successful studio, Bonheur kept many of her beloved animal subjects, including lions, on the grounds of her estate. Her independence and refusal to bow to convention makes Bonheur a fitting model for today's women artists.”
Nancy Buchanan lives and works in Los Angeles (USA).