Mapping A History of the Art World

Artist Loren Munk discusses his map paintings as a form of conceptual painting, social history, and institutional critique. Situating the work in relation to Neo-Expressionism, the Transavanguardia, and the 1980s art-market boom, he will examine the networks connecting artists, galleries, critics, institutions, and movements. Munk will also consider how his James Kalm video archive extends this mapping project, documenting New York’s changing exhibition landscape while preserving a lived record of its artistic communities.

Loren Munk is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work examines the art world as a community and system. Through map-based oil paintings, he traces neighborhoods, artistic movements, philosophical ideas, and the relationships among artists, galleries, critics, and institutions. Under the pseudonym James Kalm, he has also produced nearly 1,600 YouTube programs documenting exhibitions and cultural life in New York City. His work has been widely reproduced and included in university curricula. Born in Salt Lake City in 1951, he lives and works in Brooklyn.