Anna Kunz makes works on paper, paintings, sculptures, installations, and projects that seep out of the rectangle, often using painted and dyed fabrics that function like nets to capture and manipulate light and color. Her experiential works are often combined with objects or surfaces that add complexity and invite viewers to structure the space in time by passing through them. Kunz’s work has been included in numerous national and international collections. She has had exhibitions in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, New York, Madrid, and Poland.
She has worked collaboratively with architects, dancers, and musicians to create décor for theatrical and dance productions, namely for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and The Seldoms Dance Co. Other collaborators include those with choreographer Benji Ninja and Family Voguers, and the Performance Collective, “Industry of the Ordinary” for a retrospective at the Chicago Cultural Center. A commissioned, suspended work hangs in a new building at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC, designed by Helmut Jahn, alongside work by Alice Aycock and Chris Wood. Other large-scale commissioned work includes a 7 piece painting as part of the William P Clements Junior collection at South West Texas University Medical Center’s collection in the new Radiology Oncology wing. Future collaborations will feature Kunz’ paintings as textiles for Designer Nina Arias, NYC.
Kunz has served as a curatorial advisor and creative partner for several private organizations and artists. In 2010, she curated a large, international, outdoor exhibition called “Nature Unframed” for the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL. She has operated a “pure platform,” nomadic, exhibition space called “Kunz, Vis Projects,” periodically with artist Niels Vis of Amsterdam and Rosalinda Gonzalez of New York from her garage in Chicago. The platform invited artists of all career levels to present fresh work alongside each other, suggesting a disruption of career categorization and invited new perspectives. She is a founding member of the Chicago chapter of “Tiger Strikes Asteroid Gallery” (TSA) and served as co-director with Michelle Wasson from 2016-2018.
Anna Kunz has been honored with nominations from 3Arts, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Emerging Artist award from the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Artadia Chicago, and Rema Hort-Mann Foundation's Individual Artists Grant, and The Joan Mitchell Foundation in 2020. Recently, she was nominated by Anonymous Was a Woman.
Kunz participated as an artist-in-residence in the Marie Walsh Sharpe Studio Program, the Edward Albee Foundation, and the Adele and Sam Golden Foundation in New York. She is represented by Alexander Berggruen, NYC, Berggruen, San Francisco, McCormick Gallery in Chicago, Galleri Urbane, Dallas, and is associated with Library Street Collective, Detroit. Kunz is currently an artist-in-residence at the Monira Foundation in Mana Contemporary, Jersey City from March 2024 to 2025. Anna lives and works in NYC and Chicago.
Exhibition Walkthrough
Singing in Unison curated by Phong H Bui Naked Light at Galleri Urbaine
Links
Cosmic Geometries: The Prairie’s Edge - Carrie Secrist Gallery Color as the Shape of Thought: A Review of ROSY Art 50 2023: Chicago Artists’ Artists With Rays | Neil Andrew | Alexander Berggruen Brooklyn Rail Interview with David Rhodes Sixty Inches from Center for Color Cast Chicago Tribune for Color Cast Chicago Artist Writers
Smart Museum
Chicago Gallery News
Summer in DUMBO: A Visit to the Sharpe Foundation
The Seldoms
Inside/Within
Skowhegan
White Box NY
LVL3
Reema Hort Mann Foundation
TSA Brooklyn
Review IN/SITU / EXPO Projects SFAQ
FRESH VUE: Anna Kunz EXPO Projects
Interview by Kate Pollasch
Essay by James Yood
Essay by Anne Harris
Essay by Monica Westin
Essay by Sabina Ott for Yellow Pinto Essay by Charlotte Ickes for Color Cast Essay by Jonathan Miller for The Blue Magnitude Essay by Deborah Shapiro for Rosy