Cosmo Whyte

{{Infobox person

| name = Cosmo Whyte

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1982}}

| birth_place = Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica

| education = Bennington College (BFA),
Maryland Institute College of Art,
University of Michigan (MFA)

| occupation = Visual artist, educator

| known_for = Sculpture, installation art, drawing, painting

| awards = Tiffany Foundation Award (2019)

| website = {{URL|https://www.cosmowhyte.com/}}

}}

Cosmo Whyte (born 1982) is a Jamaican-born American visual artist and educator. His is known for work in sculpture, drawing, painting, and installation art, which often address his Caribbean heritage and topics such as racism, colonialism, migration, and police brutality.{{Cite web |last=Weber |first=Julia |date=2024-07-29 |title=Transdisciplinary artist Cosmo Whyte to continue CVA lecture series |url=https://chqdaily.com/2024/07/transdisciplinary-artist-cosmo-whyte-to-continue-cva-lecture-series/ |access-date=2024-11-10 |website=The Chautauquan Daily |language=en-US}} Whyte lives in Los Angeles, California, and teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).{{Cite news |last=White |first=Katie |date=July 31, 2023 |title=In His Downtown L.A. Studio, Artist Cosmo Whyte Works Nights Surrounded by Books, Beads, and Two Taxidermied Roosters |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/cosmo-whyte-studio-visit-2343838 |work=Artnet News}}{{Cite web |last=Jackson |first=Leigh-Ann |date=2023-07-28 |title=In artist Cosmo Whyte's hands, metal beaded curtains become sites of 'archival explorations' |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2023-07-28/cosmo-whyte-artist-los-angeles-anat-ebgi-fountain-gallery |access-date=2024-11-10 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US |issn=2165-1736}}

Early life and education

Cosmo Whyte was born in 1982, in Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica.{{Cite news |last=Torija Nieto |first=Natalia |date=2023 |title=Beaded Curtains, Family Legacies, And The Politics Of Image–Making |url=https://www.pinupmagazine.org/articles/cosmo-whyte-interview |work=Pin-Up}} He started drawing at a young age.{{Cite news |last=Louis |first=Pierre-Antoine |date=September 9, 2023 |title=How These Artists Learn From Each Other |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/09/us/nari-ward-cosmo-whyte.html |work=The New York Times |issn=1553-8095}} In 2001, he moved to the United States.{{Cite news |date=May 21, 2020 |title=Atlanta artist Cosmo Whyte adds Tiffany Foundation grant to his list of honors |url=https://www.artsatl.org/atlanta-artist-cosmo-whyte-adds-tiffany-foundation-grant-to-his-list-of-honors/ |work=Arts ATL}}

Whyte received a BFA degree in 2001 from Bennington College in Vermont; followed by study at a postbaccalaureate program at Maryland Institute College of Art; and a MFA degree in 2015 from the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design at University of Michigan.

Career

Whyte teaches in the School of the Arts and Architecture at the University of California, Los Angeles, since September 2022.{{Cite web |title=Cosmo Whyte joins the faculty of UCLA’s Department of Art |url=https://www.arts.ucla.edu/single/cosmo-whyte-joins-the-faculty-of-uclas-department-of-art/ |access-date= |website=UCLA Arts: School of the Arts and Architecture |language=en}} He previously taught at Florida State University, and Morehouse College.{{Cite news |last=Feaster |first=Felicia |date=October 31, 2017 |title=Art review: Trauma of migration marks Cosmo Whyte’s solo show |url=https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/arts--theater/art-review-trauma-migration-marks-cosmo-whyte-solo-show/MqVyOqRIvE9o51kOpXnEgP/ |access-date=2024-11-10 |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |language=English |issn=1539-7459}}

His solo exhibitions have included The Sea Urchin Can't Swim: Tales from the Edge of a World (2024) at Johnson Lowe Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia;{{Cite web |last=Walljasper |first=Myrydd Wells |date=2024-09-26 |title=The freedom that comes with creating art |url=https://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/the-freedom-that-comes-with-creating-art/ |access-date=2024-11-10 |website=Atlanta Magazine |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Genis |first=Leia |date=2024-09-29 |title=You’re Sleeping on Atlanta’s Art Scene |url=https://hyperallergic.com/953752/youre-sleeping-on-atlanta-georgia-art-scene/ |access-date=2024-11-10 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}} Hush Now, Don't Explain (2023) at Anat Ebgi Gallery in Los Angeles, California; and Beneath Its Tongue, The Fish Rolls The Hook To Sharpen Its Cadence (2019–2020) at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia in Atlanta, Georgia.{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=TK |date=December 3, 2019 |title=Review: In MOCA GA show, Cosmo Whyte displays breadth, and hints at what’s nex |url=https://www.artsatl.org/review-in-moca-ga-show-cosmo-whyte-displays-breadth-and-hints-at-whats-next/ |work=Arts ATL}}

He is s recipient of The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award (2019), and the Art Matters Award (2019) from the Art Matters Foundation.{{Cite web |last=Sutton |first=Benjamin |date=2020-05-12 |title=Winners of Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Artist Grants Include Deana Lawson and Paul Mpagi Sepuya |url=https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-twenty-artists-received-louis-comfort-tiffany-foundation-grants-including-tschabalala-paul-mpagi-sepuya |access-date=2024-11-10 |website=Artsy |language=en}}

Whyte's artwork is in museum collections, including at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia; the Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia in Atlanta, Georgia; the National Gallery of Jamaica in Kingston, Jamaica; and the Pérez Art Museum Miami in Miami, Florida.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=August 2024 |title=Cosmo Whyte: The Mother’s Tongue, Pressed to the Grinding Stone |url=https://www.artsclubchicago.org/exhibit/cosmo-whyte-the-mothers-tongue-pressed-to-the-grinding-stone/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240818102429/https://www.artsclubchicago.org/exhibit/cosmo-whyte-the-mothers-tongue-pressed-to-the-grinding-stone/ |archive-date=August 18, 2024 |access-date= |website=The Arts Club of Chicago |language=en-US}}

Exhibitions

= Solo exhibitions =

2019–2020, Beneath Its Tongue, The Fish Rolls The Hook To Sharpen Its Cadence, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
2023, Hush Now, Don't Explain, Anat Ebgi Gallery, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
2024, The Sea Urchin Can't Swim: Tales from the Edge of a World, Johnson Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.

= Group exhibitions =

2012, Outward Reach: 9 Jamaican Photography and New Media Artists, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, D.C., U.S.{{Cite web |last=Jacobson |first=Louis |date=2012-08-03 |title=Reviewed: “Outward Reach” at Art Museum of the Americas |url=https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/417243/reviewed-outward-reach-at-art-museum-of-the-americas/ |access-date=2024-11-10 |website=Washington City Paper |language=en-US}}
2017, Jamaica National Biennial, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica{{Cite web |last=Gómez |first=Edward M. |date=2017-03-11 |title=Jamaica Report: A Biennial, Bragging Rights — and the World’s Largest Drum? |url=https://hyperallergic.com/364501/a-biennial-bragging-rights-and-the-worlds-largest-drum-2017-jamaica-biennial/ |access-date=2024-11-10 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}}
2019, Get Up, Stand Up Now, Somerset House, London, England{{Cite web |last=Valentine |first=Victoria L. |date=2019-06-13 |title=On View: ‘Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers’ at Somerset House, London |url=https://www.culturetype.com/2019/06/13/on-view-get-up-stand-up-now-generations-of-black-creative-pioneers-at-somerset-house-london/ |access-date=2025-05-25 |website=Culture Type |language=en-US}}
2020, 13th Havana Biennial, Matanzas, Cuba{{Cite news |last=Damian |first=Carol |date=June 2019 |title=Ríos Intermitentes (Intermittent Rivers) |url=https://www.artnexus.com/en/magazines/article-magazine-artnexus/6254cb2950d85fdb65d79b3d/113/rios-intermitentes-intermittent-rivers |work=Art Nexus |issue=113}}
2022, This Tender Fragile Thing, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York City, New York{{Cite web |last= |date=2022-02-03 |title=Asymptote Journal: Cosmo Whyte, Coming into Being and Disappearing |url=https://art.fsu.edu/asymptote-journal-cosmo-whyte-coming-into-being-and-disappearing/ |access-date=2024-11-10 |website=FSU |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Heisler |first=Eva |date=February 3, 2022 |title=Cosmo Whyte, Coming into Being and Disappearing |url=https://www.asymptotejournal.com/visual/coming-into-being-and-disappearing-cosmo-whyte/ |access-date=2024-11-10 |website=Asymptote Journal |language=en}}
2025, Black and Gold: Stories Untold, For-Site Foundation, Fort Point National Historic Site, San Francisco, California; artists included are Whyte, Akea Brionne, Demetri Broxton, Adrian L. Burrell, Adam Davis, Cheryl Derricotte, Carla Edwards, Mildred Howard, Isaac Julien, Tiff Massey, Umar Rashid, Trina Michelle Robinson, Alison Saar, Yinka Shonibare, Bryan Keith Thomas, and Hank Willis Thomas{{Cite web |date=2025-02-26 |title=Black Gold: Stories Untold |url=https://www.parksconservancy.org/our-work/black-gold-stories-untold |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250303005009/https://www.parksconservancy.org/our-work/black-gold-stories-untold |archive-date=March 3, 2025 |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy |language=en}}