Tony Labat
{{short description|Cuban-American multimedia artist}}{{Infobox person
| name = Tony Labat
| birth_date = 1951
| birth_place = Havana, Cuba
| education = San Francisco Art Institute
| occupation = Multimedia artist, installation artist, professor, academic administrator
}}
Tony Labat (born 1951) is a Cuban-born American multimedia artist, installation artist, and professor. He has exhibited internationally, developing a body of work in performance,{{Cite web |date=2005 |title=Tony Labat: Left Jab |url=http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/event/tony-labat-left-jab |access-date=2017-03-31 |website=Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) |language=en}} video,{{Cite web |title=Tony Labat |url=https://www.eai.org/artists/tony-labat/titles |access-date=2017-03-31 |website=Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI)}} sculpture and installation.{{Cite book |last1=Anreus |first1=Alejandro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nyRLEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA432 |title=A Companion to Modern and Contemporary Latin American and Latina/o Art |last2=Greeley |first2=Robin Adèle |last3=Sullivan |first3=Megan A. |date=2021-10-26 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-47539-3 |pages=432 |language=en}} Labat's work has dealt with investigations of the body,{{Cite web|last=Baker|first=Kenneth|date=2005-10-08|title=Conceptual artists who pack a wallop|url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Conceptual-artists-who-pack-a-wallop-2565963.php|access-date=2020-06-27|website=SFGate}} popular culture,{{Cite web|title=Gladstone Gallery, New York|url=https://blog.re-title.com/features/2013/06/gladstone-gallery-new-york.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130901221850/http://blog.re-title.com/features/2013/06/gladstone-gallery-new-york.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=September 1, 2013|access-date=2020-06-27|website=re-title.com Features}} identity,{{Cite web |title=Tony Labat. Lost in the Translation. 1984 |url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works/120204 |access-date=2020-06-27 |website=The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) |language=en}} urban relations,{{Cite book|last=Lauzon|first=Claudette|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P5zCDgAAQBAJ&q=tony+labat+day+labor&pg=PA157|title=The Unmaking of Home in Contemporary Art|date=2017-04-24|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-2159-6|language=en}} politics,{{Cite web|title=Tony Labat: I WANT YOU|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/event/tony-labat-i-want-you/|access-date=2020-06-27|website=SFMOMA|language=en-US}} and the media.{{Cite web |title=Ñ (enn-yay), Tony Labat |url=https://www.eai.org/titles/n-enn-yay |access-date=2020-06-27 |website=Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI)}}
Early life and education
Labat was born in Havana, Cuba in 1951.{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8FdKAQAAIAAJ&q=Tony+Labat+born |title = Carnal pleasures: Desire, public space and contemporary art|last1 = Novakow|first1 = Anna|year = 1998}}{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6MfpAAAAMAAJ&q=Tony+Labat+born |title = Artists' Video: An International Guide|year = 1991| publisher=Cross River Press |isbn = 9781558593572}}{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LedPAAAAMAAJ&q=Tony+Labat+born |title = 2nd Newport Biennial: The Bay Area|isbn = 9780917493072|last1 = Ayres|first1 = Anne|year = 1986| publisher=Newport Harbor Art Museum }} He emigrated from Cuba to Miami, Florida in 1965, when he was fifteen years old.{{Cite book |last=Damian |first=Carol |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YuteAAAAMAAJ&q=Tony+Labat+1951 |title=Breaking Barriers: Selections from the Museum of Art's Permanent Contemporary Cuban Collection |date=1997 |publisher=Art Museum Fort Lauderdale |others=Art Museum Fort Lauderdale |language=en}}{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r9Y3AQAAIAAJ&q=Tony+Labat+cuba+fiteen | title=Art Papers Magazine| year=2006}} He received his BFA degree (1978) and his MFA degree (1980) from the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI).{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NTFQAQAAIAAJ&q=Tony+Labat+bfa+1978 | title=Bay Area Now Two| year=1999}}
Career
Since the early 1980s, Labat has been a participant in the California performance and video scene and has spend most of his career in San Francisco.{{Cite web |last=Hainley |first=Bruce |date=January 2006 |title=Tony Labat, New Langton Arts |url=https://www.artforum.com/print/reviews/200601/tony-labat-43967 |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=Artforum, Vol. 44, No. 5 |language=en-US}} Labat taught in the New Genres department at SFAI from 1985 until its closure in 2022, he also served as the MFA director.{{Cite web |last= |date=2020-08-31 |title=San Francisco Art Institute's Tower As Video Canvas |url=https://www.thesfnews.com/san-francisco-art-institutes-tower-as-video-canvas/65234 |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=San Francisco News |language=en-US}}
His artwork is included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York;{{Cite web |title=Tony Labat |url=https://www.moma.org/artists/34938 |website=MoMA}} Centre Pompidou, Paris;{{Cite web |title=Tony Labat |url=https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/personne/cojxqn |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=Centre Pompidou |language=en-EN}} and Oakland Museum of California.{{Cite web |title=Tony Labat |url=https://collections.museumca.org/?q=category/made/tony-labat |access-date=2023-09-12 |website=OCMA Collections}}
Exhibitions
In 2005, Labat had a survey exhibition of his work in conjunction with the publication of "Trust Me" at New Langton Arts. Other exhibitions include:
- “I Want You,” San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California
- "Tony Labat and Ignacio Lang," at Harris/Lieberman Gallery, New York City, New York
- "I Like To Watch," The Canal Chapter, New York City, New York
- "Xtreme Sparring," El Museo del Barrio, New York City, New York
- Gallery Paule Anglim,{{Cite web|url=http://anglimgilbertgallery.com/tony-labat/#ms-459|title=Tony Labat {{!}} Anglim Gilbert Gallery|website=anglimgilbertgallery.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-03-31}} San Francisco, California
- "Time and Transition in Contemporary Cuban Art," Mestna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- "Mata Crush," Havana Bienal, Havana, Cuba;{{Cite web|url=http://bombmagazine.org/article/6729/vale-la-pena-the-11th-havana-biennial|title=BOMB Magazine — Vale La Pena: The 11th Havana Biennial by Liz Munsell|website=bombmagazine.org|language=en|access-date=2017-03-31}}
- "Trading Places," Gallery Hit, Bratislava, Slovakia, Czech Republic
- "Mapping the Outside: (Fat Chance Bruce Nauman)," Seville Biennial, Seville, Spain
- "Mayami: Between Cut and Action," Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
- "Moving Target," Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki
- "Random Topography," NoD Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
- "Performance Anxiety," UC Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California
- "Tony Labat: Four Installations," Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, California{{Cite web|url=http://www.moca.org/exhibition/tony-labat-four-installations|title=Tony Labat: Four Installations|website=The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles|access-date=2017-03-31}}
References
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Category:20th-century American male artists
Category:21st-century American male artists
Category:Artists from San Francisco
Category:American conceptual artists
Category:American performance artists
Category:American video artists
Category:20th-century Cuban artists
Category:San Francisco Art Institute alumni
Category:San Francisco Art Institute faculty