The artist

Born in 1965 in the USA, Will Cotton lives and works in New York. The artist belongs to the generation of American painters who have taken the language of figurative style painting in a totally new direction. He works in his studio building giant confectionary-based assemblages, such as gingerbread houses, sweets, cake mountains and chocolate seas, opening the door to the creation of a new reality. Will Cotton sees his works as utopias that explore the notions of temptation and excess.

Exhibitions

Between Instinct and Reason

May 7 - June 28, 2025
New York
Cosmography

June 27 - August 1, 2024
New York
Trigger

May 24 - July 22, 2023
Paris - Beaubourg
The Taming of the Cowboy

May 28 – July 31, 2020
Brussels
Will Cotton

April 29 - June 19, 2010
Paris - Impasse Beaubourg
Oeuvres récentes

September 13 - October 18, 2003
Paris - Beaubourg

Biography

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Birth	Born in 1965 in Melrose, Massachusetts, USA
Residence	Lives and works in New York City, USA
Education	1985 Beaux-Arts de Rouen, France 1987 B.F.A., Cooper Union, New York, USA 1988 New York Academy of Art, New York, USA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)

2025	Between instinct and reason, TEMPLON New York, USA Art in Focus, Rockefeller Center, New York, USA
2023	Trigger, Templon, Paris, France
2022	Will Cotton: MARFA, Brite Force, Brite House, Marfa, TX, USA The Journal Gallery, New York, USA
2021	The Chastened Cowboy, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO, USA
2020	The Taming of the Cowboy, Galerie Templon, Brussels, Belgium
2018	Ringling College of Art & Design, Sarasota, FL, USA
2017	Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY, USA The Influx Series: Will Cotton, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL, USA

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2015	Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO, USA Will Cotton: Vistas of Candyland, Cornell University College of Architecture, Art and Planning, Ithaca, New York, USA
2014	Ronchini Gallery, London, UK
2013	Pace Prints, New York, USA
2012	Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA Cockaigne, Performance as part of WERK! Armitage Gone Variety Show, Abrons Arts Center, New York, USA
2011	Cockaigne, Performance at Prince George Ballroom as part of Performa 11, New York, USA Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2010	Will Cotton: New Works on Paper, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO, USA Will Cotton: Monoprints, Pace Prints, New York, USA Galerie Templon, Paris, France
2009	Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA 2008 Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado, USA 2007 Drawings, Glenn Horowitz Gallery, East Hampton, New York, USA 2005 New Paintings and Works on Paper, Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, USA 2004 The big eat: from pop til the present, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA 2003 Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston, USA Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France 2002 Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA 2001 Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA Jablonka Galerie, Cologne, Germany 2000 Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA 1999 Devil's fudge falls, I-20 Gallery, New York, USA 1998 Silverstein Gallery, New York, USA 1996 Silverstein Gallery, New York, USA 1995 Distentions, Silverstein Gallery, New York, USA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)

2024	STUDIOLO: A CABINER PAINTING EXHIBITION, Adler Beatty, New York, USA
	R´ESONANCE, Château de La Napoule, Mandelieu-la-Napoule, France
	COSMOGRAPHY, Galerie Templon, New York, USA
2023	Friends & Lovers, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA Animaux fantastiques, Louvre-Lens, Lens, France
2022	American Masters, galerie gmurzynska, Zurich, Switzerland
2021	This is America, Kunstraum Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany and I will wear you in my heart of heart, FLAG Foundation, New York, USA La Dame à la Licorne. Médiévale et si contemporaine, Musée Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France Prétexte – du cheval à l’œuvre, Haras national du Pin, Le Pin-au-Haras, France
2020	Really, Miles McEnergy Gallery, New York, USA Artist for New York, Hauser & Wirth, New York, USA Comfort, Friedman Benda, New York, USA

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2019	Like Sugar, Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA Drawn Together Again, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA Paintings, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA
2018	Castles in the Sky: Fantasy Architecture in Contemporary Art, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY, USA Paintings, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA Paper/Print: American Hand Papermaking, 1960s TO TODAY, International Print Center New York, New York, USA Peers & Influences, The Bo Bartlett Center, Columbus, GA, USA
2017	Really?, Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA About face, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, NY, USA Cake Hole, Mrs. Gallery, Maspeth, NY, USA
2016	Tom Friedman (+the Birthday Show), 1969 Gallery, New York, USA Summer School, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA
2015	Eye pop: the celebrity gaze, The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., USA River crossings: contemporary art comes home, Olana State Historic Site, Hudson, NY, USA The triumph of Love: Beth Rudin Dewoody Collects, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, USA
2014	2014 Disturbing innocence, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA Homeland [in]security: Vanishing Dreams, Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, New York, USA Close-up: Contemporary Portraiture, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, NY, USA On the blue shore of silence, Tracy Williams, Ltd., New York, USA Look at me: Portraiture from Manet to the Present, Leila Heller Gallery, New York, USA Last night, Salomon Contemporary, New York, USA
2013	Come like shadows: Palimpsests, Traces, Specters of the Silver Screen, Nightlife, Veils, The Absent Present, Zurcher Studio, New York, USA Fruits of captiva, Robert Rauschenberg Project Space, New York, USA
2012	American dreamers, Strozzina Centre For Contemporary Culture, Florence, Italy
2011	Tous cannibales, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France, USA
2010	Divine comedy, Sotheby’s, New York, USA Accessories to an artwork, Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, East Hampton, NY, USA
2009	A tribute to Ron Warren, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA Transitions. Painting at the (other) end of art, 24 mai - 31 octobre, Maramotti collection of contemporary art, Reggio Emilia, Italy Aspects of Pop-Art, Galerie Gmurzynska, Zurich, Switzerland I Want Candy: The Sweet Stuff in American Art (exposition mobile), 26 juin - 6 septembre, Fresno Metropolitan Museum, Fresno, California, USA Chelsea visits Havanna, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, La Havane, Cuba Drawings by Will Cotton, Atlantic Center's Pabst Visitor center and Gallery, New Smyrna, Florida, USA Talk dirty to me, Larissa Goldstone Gallery, New York, USA
2008	2nd Biennale of Canary Islands, Canary Islands, Spain Wall Rockets: Contemporary Artists and Ed Ruscha, The flag Art Fondation, New York, USA In Monet’s Garden: The Lure of Giverny, Musée Marmottan, Giverny, France 2007 In Monet’s Garden: The Lure of Giverny, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, USA Abbondanza, Salvatore Ferragamo Gallery, New York, USA Sex & Sensuality, Salomon Contemporary, East Hampton, NY, USA A House is not a Home, Caren Golden Fine Art, New York, USA I Want Candy: The Sweet Stuff in American Art, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York, USA Horizon, EFA Gallery, New York, USA Timer .01: Intimità/Intimacy, Triennale Bovisa, Milan, Italy 2006 Why the Nude? Contemporary Approaches, The Art Students League of New York, USA The Food Show: The Hungry Eye, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, USA 2005 Hors d’oeuvre : ordre et désordres de la nourriture, CAPC - Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux, France 2004 Summer 2004, Lucas Schoormans Gallery, New York, NY, USA La Grande Bouffe - The Big Eat in Art, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany 2003 Sweet tooth, Copia, The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts, Napa, CA, USA Giverny, Salon 94, New York, USA 2002 The Contemporary art project, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA 2000 The darker side of playland: childhood imagery from the Logan Collection, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, USA Emotional rescue: the contemporary art project coalition, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, Washington, USA 1999 Will Cotton and Stuart Elster, Tate, New York, USA A Room with a view, Sixth @ Prince Fine Art, New York, USA

News

Will Cotton
ART IN FOCUS – ROCKEFELLER CENTER

Solo Show

Rockefeller Center, New York
From March 3 to May 31, 2025

Will Cotton brings his imaginative world to life at Rockefeller Center in New York with a public art exhibition featuring larger-than-life murals and captivating sculptures until May 31, 2025.

Will Cotton
RESONANCE

Group show

Château de La Napoule, France
From August 10 to September 27, 2024

On the occasion of the group show Resonance, Will Cotton is exhibiting his work The Kiss from August 10, 2024 at the Château de La Napoule in France. The exhibition brings together 27 artists, all former residents, from all over the world.

Will Cotton
GROUP SHOW – FRIENDS & LOVERS

The FLAG Art Foundation, New York
October 6 2023 - January 20 2024

On the occasion of the group exhibition Friends & Lovers, Will Cotton is exhibiting his work at the Flag Art Foundation in New York. The exhibition focuses on relationships between artists and their subjects and explores the infinite ways, both past and present, we are influenced by our inner circles.

Will Cotton
ANIMAUX FANTASTIQUES

Group show

Musée du Louvre Lens, France
From September 27, 2023 to February 2, 2024.

On the occasion of the group show Animaux Fantastiques at Musée du Louvre Lens, Will Cotton will exhibit his work Roping from September 27, 2023.

Will Cotton
LA DAME à LA LICORNE MéDIéVALE ET SI CONTEMPORAINE – GROUP SHOW

Musée des Abattoirs
76 All. Charles de Fitte, Toulouse
From October 30, 2021 to January 16, 2022

In Roping, 2019-2020, Cotton switches treats for a surprising encounter between a triumphant cowboy and his fantastic steed which is none other than a pink unicorn. The mythical animal comes here to challenge the norms of the conquest of territories by men. The latter loses its virility in a wonderful world made of softness in which seems to dive a desacralized cowboy who is not without evoking a Queer update of that created in 1989 by the artist Richard Prince.

Videos

Will Cotton

Will Cotton

The artist

Exhibitions

Between Instinct and Reason

Cosmography

Trigger

The Taming of the Cowboy

Will Cotton

Oeuvres récentes