Biography

Born in 1971 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Lives and works in New York

Anthony Goicolea (USA, 1971) is a first-generation Cuban American artist. He grew up in the Deep South of the United States of America, in the midst of the Cuban refugee crises, coupled with the advent of the AIDS crises, and the rise of the religious right. Goicolea was socially stigmatised for being Cuban, gay, and Catholic. These circumstances brought about a heightened awareness of social constructs, and the changing nature of identity in politics – a theme that continually influences his work. Goicolea explores themes ranging from personal history and identity, cultural tradition and heritage, to alienation and displacement.

His diverse oeuvre encompasses digitally manipulated self-portraits, landscapes, and narrative tableaux executed in a variety of media, including black-and-white and color photography, sculpture and video installations, and multi-layered drawings on Mylar. Best known for his powerful, and often unsettling, staged photographic and video works, Goicolea made his artistic debut in the late 1990s with a series of provocative multiple self-portrait images. These early works featured groups of young boys on the threshold of adolescence, acting out childhood fantasies and bizarre rituals of revelry and social taboo in highly staged domestic or institutional settings or dense, fairy-tale forests. Revealing a playful self-consciousness, they often consisted of complex composites of the artist himself, in all manner of poses and guises. Soon thereafter, Goicolea garnered international attention with his ambiguous, yet strangely compelling, landscapes, ranging from dream-like woodland environments to vast, unforgiving urban and industrial wastelands. The artist has created several series of digitally composited, and heretofore uncharted, topographies, often populated by bands of masked and uniformed figures.

In recent series, many of the images are devoid of humans, although the landscape reflects an anonymous and increasingly tenuous human presence. In these works, primitive lean-tos and crudely constructed shanties coexist in an uneasy union with the technological vestiges of an industrialized society. Suggesting a world on the brink of obsolescence, these chilling images further cement the pervasive undercurrent of human alienation—from one another as well as the natural environment—that can be traced throughout the artist’s work.

Anthony Goicolea has exhibited widely, notably at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois; the International Center of Photography, New York and Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid. Goicolea’s art is held in many public collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; The Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York, NY; The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY; Yale University Art Collection, Photography, CT; the Museum of Contemporary Art of Castile and Leon, Spain;  21c Museum, Louisville, KY, the Akzo Nobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam, and Cobra to Contemporary/The Brown Family Collection, among others.

CV

Education

  • 1994 – 1996 Sculpture and Photography, Pratt Institute of Art, M. F. A
  • 1992 – 1994 Drawing and Painting, University of Georgia, B. F. A.
  • 1989 – 1992 Art History and Romance Languages, University of Georgia, B. A.
  • 1989 La Universidad de Madrid

Awards & Nominations

  • 2006 The Cintas Fellowship
  • 2005 The BMW Photo Paris Award
  • 1998 The Bronx Museum, ‘Artist In The Market Place’ program
  • 1997 The Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant

Solo Exhibitions

  • 2019 LOST AND FOUND: Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver BC, Canada
    POSE: Montserrat College of Art Galleries, Beverly, MA, USA
  • 2018 The New York State LGBT Memorial in Hudson River Park: An Interactive Bronze and Glass Permanent Memorial Installation to commemorate the fight for equality in the LGBT Community and honor victims of hate and intolerance located on site at Hudson River Park in Greenwich Village, NYC, USA
    FIGURE/GROUND: List Gallery: Swarthmore College of Art, Swarthmore, PN, USA
  • 2017 ANONYMOUS: Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, NL
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  • 2016 SIMULACRUM: Galeria Senda, Barcelona, Spain
    SHADOW PROJECTIONS: Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
    STATIONARY: University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Hamilton Hall Gallery and Arronson Gallery, PA, USA
  • 2015 HERE and ELSEWHERE: Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 2014 Middle Ending: Galerie Crone, Berlin, Germany
    NSEW: Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
    WIDOW’S SPEAK: Luis Adelantado, DF, MExico
  • 2013 PERMANENT MARKER: Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    WANDERING WILD: La Galeria Particulier, Paris, France
  • 2012 DOMESTICATED: Galeria Senda, Barcelona, Spain
  • 2011 Pathetic Fallacy: An Exhibition of New Drawing and Photographs by Anthony Goicolea, Postmasters Gallery, New York City, NY
    ALTER EGO:
    A Decade of Work by Anthony Goicolea;
    NC Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, USA
    Telfair Museum, Savannah, GA, USA
    21c Museum, Louisville, KY
  • 2010 HOME; Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam, NL
    DECEMBERMAY; Galerie SCheibler Mitte, Berlin
    RELATED; Houston Center for Photography, TX
  • 2009 Anthony Goicolea, MCA, Denver Museum of Contemporary Art
    THE LAST MAN STANDING; a retrospective of photography and video works
    Fireplace Project, East Hampton, NY
    ONCE REMOVED; Postmasters Gallery, NY
  • 2008 RELATED I; Aurel Scheibler, Berlin, Germany
    RELATED II; Haunch of Venison, London, UK
    RELATED III; Sandroni Ray, Los Angeles, CA, USA
    ALMOST SAFE: Monte Clark Gallery, Toronto
    ALMOST SAFE; Photographs, Drawings, and Video, Postmasters, NY
    THE SEPTEMBERISTS: Photographs by Anthony Goicolea; Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea
    THE SEPTEMBERISTS: New Drawing, Photographs, and Video by Anthony Goicolea, Monte Clark Gallery, Toronto
    Anthony Goicolea, Photographs, Aurel Scheibler, Berlin, Germany
    THE SEPTEMBERISTS, Aurel Scheibler, Berlin, Germany
    ACTOS COMPULSIVOS, MAPR, San Juan, Puerto Rico
    DRAWINGS: Sandroni Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • 2005 Anthony Goicolea, Photographs, Drawing and Video: The Arizona State University Museum of Art, Tempe, AZ, USA
    SHELTERED LIFE, New Drawings, Photographs and Video Instillation, Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY
    OUTSIDERS, Photographs and Video, Cheekwood Musuem of Art: the Contemporary Temporary Series, Nashville, TN, USA
    ESTACIONES, Galeria Luis Adelantado, Valencia, Spain
    Anthony Goicolia, Galeria Adelantado Miami, Miami, FL, USA
  • 2004 SHELTERED, New Drawings, Photographs and Video Installation, Galerie Aurel Scheibler, Cologne, Germany
    RECENT WORKS, New Photographs, Angstrom Gallery, Dallas, TX, USA
    KIDNAP; New Drawings, Photographs and Video Installation, Sandroni-Rey Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
    KIDNAP; New Drawings, Photographs and Video Installation, Torch Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    TEA PARTY, New Video Installation, Madison Avenue Calvin Klein Space, New York, NY
    Anthony Goicolea, New Videos, Spazio-(H), Milan, Italy
    Boys Will Be Boys, The John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, USA
    Galerie Aurel Scheibler, Cologne, Germany
    Sandroni-Rey Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
  • 2003 Galerie Aurel Scheibler, Cologne, Germany
    Photos & Films, The GREEN BARN, Sagaponack, NY, USA
    Gow Langsford, Sydney, Australia
    Gow Langsford, Auckland, Australia
    Cotthem Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
    Cotthem Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
    Videos, Gallery 845/LAAA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
    Casa De America, Madrid, Spain
    Contemporary Center of Photography, Melbourne, Australia
    The Sargeant Gallery, Wanganui, New Zealand
  • 2002 Land, RARE Gallery, New York, NY
    Water, Sandroni Rey, Los Angeles, CA, USA
    Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ, USA
    Art Space, Auckland, New Zealand
    Galerie Aurel Scheibler, Cologne, Germany
    The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, USA
    Torch Gallery, Amsterdan, Netherlands
  • 2001 DETENTION; RARE Gallery, New York, NY
    Angstrom Gallery, Dallas, TX, USA
    The Corcoran College of Art and Design, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
    MCMAGMA, Milan, Italy
  • 2000 SOLO, Vedanta, Chicago, IL, USA
    Fabien Fryns, Marbella, Spain
    Luis Adelantado, Valencia, Spain

Group Exhibitions

  • 2019 WATERSHED: Contemporary Landscape Photography: The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
  • 2018 GLOBAL GATHERING: 21C Museum, Raliegh Durham, NC, USA
  • 2017 LA NO COMUNIDAD: Centro Centro at Palacio de Cibeles, Madrid, Spain
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  • 2016 ROHKUNSTBAU: Between the worlds – Zwischen den Welten at Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Germany. Currated by Mark Gisbourne.
  • 2015 SWIM WITH THE CURRENT, STAND LIKE A ROCK: Manifesta/ Offices of Dutch Culture, Amsterdam, NL
    I AM: Always New: KCAD, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
  • 2014 A BOOK BETWEEN TWO STOOLS: Boghossian Foundation, Brussels, Belgium
    CUBAN AMERICA: AN EMPIRE STATE OF MIND: Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, New York, USA
    VANITAS: Works from the Collecgtion of Stephane Janssen, Arizona State University Museum of Art
    HYBRIDITY: 21C Museum, Bentonville, AK
  • 2013 ‘The Adventures of truth” curated by Bernard-Henri Levy Foundation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
  • 2012 3am: WONDER AND PARANOIA: Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool, UK
  • 2011 Performing for the Camera, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ, USA
    HIDE/SEEK, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, USA
    Cuba Now, 21c Museum, Louisville, KY, USA
    Dead_lines; Death in Art-Media-Everday Life, von der Heydt Kunsthalle, Wuppertal, Germany
    30: A Brooklyn Salon; Celebrating Thirty Years of Contemporary Art, BRIC Rotunda Gallery, NY
    Colorific: We Make an Art Rainbow, Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY
    Late Summer Blues, Storefront Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
  • 2010 HAUNTED, Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York, NY
    IKON Gallery, Birmingham, England
    TOOL, Fotofestival Cultuurcentrum Scharpoord, Knokke-Heist, Belgium
    OPEN SEASON, Flanders Gallery
    Transparency and Trans-formations, US Embassy, Stockholm, Sweden
    Superfices del Desso, Museo Universadrio Arte Contemporaneo, Unviversidad Nacional Autónoma de México
    HIDE/SEEK, Different and Desire in American Portraiture, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
  • 2009 Group Show, Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver, BC
    MASCULINE: Interpretations of Manhood, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, NY
    MI VIDA, From Heaven to Hell, Mucsamok, Budapest
    MYTOLOGIES; Haunch to Venison, London, UK
    Generation, Art Gallery Alberta, Alberta, Canada
  • 2008 Oh L’AMOUR, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tuscon, AZ, USA
    BOYS OF SUMMER, The Fireplace Project, East Hampton, NY, USA
    DARGER-ISM, Contemporary Artists and Henry Darger, American Fold Art Museum, New York, NY
    BADLANDS, New Horizons in Landscape, Mass Moca, MA, USA
    GEN-X, Post Boomers and the New South, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL, USA
    AMERIKA, Back to the Future, Postmasters, NY, USA
    PEOPLE AND PLACES, Selections from the Allen Thomas Jr Photography Collection, SECCA, Winston-Salem, NC, USA
    RETHINKING LANDSCAPE, Contemporary Photography from the Allen Thomas Jr Collection, Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA, USA
  • 2007 New Directions in American Drawing, Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA, USA
    Kunst Film Biennale, vertreten durch SK Stiftung Kultur, Koln, Germany
    New Directions, Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA, USA
    ICH WAR’S NICHT, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany
    OMNIOUS ATMOSPHERE, Heather Marx Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
    PLANO INTIMO, Cicio de Videoarte, Sala Parpallo, Valencia, Spain
    SHELTER, Museum De Fundatie Zwolle, Heino, NL
    Contemporary Cool and Collected, Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC, USA
    OPENING SHOW, Max. Durchfahrts-hohe, Berlin, Germany
    STALKING SUBURBIA, Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT, USA
    EXISTENCIAS, Museo De Arte Contemporeaneo De Castilla Y Leon, Spain
    Mat Collishaw & Anthony Goicolea, Haunch of Venison, Zurich, Switzerland
    GLOBAL ANXIETIES, The College of Wooster Art Museum, Wooster, OH, USA
    ROLE EXCHANGE, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, NY
    BEHIND INNOCENCE, Gallery Hyuandai, Seoul, Korea
    International Video Art Exhibition, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
  • 2006 Sensacions en Primeira Persoa, CGAC, Spain
    CONNIVENCES: Collection of Stephane Janssen, Musee Dixelles, Brussel and Arizona ASU Museum
    MODERN PHOTOGRAPHS, Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL, USA
    LOOPED, engages in time, CAS Gallery, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
    KRIEG DER KNOPFE, Ursula Blickle Stiflung, Kraichtal-Unterowisheim, Germany
    DIE JUDGEND VON HEUTE, Schim Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
    MIDDLE GROUND: Photographs from the Whitney Museum of American Art, Columbia University, New York, NY
    CINTAS EXHIBITION, Finalists, The Buena Vista Building, Miami, FL, USA
    THE HUNGRY EYE, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY
    ARCADIA, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY
    MAKING A SCENE, Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Isreal
    EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPE, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
  • 2005 IN FOCUS, Contemporary Photography from the Allen G. Thomas Jr Collection, The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
    WESTERN BIENNALE, The John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA, USA
    DESVELAR LO INVISIBLE, Videocreacion contemporanea, El Consejeia de Cultura y Deportes, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain.
    MIXED UP CHILDHOOD, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
    MY SO CALLED LIFE, Monte Clark Gallery, Toronto, Canada
    OBSERVITORI 2005, Museo de las Artes, Valencia, Spain
    NARRATIVES OF THE PRESUMED INVISIBLE, Kunsthalle Lophem, Lophem, Belgium
    Representing Representation VII: Amot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
  • 2004 Tombe La Neige, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris
    Only Skin Deep, Changing Visions of the American Self, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
    Fripon Fripon et Demi, Pour une école Buissonnière, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
    True Fictions, Lebende Bilder in der Fotokunst der Postmoderne, Stadtmuseum Hofheim/Taunus, Germany
    The Amazing and the Immutable, University of South Florida, Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, FL
    Nocturnal Emissions, Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands
    Out of Place, Part II, Indianapolis Museum of Contemprary Art, Indianapolis, IN, USA
    Is One Thing Better Than Another, Aurel Scheibler, Cologne, Germany
    KunstFilm Biennale, Cologne, Germany
    Tea Party, Video Installation, Madison Avenue, Calvin Klein Space, New York, NY
    Boys Will Be Boys, The John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI, USA
    ME, MYSELF, & I: Photographs, University Galleríwa, Florida Atlantic Univeristy, Boca Raton, FL, USA
    DITTO: Multiples From the Collection, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL, USA
    EXCESS: Food as Metaphor and other Strategies of Consumption, Fine Arts Center Galleries University Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA
    PRETTY WORLD, Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brussels, Belgium
    SWIMMING POOL, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, NY
    Drawings on Paper, Lucas Schoreman Gallery, New York, NY
    DREAM WEAVER, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY
    The Drawing Show, The GREEN BARN, Sagaponack, NY
    New Location, Sandroni-Rey Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
    Royal Hibemian Academy, Gallagher Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
    OPEN HOUSE: Working in Brooklyn, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY, USA
    LIJF, Reizende tentoonstelling over het lichaam, RAZA, Flanders, Belgium
    SCHOOLIN’, AOV Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
  • 2003 Mursollaici, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris
    Interplay, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico
    Child in Time, Gemeente Museum, Helmond, Netherlands
    Naked Before God, The Museum of New Art, Parnu, Estonia
    Reality vs. Fiction, Jamaica Center for the Arts, Queens, NY
    Regarde, il neige (schizogéographie de la vie quotidienne), Centre national d’art et du paysage de Vassiviere, France
    Mama’s Boy, White Columns, New York, NY
    Tombe La Neige, Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris
    POTENTIAL IMAGES OF THE WORLD; SPEED Art Museum, Louisville, KY, USA
    Pictures from Within, American Photographs, 1958-2003, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York,NY
    Atlanta Celebrates Photography, Momus, Atlanta, GA, USA
    Art Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland
    WHISPER, Galerie Aurel Scheibler, Cologne, Germany
    Anthony Goicolea and Patricia Piciinini, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
    WINDSTILL, Cotthem Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
    COMIC RELEASE, Negotiating Identity for a New Generation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
    Constructed Realities, Las Vegas Art Museum, Las Vegas, NV, USA
    Group Exhibition, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
    HOW HUMAN: Life in the Post-Genome Era, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
  • 2002 Neue Fotographien und Zeichnungen, Aurel Scheibler, Köln, Germany
    Situated Realities, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD. USA
    Situated Realities, Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA, USA
    Situated Realities, MCAD Galleries, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN, USA
    Guide to Trust No. 2, Yerba Buena Center for Arts, San Francisco and other locations
    Constructed Realities, Grand Arts, Kansas City, MO, USA
    Interplay, Miami Design District, Miami, FL, USA
    Home Movies, SF Cameraworks, San Francisco, CA, USA
    Hash Browns Potatoes, Smack Mellon Studios, Brooklyn, NY, USA
    Enough About Me, Momenta, Brooklyn,NY, USA
    The Dubrow Biennial, Kagan Martos, New York, NY
    Art Downtown: New Photography, WallStreet Rising, New York, NY
  • 2001 Collector’s Choice, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY, USA
    FOR SKIN, Henrique Faria Fine Arts, New York, NY
    2000
    New New York, Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, TX, USA
    EXIT ART, New York, NY
    Untitled (Conjecture), Angstrom Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
    Summer Show 2000, Angstrom Gallery, Dallas, TX, USA
    Flesh of the Boy Flesh of the Girl, P.S. 122, New York, NY
    Sidelong Glance, IM n IL, New York, NY
    Good Business Is the Best Art, The Bronx Museum, New York, NY
    Manly, Art in General, New York, NY
    Posers, White Columns, New York, NY
    Hard, TATE, New York, NY
    Vedanta, Chicago, IL, USA
    Galeria Luis Adelantato, Valencia, Spain
  • 1998 TATE, Open, New York, NY
    Gender (Con)sumption Assumption of Gender, Stony Brook Union Art Gallery, New York, NY
    Artist in the Marketplace: Eighteenth Annual Exhibition, The Bronx Museum of Art, NY
    CBGB’s Gallery, New York, NY

Collections

The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
The Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC

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21C Museum in Louisville, KY
The Indianapolis Museum, Indianapolis, IN
The North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh Durham, NC
Miami Art Museum, Maimi, FL
Arizona State University Art Museum, Arizona
The Museum of Helmond, The Netherlands
The Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL
Yale University Art Collection, Photography, CT
El Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla, Leon, Spain
The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithica, NY
Centro Galego De Arte Contemporanea, Santiago De Compostela, Spain
The Telfair Museum of Art, Savanah, GA
The University of Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
RISDI Museum of Art and Design, Rhode Island.

Projects and Publications

  • 2017 LGBTQ Memorial Installation commission for Hudson River Park in the West Village, NY.
  • 2015 NATURAL DISRUPTIONS: Out door photo installation curated by Art Bridge and the Prospect Park Art Alliance. Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY
  • 2013 Films4Peace: Annual on-line video exhibition curated by Mark Coetzee
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  • 2011 ALTER EGO: A Decade of Work by Anthony Goicolea: Published and Organized by The North Carolina Museum of Art, The Telfair Museum of Art, and 21C Museum
    FILTER: A Dance Collaboration with Jonah Bokaer. Guggenheim, New York, NY
  • 2009 FICTIONS: Published by Twin Palms Press Publshing.
  • 2006 RAMP: Installation, produced by Calvin Klein in Madison Avenue space, New York, NY
    THE SEPTEMBERISTS: Video and Screening, Produced by Thom Browne
  • 2005 ANTHONY GOICOLEA: DRAWINGS, Published by Twin Palms Press Publishing.
  • 2004 TEA PARTY: The Fifth Annual Madison Avenue: Where Fashion Meets Art, Calvin Klein Madison Avenue space, New York, NY
  • 2003 ANTHONY GOICOLEA, Book and CD Rom published by Twin Palms Press Publishing
    ART UNLIMITED; Installation: Basel, Switzerland
  • 2002 SNOWSCAPE 521 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY; Commissioned 60 Ft. permanent photographic installation for A.B. Rosen
  • 2001 Anthony Goicolea. New York, NY; RareArt Properties, Inc., 40 pages; text by Jennifer Dalton (catalog)