Artist Talk: Tommy Hartung

In conversation with Assistant Curator Caitlin Julia Rubin, Tommy Hartung will discuss his work and current Rose exhibition, King Solomon's Mines. 

About the artist

In work across multiple media, Tommy Hartung (b. 1979) investigates mythmaking and storytelling tied to powers of surveillance, wealth, and politics. Often rooted in older texts, ranging from the Bible to Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Hartung’s densely layered videos combine found imagery with studio-created animations of his sculptures and drawings, spinning stories that ring true for a modern era. Hartung is the recipient of a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Award (2015) and a grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation (2011). His work has been featured in exhibitions at the Jewish Museum, New York (2015), the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2015), and MoMA PS1, New York (2010), and was recently selected for inclusion in the 2017 Whitney Biennial. Hartung’s 2014 video THE BIBLE is in the collection of the Rose Art Museum and was featured as part of the museum’s Rose Video series in 2015. Born in Akron, Ohio and raised in upstate New York, the artist currently resides and works in Queens.