Foundation for Contemporary Arts

Ralph Lemon

Lives in New York, NY

Born 1952, Cincinnati, OH

Dancer, Choreographer, Writer, Artist

I am thinking around performance, the stage, the museum or gallery, visual art, video, film, writing . . . active contemplation and how I would like to be able to live in and between these particular forms (perceived medium landscapes) as organically as possible, banishing any hierarchy. I contemplate what it is I can't do, what's not possible, in this ongoing conversation I have with the body-as place, memory, culture-and as vehicle for cultural language. My artistic process entails a vigorous collision of creative cultures and inspired conversations that dictate how the work is constructed, and how it might be shared with a public audience. A principal question to this process is: how can an intensive artistic research and immediate art-making practice translate to the staged realm of the spectator? This ongoing struggle between process and production creates a tension that is a vital element in all of my artistic work.

1975 B.A., University of Minnesota

Artistic Director of Cross Performance, New York, NY

SELECTED PERFORMANCES

2011 Ralph Lemon and Okwui Okpokwasili, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

2010 How Can You Stay In The House All Day And Not Go Anywhere?, premiered at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts/University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL

2009 Rescuing the Princess, premiered at Opera National de Lyon, Lyon, France; also performed at Theatre de la Ville, Paris, France

2004 The Geography Trilogy: Geography (1997), premiered at Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT; Tree (2000), premiered at Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT: Come home Charley Patton (2004), premiered at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts/University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010 How Can You Stay In The House All Day And Not Go Anywhere?, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2008 (the efflorescence of) Walter, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA; The Kitchen, New York, NY (2007); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (2006)

2001 The Geography Trilogy, Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT

2000 Temples, Margaret Bodell Gallery, New York, NY

1997 Geography, Art Awareness, Lexington, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2012 The Record: Contemporary ART and VINYL, Nasher Museum at Duke University, Durham, NC

2010 Move: Choreographing You, Hayward Gallery, London, UK

SELECTED GRANTS, HONORS AND AWARDS

2009 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship

2009, 2004, 1998, 1992, 1986 New York Foundation for the Arts Choreography Fellowship

2006 United States Artists Fellowship

2005 New York State Dance and Performance "Bessie" Choreographer/Creator Award for Geography Trilogy

2004 Bellagio Study and Conference Center Fellowship

1999 CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts

1988 Gold Medal, Boston International Choreography Competition

1987 American Choreographers Award

1986 New York State Dance and Performance "Bessie" Outstanding Creative Achievement Award for Two

1986 Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts Grant