Born 1968 in Anderson, SC. Lives and works in Richmond, VA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2025 Paul Rucker: Rewind Resurrection, 545 W 23rd Street, New York, NY (solo)
2023 No Justice Without Love, The Ford Foundation Gallery, New York, NY
2022 Paul Rucker: Banking While Black, Sun Devil Stadium, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (solo)
21-23 The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse, Organized by the Virginia
Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; traveled to: Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX;
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Museum of Contemporary
Art Denver, CO (catalogue)
21-22 Undoing Time: Art and Histories of Incarceration, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
2020 Storm in the Time of Shelter, Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA (permanent collection)
2019 Red Sun: Paul Rucker, The Gund, Gambier, OH (solo)
Paul Rucker: FOREVER, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA (solo)
Disruption! Art and the Prison Industrial Complex, Pitzer College, Claremont, CA
2018 Declaration, Institute for Contemporary Art, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
2017 Paul Rucker: REWIND, York College of Pennsylvania, York, PA (solo)
Paul Rucker: REWIND, Sculptureworks, Ferguson, MO (solo)
Paul Rucker: REWIND, Gallery One, Ellensburg, WA (solo)
CoCA Legacy Show, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA
2016 Baltimore Rising, Maryland Institute and College of Art, Baltimore, MD
States of Incarceration, Greensboro Project Space in collaboration with UNCG's Department of Public
History and the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, Greensboro, NC
Rendered Visible, Arcade Contemporary Art Projects, Webster University, St. Louis, MO
What You See is What You Sweat, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA
American Power, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA
SEEING NOW, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati, OH
a cat. a codpiece. a crime., The Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD
A Walk in the Light of a History, Baltimore Light City Festival, Baltimore, MD
Prison Obscura, Newspace Center for Photography, Portland, OR
Prison Obscura, Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
2015 Paul Rucker: REWIND, The Baltimore Museum of Art, MD (solo)
Prison Obscura, Duderstadt Center Gallery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
SEEING NOW, 21c Museum Hotel, Durham, NC
Paul Rucker: REWIND, The Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD (solo)
Prison Obscura, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
2014 Prison Obscura, Alfa Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ
Prison Obscura, Rutgers College, NJ
Prison Obscura, Clark Humanities Museum, Scripts College, Claremont, CA
Recapitulation, 21c Museum Hotels, Louisville, KY
Prison Obscura, Hurford Center, Haverford College, PA
The Empathy Project, The Maryland Institute and College of Art, Baltimore, MD (solo)
Proliferation, Arizona State University Museum, Tempe, AZ
2013 Recapitulation, Catherine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA
American Voices: Thelma Jackson and Paul Rucker, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA
2012 Northwest Biennial, Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, WA
2009 Four Score, Cornish College of Art, Seattle, WA (solo)
SELECTED GRANTS & AWARDS
2022 Mellon Foundation
Art for Justice, Ford Foundation
2020 Art for Justice, Ford Foundation
2019 Multi-Arts Production Fund Performance Grant
Creative Catalyst Award – Artist Trust, WA
2018 Multi-Arts Production Fund Performance Grant
Arts Innovator Award, Dale and Leslie Chihuly Foundation and Artist Trust
Rauschenberg Foundation Artist as Activist Fellowship
TED Fellowship
Multi-Arts Production Fund Performance Grant
2017 Rauschenberg Foundation Artist as Activist Fellowship
Tiffany Comfort (Nomination)
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
2016 Rauschenberg Foundation Artist as Activist Fellowship
Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship
MacDowell Fellowship in Visual Arts, Peterborough, NH
Rubys Artist Project Grant in Performing Art
2015 Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant
Mary Sawyer Baker Artist Award, Prize Winner
Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD
2014 Multi-Arts Production Fund Performance Grant
2012 Creative Capital Grant in Visual Art
Artist Trust GAP Grant
Headlands Center for the Arts, AiR Award
Conductive Garboil Grant
4Culture Project Award
2000 Art for Justice Fund Fellowship
SELECTED RESIDENCIES
2025 Atlantic Center for the Arts, Master Visual Art Teacher, New Smyrna Beach, FL
2024 Hermitage Retreat, Sarasota, FL
2019 Loghaven Artist Residency, Knoxville, TN
Lucas Artists Fellowship in Visual Arts, Architecture & Design, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA
Hermitage Retreat, Sarasota, FL
2017 Joan Mitchell Center
MacDowell Colony Residency
Rauschenberg Retreat Center, Captiva, FL
Hemera Foundation Retreat Center, CO
Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD
2015 Air Serembe, Georgia
Blue Mountain Center, Blue Mountain Lake, NY
2014 Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD
2013 Robert W. Deutsch Foundation Artist in Residence and Research Fellow
2012 Headland Center for the Arts
2010 Pilchuck Glass School Residency, Stanwood, WA
2009 Blue Mountain Center, Blue Mountain Lake, NY
2006 Bellagio Residency, The Rockefeller Foundation, Italy
2004 Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Alberta, Canada
Ucross Foundation, Sheridan County, WY
Blue Mountain Center, Blue Mountain Lake, NY
2003 Art OMI, Ghent, NY
SELECTED PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2022 Banking While Black, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
2021 Vulcan, 45 large outdoor sculptures, Seattle, WA
2019 First Central Station, Seattle, WA
2018 First Central Station, Seattle, WA
2017 First Central Station, Seattle, WA
2016 Baltimore Light City Festival, In Light of History, Baltimore, MD
First Central Station, Seattle, WA
2013 Human Rights Legacy in Tacoma, WA
2012 Human Rights Legacy in Tacoma, WA
2011 Human Rights Legacy in Tacoma, WA
2010 4Culture: King County Trails Projects Commission
2008 Museum of Flight: 32-Channel Sound Installation, T. Evans Wyckoff Memorial Bridge, Tacoma, WA
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
21c Museum Hotels
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, WA
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
SELECTED PERFORMANCES
2012 University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA
2011 Monroe Correctional Complex, Monroe, WA
Alcatraz Prison, San Francisco, CA
SELECTED LECTURES & ARTIST TALKS
2024 Paul Rucker: We were lied to, TED Talk
2023 Storm in The Time of Shelter: A Conversation with Paul Rucker, interview with Virginia Museum
of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
2021 Paul Rucker, Banking While Black, Virginia Commonwealth University Arts Faculty Lecture Series
2020 Paul Rucker, "Facing Racism: Art and Action" Symposium, Blanton Museum of Art, TX
2018 Paul Rucker: The symbols of systemic racism — and how to take away their power, TED Talk
How my mom inspired my approach to the cello: Paul Rucker, TED Talk
2014 How an artist copes with reality: Paul Rucker, "Rethink. Redefine. Recreate," TEDxBerkeley
2012 Why do we assume all the elephants in the room like peanuts?, Paul Rucker at TEDxTacoma