Paul Laster: A Wonderful Life In Art

Beez And Honey

Paul Laster is a writer, editor, independent curator, artist, and lecturer. He is a New York desk editor at ArtAsiaPacific and a contributing editor at Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art. He was the founding editor of Artkrush and Artspace; started The Daily Beast's art section; and was previously art editor of Flavorpill and Russell Simmons OneWorld Magazine. He is a frequent contributor to Art & Object, Time Out New York, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, Galerie, Sculpture, Architectural Digest, Surface, Garage, New York Observer, Cultured, ArtPulse, Upstate Diary, Conceptual Fine Arts, and has written for Art in America, Artnet, Interview, Paper, Flash Art, Newsweek, Modern Painters, Bomb Magazine, Flatt Magazine, ArtInfo, Avenue, Tema Celeste, amNew York, 99 Percent, Two Coats of Paint and On-Verge. A former Adjunct Curator at New York’s P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (now MoMA PS1), Laster has organized exhibitions for galleries and nonprofit institutions since 1985. His curatorial projects from the past five years include Santero: Sculptural Works by Jorge A Valdes (2015) at Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn; Adam Frezza & Terri Chaio: Paper Islands (2015) at Humanities Gallery, LIU Brooklyn; A Weekend in the Country (2015) at Magnan Metz Gallery, New York; Maker, Maker (2017) at Children’s Museum of the Arts, New York; Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim (2019) at Outsider Art Fair, Paris; Relishing the Raw: Contemporary Artists Collecting Outsider Art (2020) at Outsider Art Fair, New York; Five Artists, Five Mediums, Five Days – A Curated Selection for One Thing (2020) at Intersect Aspen; An Alternative Canon: Art Dealers Collecting Outsider Art (2020) at Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York; Now's the Time: Eight African Painters (2020) at Scope Immersive; and The Desire for Transparency: Contemporary Artists Working with Glass (2020) at Intersect Chicago. An exhibiting artist, Paul Laster has had 17 solo exhibitions in the United States and Europe, and participated in numerous group shows worldwide. His works are in many public and private collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, Philadelphia Art Museum and Whitney Museum of American Art. As a lecturer and visiting critic, Laster has spoken on art and curatorial practices and the use of the Internet and social media for building careers at Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Sandberg Institute, New York University, New York’s School of Visual Arts, Pratt Institute, California Institute of the Arts, Otis Art Institute, University of California in Riverside and Santa Barbara, Florida Atlantic University, Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Brooklyn Museum, National Academy Museum, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Cyan Museum of Art, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Art Omi, Expo Chicago, the Armory Show, Art Chicago, Marc Straus Gallery, New York Academy of Art, Tyler School of Art, Residency Unlimited, Soho Beach House, Rizzoli Bookstore, Wave Hill, ESKFF at Mana Contemporary, Outsider Art Fair, Trestle Art Space, Pioneer Works, Intersect Aspen, Scope Art Fair and Intersect Chicago. Relatedly, Laster worked in Publications (1977-88) at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and was Publications Manager (1995-98) at Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York. LINKS to writing online: https://www.artandobject.com/authors/paul-laster https://whitehotmagazine.com/contributors/paul-laster/750 https://www.galeriemagazine.com/author/paul-laster/ https://muckrack.com/paul-laster