The Los Angeles–based artist Sean Raspet (b. 1981, Washington, DC) focuses in his work on that which cannot easily be seen; his interests include the materiality of abstract systems; relationships between images, objects, and information; intangible matter; and even the circularities of time and logic that operate across multiple spheres of everyday life. Rather than focusing on the dematerialization of the image or art object, Raspet’s concept of abstraction involves breaking down such intangible forms as scientific compounds and the artificial valuation of currency. In his artistic projects, he examines money, which he views as culture’s original mode of abstraction, and the fate of objects in what he calls “a heavily abstracted economy.”
Raspet earned his BFA in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design (2003), and his MFA from UCLA (2013). He has had solo exhibitions at Room East, New York (2015), Société, Berlin (2015, 2013, and 2011), Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco (2014), New Galerie, New York (2014), New Galerie, Paris (2014), Appendix Project Space, Portland, Oregon (2013), Bund Deutscher Architekten, Berlin (2012), the Kitchen, New York (2010), Max Hans Daniel, Berlin (2010), and Daniel Reich Gallery, New York (2008). He has participated in group exhibitions at American Medium, Brooklyn (2015), M+B Gallery, Los Angeles (2015), Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles (2015), KM- Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst & Medien, Graz, Austria (2015), Room East, New York (2015), Chin’s Push, Los Angeles (2014), Yvon Lambert, Paris (2014), Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York (2014), C L E A R I N G, New York (2014), the Artist’s Institute, New York (2014), M-ARCO Foundation, Marseille, France (2013), Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco (2013 and 2011), New York Gallery / New Galerie, New York (2013), Carroll/Fletcher, London (2013), Sculpture Center, New York (2012), Be-Part Contemporary Art Center, Waregem, Belgium (2010), Artist’s Space, New York (2009), and Museum 52, New York (2008 and 2007). In 2007, Raspet published an artist’s book entitled A Parody of Existence.
