Buck Ellison

Buck Ellison was born in 1987 in San Francisco, California.[1] He received a BA degree in German literature from Columbia University, in 2010; and an MFA degree from the Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main in 2014.[1][5]

Through collages, films, and photographs, he produces a deep network of inquiry into how whiteness and privilege are sustained and broadcast.[6][2]

Ellison has exhibited at The Hammer Museum,[7][8] and has been in group exhibitions including the 16th Lyon Biennial, 2022,[9] the Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2022,[10] Made in L.A. 2020: a version, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; The Huntington Libraries and Museum, Pasadena, 2020 (cat.)[7], Antarctica, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, 2018[11] The Sun Placed In The Abyss, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, 2016 (cat.)[9] among others.

His work has been reviewed in Aperture,[6] Artforum,[5] ArtReview, the British Journal of Photography, Flash Art,[12] Kaleidoscope, Mousse magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Texte zur Kunst.[1][13]

His first monograph, Living Trust, won the Paris Photo-Aperture Best PhotoBook Award 2020.[4]

His work is in the museum collections of the Aïshti Foundation, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA),[14], Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.[15]

• Abudu, KJ, “Photography Report: Imaging Racial Capital,”, e-flux, 25 April 2023.
• Packard, Cassie, "Buck Ellison Meets Prince," Art Review, 24 April 2023.
• Glass, Joshua, “Can Buck Ellison Make You Care About Erik Prince?,” Cultured Magazine, 21 March 2023.
• Diehl, Travis, “Buck Ellison’s Great White Society,” The New York Times, 24 June 2022.
• Griffin, Jonathan, “Buck Ellison’s American Freaks,” Art Review, 9 June 2022.
• Living Trust, Loose Joints, 2020 (monograph)[3]

• Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Award, first PhotoBook winner (2020)[4]