b. 1974 Wisconsin, USA
2004 MFA San Francisco Art Institute
1999 BA Evergreen State College
1996-1998 University of Wisconsin
1994 Université Paul Valery, Montpellier, France
Lives and works in San Francisco

Sullivan works across various media including video, photography, performance, installation and painting. The artist’s practice demonstrates a deep engagement with the conceptual and visual language of contemporary art and pop culture. His work suggests diverse and colourful influences, from Duchamp and Surrealism, to Warhol and consumer advertising. Sullivan is known for exploring complex ideas while creating visually powerful and playful artworks, often characterised by shrewd humour and wit. Uniting the artist’s practice is a deep engagement with California and the way it is imagined and represented in film, music, television and literature.

Since his evocative photographs shown at the 2006 California Biennial organised by the Orange County Museum of Art, Sullivan has been exploring the self-critical tendency within modern art. Often using himself as the subject of his artwork, Sullivan constantly questions fundamental concepts of Western art such as authorship, tromp-l’oeil and subjectivity.

Sullivan holds an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and has won notable awards including the SF Goldie Award, from the San Francisco Bay Guardian. He was winner of the Grand Prize for Artists Wanted: Art Takes Miami 2010 and was awarded $10,000 with a featured exhibition in an exclusive booth at SCOPE Miami 2010. He has exhibited internationally, including in the USA, Singapore, China, Ireland and Poland. The artist has also exhibited as part of the Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba, and the California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA. His work is included in the permanent collection of Deutsch Bank NY and Orange County Museum of Art, CA.

Tim Sullivan is represented by Collectors Contemporary.