TÂN KHÁNH CAO
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016-2017 WHAT KIND OF MAN WOULD I BE?, The Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco CA, included an artist talk and was supported by a cultural equity grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission.
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019 Duet #1, 912 Julia, New Orleans LA (One of two artists)
2018 New Surroundings, PhotoNOLA, 912 Julia, New Orleans LA
2018 PoliticoPopUp3, Artspace 3116, New Orleans LA
2017 Shambleezy, Shambala, San Francisco CA, curated by Yarrow Slaps
2014 Queer & Now, the Queer Cultural Center, San Francisco CA
2010 Celebrate! San Francisco, Mission Cultural Center, San Francisco CA
2009 Cheers To Muses– AAWAA’s 20th Anniversary Exhibition, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco CA
2006 The Paper Nest Project, Luggage Store Annex/509 Cultural Center, San Francisco CA
2005 (re)COLLECT: Visions and Sounds, Oaklandish Gallery, Oakland CA
1998 Side B, Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis MN
1996 The World of Vietnamese Music Festival , College of St. Catherine, St. Paul MN
1996 Metropolitan Arts Council, Minneapolis MN
INSTALLATIONS/PERFORMANCE
2011 Fantomas-By-The-Bay, City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco CA. A centenary celebration of Fantomas in conjunction with the Cultural Services of the Consulate General of France.
2010 Proverbs by Chompunutt Mayta, San Francisco CA/New York NY, Bangkok Thailand. Sole actor in independent artist’s film.
2007 The Last American Icon, Queens Nails Annex, San Francisco CA. Sound performance with Walter Kitundu and D. Scot Miller.
2005 Situation Abnormal, Exploratorium San Francisco CA. Performer in Walter Kitundu’s sound/video installation.
2004 Samadhi, Punch Gallery, San Francisco CA, Live Painting at event featuring sacred percussion and electronica from South Asia and beyond with Robin Sukhadia and Walter Kitundu.
PRODUCTION/DESIGN/ART HANDLING
1994-95 Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen MN & Glam Slam, Minneapolis MN. Artist/Dancer- set design, muralist, costume design.
LITERARY & PERMORMANCE EVENTS
2018 QR Hand, David Henderson and Tongo Eisen-Martin: Black Tradition in Present Time , Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco CA, Curator and host. This event brought together a multi-generational group of poets who have dedicated their lives to craft and struggle.
2015 Counternarratives, Green Apple Books on the Park, San Francisco CA. In conversation with John Keene discussing his novel Counternarratives (New Directions, 2015), co-presented by The Poetry Center at SFSU.
2006-‐07 The Eulipia Series, Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco CA. Co-curated, with D. Scot Miller, a monthly exploration of collaborative performance art, musical improvisation, and the recitation of poetry and prose. Performers included Janaki Ranpura, Walter Kitundu, Peter Maravelis, David Boyce, Sameer Gupta, Shawn Taylor, Giovanni Singleton, Cecil Brown, and many others.
PUBLICATIONS
2018 Cruel Futures, Carmen Giminez Smith, City Lights Spotlights series #17, City Lights Books, cover art.
2013 Black Camera, An International Film Journal, Vol.5, Number 1, Indiana University Press, cover art.
2006 As Is: A Collection of Visual and Literary Works by Vietnamese Americans, published by the Vietnamese Artists Collective, funded in part by the City of Oakland and the Puffin Foundation.
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2006 The Paper Nest Project, Luggage Store Annex/509 Cultural Center, San Francisco CA. Group show interpreting the theme “Paper Nest” with works by Ali Dadgar, Targol Mesbah, Walter Kitundu, Melanin Buford, CUBA, and others with performances by Danny Cao, David Boyce, Walter Kitundu, giovanni singleton, and Shawn Taylor.
GRANTS
2015 San Francisco Arts Commission, Individual Artist Commission grant
COMMISSIONS
2003-04 Muralist, Nystrom Magnet School, Richmond CA
2003 Muralist, Modern Times Books, San Francisco CA
2001 Muralist, Oh So Little Cafe, San Francisco CA
1995 Muralist, Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen MN
RELATED EXPERIENCE
2004-18 Buyer/Bookseller, City Lights Bookstore, San Francisco CA. Buyer for many sections including Art, Surrealism, Fiction, African Spritual Traditions, and Children’s Picture books. Creator and curator of the Black Radical Imagination section the span of which included but was not limited to poetry, music, theory, history, fiction and the visual arts.
Tân Khánh Cao 