Summary
David Horvitz was born in Los Angeles, where he still lives and works. He studied at the University of California and at Waseda University in Tokyo. He also obtained an MFA from Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College, in 2010.
Witty and poetic, the work of David Horvitz meddles with systems of language, time and networks.
Eschewing categorization, his expansive, nomadic body of work traverses the forms of photographs, artist books, performances, the Internet, mail art, sound, rubber stamps, gastronomy and natural environments. His work examines questions of distance between places, people and time in order to test the possibilities of appropriating, undermining or even erasing these distances. Using image, text and objects, his works circulate and operate independently of himself, penetrating ever more effectively the intimate sphere. When encountering his works– in the postal system, libraries, or the airport lost-and-found services– our attention to the infinitesimal, inherent loopholes and alternative logics, and the imaginary comes to the fore. Like lullabies impressed upon our minds, Horvitz deploys art as both objects of contemplation and as viral or systemic tools to affect change on a personal scale. Horvitz makes fictions that insert themselves surreptitiously into the real.
Collections: MoMA – Museum of Modern Art, New York; Kupferstichkabinett – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin; SFMoMA – San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; LACMA – Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, France; Nomas Foundation, Rome; Le Silo – Collection Billarant, Paris; Fonds régionaux d’art contemporain de Bretagne; Nouveau Musée National de Monaco; Collection Lafayette Anticipations, Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin, Paris; Fotografische Sammlung, Museum Folkwang, Essen.
Selected publications
2026
- "Glitter and Doom" by Andrew Berardini, Artforum, 5 March 2026, online.
2023
- "Rain" by David Horvitz, Ed.: Elena Abashidze, Edition Taube, Amsterdam, 2023, ISBN: 978-3-945900-58-1
“WORLD FRAMED. Zeitgenössische Zeichenkunst der Sammlung Schering Stiftung im Kupferstichkabinett”, Ed. Jenny Graser, DVC Books, 2023, ISBN: 9783969121283 - “Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt Searches for Peace in a Divided World” by Alex Turgeon, Frieze, Issue 233, January 2023, online.
2022
- “Nostalgia” by David Horvitz, Vol. 2, Gato Negro Ediciones, Mexico City, 2022, ISBN:978-607-98763-9-5
2021
- Catalogue: “Crocodile Cradle” by Simon Morretti, Mousse Publishing, Milan, 2021, ISBN: 978-88-6749-503-0
- “For Ruth: The sky in Los Angeles” ed. by Kathleen Reinhardt, Yvon Lambert, ChertLüdde, Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden, Wende Museum, Spector Books, Leipzig, 2021. ISBN: 978-3-95905-405-8
- “David Horvitz Newly Found Bas Jan Ader Film” by Ed Steck, Afterall Book, London, 2021. ISBN: 978-0-578-95793-7
- “Change the name of the days” by David Horvitz and Natilee Harren, Jean Boîte Éditiobs & Yvon Lambert, Paris, June 2021. ISBN: 978-2-36568-053-0
- “How To Survive – Kunst ale Überlegungsstrategie” by Carina Plath, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, ISBN: 978-3-89169-250-9
- “For Ruth, The Sky in Los Angeles: Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt and David Horvitz” by Andrea Gyorody, ArtForum, 15 March 2022, online.
Recent solo exhibitions
2026
- Oceanocean, MOTUS Gallery, Paris
- My grandmother looking at the horizon on Ocean Beach” photo (2).JPG 10/24/2011 – 2:16 PM, Micki Meng, San Francisco
- Abandon the Time, Organised by Asuka Hisa & Presented by NNS Project(s), Schindler Spec House, Inglewood
2025
- At the limits of the city, ChertLüdde, Berlin
- this dark rainy night, Axle Contemporary Mobile Artspace, Santa Fe
- Is it too confusing?, Taro Nasu, Tokyo
- Being Living, JOAN, Los Angeles
- L.A. Gastronomical with Robert Cumming, Jean-Kenta Gauthier, Paris
2024
- Avenues All Lined With Trees, Jean-Kenta Gauthier / Vaugirard, Paris
- A new garden from old wounds, dual solo show, ChertLüdde / Potsdamer Strasse 97, Berlin
- Abbandonare il locale, Curated by Nicola Ricciardi, BiM Milano Bicocca, Milan
2023
- The Hour of the Star, De Boer, Los Angeles
2022
- The Submersion of Images, Jean-Kenta Gauthier Vaugirard, Paris
- The worldlessness of the stone, TCB Gallery, Brunswick VIC
- David Horvitz at Pululahua Craterc, GALLERY/NO GALLERY, Quito
- Getxophoto, Curated by Jon Uriarte, Ereaga beach, Spain
- Let Us Keep Our Own Noon, Curated by Patrick Steffen, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Paris
2021
- How to Shoplift Books as part of The Dreamers: An Echoing, CURA. HQ / BASEMENT ROME, Rome
- Mayflower, David Horvitz & Javier Cruz, as part of An Involuntary Trace, curated by This is Jackalope (Christina Aglada and Gema Melgar), La Casa Encendida, Madrid
- (in all its different manifestations), curated by Park C.Myers, 1708 Gallery Inc, Richmond, VA
Recent group exhibitions
2026
- Reclaiming the Future: The Legacy of Japanese American Incarceration, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe
- Reclaiming the Future: The Legacy of Japanese American Incarceration, Curated by Machiko Harada, Vladem Contemporary in Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Paysages – première partie, Curated by Alex Chevalier, Centre des livres d’artistes, Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche
- The Art Parade, LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
- Língua Turva, Curated by Margarida Mendes, Klein Space, Lisbon
- One Hundred Year Old Water, Curated by Sophie Appel & David Horvitz, 500 Capp Street, Los Angeles
- Everyday Is All There, Curated by Iris Williamson and Roz Crews, Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland
- IT´S ALL ABOUT TIME, Curated by Ute Stuffer, Kunstmuseum Ravensburg
2025
- It Rains on Wet Paper, PHOTOBOOKS SCAN 2025, Curated by Moritz Neumüller, Museum of Modern Art of Tarragona, Tarragona
Made in HelL.A., Town House, Los Angeles - Like a City, Curated by Sophie Appel, Slash, San Francisco
- Once Within a Time: 12th SITE Santa Fe International, Curated by Cecilia Alemani, Santa Fe
- American Photographs, V&A South Kensington Photography Centre, London
- Star Witnesses, The Polygon Gallery, Vancouver
- Geislagarðurinn / Bioluminescent earthworms, y Gallery, Iceland
- Blickachsen 14, Sprengel Museum, Hannover
- Une Nature Moderne, Contemporary Art Centre of Ivry – Crédac, Paris
- Only what we could carry, Melrose Botanical Garden, Los Angeles
- Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. Aesthetics of contingencies #2, galerie Wolff // Sébastien Pluot, Paris
- The Museum of I Love You So Much #2, Curated by Hannah Tishkoff, Melrose Botanical Garden, Los Angeles
- 1TB Verbatim: Los Angeles Timing 2013-2025, Leroy’s, Los Angeles
2024
- A new garden from old wounds, ChertLüdde, Berlin
- The Icing on the Cake – an artist takeover, OSLO made in heaven, Milan
- AMONG THE INVISIBLE JOINS: Werke aus der Sammlung Enea Righi, Museion, Bolzano
- To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)Permanent Collection, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley
- Play dead!, Curated by Like a Little Disaster, Kora – Contemporary Arts Center, Castrignano de’ Greci
- The World in my Hand, BlackBox at Alexander Tutsek Stiftung, München
- Expand and Contract: Photography and Mixed Media, In-Person Exhibition, LACP Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles
- Sounds like a Whisper (Poetically Political), Curated by Galina Dimitrova and Ariel Reichman, City Art Gallery Sofia, Bulgaria
- The Event of a Thread. Global Narratives in Textiles, The National Gallery of Kosovo, Pristina
- Taken Apart & Put Back Together Again, Curated by Nathalie Zonnenberg, Tlön Projects at A Tale of A Tub, Rotterdam
2023
- All These Fleeting Perfections, Curated by Domenico Quaranta, Biblioteca civica Alberto Geisser, Turin
- T3 Photo Festival Tokyo 2023, Tokyo
- Les artistes brouillent les cartes, Germaine Tillion library, Paris
- La Mer imaginaire, Curated by Chris Sharp, Villa Carmignac, Porquerolles
- Climate Care, Floating University, Berlin
- Biennale Son – 1st edition, Valais, Switzerland
- My Demons My Angels, ChertLüdde, Berlin
- Berlin Britzenale, Curated by Christof Zwiener, Berlin
- FLUXUS MUSIK ZONE WEST. From Beuys to Moorman, Curated by Judith Waldmann, Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau
A Copious Flow, Curated by Nicholas Weist, Athens Cultural Center, Athens - Very Small Feelings, Curated by Akansha Rastogi and Diana Campbell, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi
- à contretemps, Lambda Lambda Lambda, Prishtina
- World Framed. Zeitgenössische Zeichenkunst der Sammlung Schering Stiftung, curated by Jenny Graser, Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin
- Sculpting the Space, TARO NASU, Tokyo
- The Inner Island, curated by Jean-Marie Gallais, Villa Carmignac, Porquerolles Island
- Le Retour [The Return], Mrac Occitanie, Sérignan
- Dhaka Art Summit 2023: Bonna, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka
- Beyond a Certain Point There is No Return, Curated by Katia Krupennikova, A Tale of A Tub, Rotterdam
2022
- New Space Show, Gallery Layr, Vienna
- The Sky in Los Angeles: Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt and David Horvitz, Co-curator Kathleen Reinhardt, SKD, The Wende Museum’s West Gallery, Culver City
- The Gaia Hypothesis: Chapter One 2.0, Curated by Christopher Yggdre, The Elemental, Palm Springs
- Be Water, My Friend, Curated by Chiara Vecchiarelli, Alberta Pane Gallery, Venice
- Running In Place, Protocinema, Istanbul
- The Palace of Concrete Poetry, Curated by Monika ÄŒejková, Writers’ House of Georgia, Tbilisi
- Before waiting becomes part of your life, Curated by Marisol Rodríguez, gb agency, Paris
- 25 FLUXUS STORIES, Curated by Harry Ruhe, Art Partout
- The Gaia Hypothesis, Curated by Christopher Yggdre, The Elemental, Palm Springs
- Breaking the Waves, Curated by ArtReview, K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong
- The Scale of Maps, Jean-Kenta Gauthier Odéon, Paris
2021
- How to disappear completely and never be found, curated by Ekaterina Shcherbakova, Typography Center for Contemporary Art, Krasnodar, Russia
- Not Standing in Place, Zürcher Theater Spektakel & town, Zurich
- Three, four trees, curated by Elene Abashidze, EA Shared Space, Tbilisi
- JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, Organized by hospitality, a nomadic exhibition project founded by Carla Donauer and Martin Germann, St. Apernstrasse 13, Cologne
- Telepathy and New Labor, curated by Warren Neidich and Jacqueline Drinkall, Verein zur Förderung von Kunst und Kultur am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz e.V., Berlin
- Breaking the waves, curated by ArtReview, Chi K11 art museum K11 ArtMall, Shanghai
- (re)connecting.earth, curated by Bernard Vienat, Travelling Exhibition, Kurt-Kurt and Habsburg Gausstraße Garden, Berlin; andata.ritorno, Geneva
- THE DREAMERS, curated by Ilaria Marotta and Andrea Baccin, The 58th October Salon, Belgrade Biennial 2021, Museum of Yugoslavia, Belgrade
- The city under the sky, curated by Sylvie Boulanger, Raphaël Guillet, Nathalie Lacroix, Thomas Maestro, Léa Warrin, Exhibition-Manifesto, CNEAI, Paris
- The Imaginary Sea, curated by Christ Sharp, Fondation Carmignac, Villa Carmignac, Porquerolles
- The Musical Brain, organised by Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen and Melanie Kreis, HIGH LINE ART: Various locations along the High Line, New York
- This Inconstant World, curated by Jamillah James, ICA, Los Angeles
- ..barely pausing/pausing barely.., curated by Christina Li, A Tale of A Tub, Rotterdam
- Dear You, curated by Caterina Molteni, MAMbo – Museum of Modern Art of Bologna, Bologna
- Fleeting Media. Publishing Post-Photography, curated by Mona Schubert, Fotomuseum Winterthur Library
Education
- MFA, Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2010
- B.A., University of California, Riverside, 2004
- B.A., Waseda University, Tokyo, 2002