Bio

Corey McGhee was born in Detroit, MI, and currently works and lives in Los Angeles, CA. Corey’s practice is based around his interest in storytelling. The stories that he creates are often based on his own life experiences as a young black male growing up in Detroit. In his works the artist uses pop cultural references and homages to classical styles of animation. Though not obvious, you may see some of these signifiers in a painting or animated installation. These references are used to talk about issues that children face, particularly black children in urban communities, such as: racism, classism, poverty, domestic abuse, drug abuse, violence, etc., and how these things affect the development from childhood into adulthood. Corey uses mediums such as painting, animation, installation, etc., to open up the discussion of what it means to grow up as a black male in an underprivileged environment. With his knowledge in graphic design, painting, and animation, Corey creates abstracted forms in his work. He does this by creating a drawing or collage and importing it into his computer where he uses digital programs to abstract the image. Afterwards, the work is exported via printer and goes through numerous layers of drawing, scanning, and abstraction until he is satisfied with the outcome. From there, the piece is either painted by hand, silk screened, made into an inkjet print, or digitally animated. Although Corey’s work speaks to heavily loaded topics that relate to his upbringing, he challenges the idea of what painting is. Due to his curiosity, Corey creates digital videos that he calls animated paintings. Making a work in this fashion is exploring Corey’s idea of painting taking different forms and existing through non conventional materials.

BORN

Detroit, Michigan 1989

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

EDUCATION

California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, M.F.A

Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, B.F.A

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Celestial Lounge, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA,  2017

Hero, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA,  2016

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Clothing Optional, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2017

Nomadic presents “Decisions Decisions”, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA,  2017

RAW DTLA Presents Fixate, Exhange LA, Los Angeles, CA, 2017

RAW DTLA Presents Verse, Exhange LA, Los Angeles, CA, 2017

MFA 2 Group Show, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA,  2016

MSU Undergraduate Exhibition, Kresge Art Museum, East Lansing, MI, 2012

Paint it Loud Paint it Proud, Kresge Art Museum, East Lansing, MI, 2012

Detroit Public Library 8th Annual Art Exhibition, Detroit Library, Detroit, MI, 2012

Vehicle City Week Exhibition, Flint, MI, 2012