As a participant in the collective Art & Language in New York (1972-76), Corris exhibited and published internationally, was a founding editor of The Fox, engaged in the organization of artists, and contributed to the debate surrounding the conjunction of avant-garde art and political activism. Such issues and contingent practices — once contentious and divisive of the art world — have coalesced since the mid-1980s to form stable and manageable forms of art and social engagement. These attitudes and practices are familiar to us as “institutional critique,” “interventionist art” and “art & social practice,” among other terms. For Corris, these practices continue to function as cultural formations open to critical inquiry and productive destabilization.
Corris’s practice as an artist exemplifies versatility. His art utilizes a variety of discursive platforms — public exhibitions, essay writing, exhibition organizing, and historical research — that are essentially situational, self-managed and generated by collaborative and conversational encounters that take place within and outside the art world.
Corris holds a Ph.D. in History of Art, University College London; M.F.A. Painting/Media, MICA, Baltimore; B.A. Art with Honors, Brooklyn College/City University of New York. He is Professor of Art, Criticism and Foundations, at the Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University, Dallas. His work may be found in public and private collections internationally, including the MoMA, Le Consortium Dijon, Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Britain, and the Getty Research Institute.
Corris’s writings on modern and contemporary art have been published widely in academic journals and the art media —Art-Language Journal, Art in America, Art Monthly, Artforum, Art Journal, Art History, art+text — and have been anthologized in Alex Alberro and Blake Stimson (eds.) Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology (MIT Press, 1999). Recent publications include Leaving Skull City: Selected Writings on Art (Les Presses du Réel, 2016), Conceptual Art: Theory, Myth and Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2004), Ad Reinhardt (Reaktion Books, London, 2008), Non-Relational Aesthetics (with Charlie Gere; London, 2008), Art, Word & Image: 2,000 Years of Textual/Visual Interaction (with John Dixon Hunt and David Lomas; Reaktion Books, London, 2010) among many others. Corris is series editor for Art Since the ’80s (Reaktion Books, London) and has served as reviews editor for Art Journal (2013-16, College Art Association, New York).
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