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C.V.

MATTHEW ROLSTON (USA, b. 1955)

Biography

Matthew Russell Rolston is an American artist, photographer, and director known for his signature lighting techniques and detailed approach to art direction and design. He has been repeatedly identified throughout his career with the revival and modern expression of Hollywood glamour.

Born in Los Angeles, Rolston studied drawing and painting in his hometown at the Chouinard Art Institute and Otis College of Art & Design, as well as in the Bay Area at the San Francisco Art Institute. He also studied illustration, photography, imaging and film at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where in 2006, he received an Honorary Doctorate.

While still a student at Art Center, Rolston was “discovered” by Andy Warhol, for Warhol’s celebrity focused Interview magazine, where he began a successful career in photography.

Rolston’s photographs have been exhibited at museums and institutions. Selected group shows include Beauty CULTure (with Lauren Greenfield, Herb Ritts, Andres Serrano, and Carrie Mae Weems, 2011), The Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, California; The Warhol Look: Glamour, Style, Fashion (curated by Mark Francis and Margery King), The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1997); and Fashion and Surrealism, FIT Gallery, New York, 1987 (traveled to the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK, 1988).

Rolston’s works are in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the National Portrait Gallery (Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture at The Smithsonian, Washington D.C.) among others.

Highlighted Exhibition History

Rolston has been the subject of numerous institutional and gallery exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally, which have led to a series of publications authored by the artist. Rolston has shown work at institutions including The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA; Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, CA; Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK; Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. Rolston has exhibited internationally at galleries including CAMERA WORK, Berlin, DE; Diane Rosenstein Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA; Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA and Ralph Pucci International, Los Angeles, CA. Rolston’s first solo institutional exhibition on the West Coast opened Summer 2021 at Laguna Art Museum, titled Matthew Rolston, Art People: The Pageant Portraits

Education

  • 2006
    Honorary Doctorate, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
  • 1989
    Film Program, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
  • 1978
    Photography & Imaging, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
  • 1976
    Drawing & Painting, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
  • 1975
    Drawing & Painting, Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1974
    Drawing & Painting, Chouinard Art Institute, California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles, CA

Solo Exhibitions

  • 2021
    Matthew Rolston, Art People: The Pageant Portraits, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
  • 2018
    Talking Heads: The Vent Haven Portraits, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
  • 2018
    Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2017
    Art People: The Pageant Portraits, Ralph Pucci LA, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2017
    Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles, Camera Work Contemporary Gallery, Berlin, Germany
  • 2016
    Talking Heads: The Vent Haven Portraits, Camera Work Contemporary Gallery, Berlin, Germany
  • 2014
    Talking Heads, Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1993
    Big Pictures, Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, IL
  • 1991
    Big Pictures, Staley-Wise Gallery, New York, NY
  • 1991
    Big Pictures, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
  • 1991
    Big Pictures, Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1987
    Matthew Rolston: Magazine Work, Photographs, Govinda Gallery, Washington, D.C
  • 1982
    Matthew Rolston, Portraits, Jennifer Dumas Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1982
    New Hollywood Portraiture, FOTO Gallery, New York, NY

Group Exhibitions

  • 2022
    Installation (with Varnette Honeywood, Robert Mapplethorpe, Sadie Barnette, and others), curated by Laura Dvorkin and Maynard Monrow, The Bunker Artspace | The Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody, West Palm Beach, FL
  • 2021
    On the Edge, Los Angeles Art 1970s-1990s from the Joan and Jack Quinn Family Collection (with Robert Mapplethorpe, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Hockney, Ed Ruscha, and others), Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield, CA
  • 2020
    Hollywood Babylon: A Re-Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome (with Mike Kelley, Isabelle Albuquerque, Vaginal Davis, and others), curated by Benjamin Lee Ritchie Handler, Nicodim Gallery, and Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2020
    Vanity Fair: Hollywood Calling (with Annie Leibovitz, Helmut Newton, Herb Ritts, Collier Schorr, and others), Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2018
    Greater than LA (with Larry Bell, Kelly Lamb, Lauren Halsey, and others), Desert Center, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2014
    The Editor’s Eye: The Anthony Mazzola Years (with Slim Aarons, Francesco Scavullo, Bill King, and others), Hearst Gallery, Hearst Tower, New York, NY
  • 2014
    Joan Quinn Captured, Brand Art Center, Glendale, CA
  • 2013
    Joan, Joan, Joan, The Vi Smith Concourse Gallery at John Wayne Airport, Santa Ana, CA
  • 2013
    Through the Lens of the Blues Aesthetic: An Evening of Short Films Selected by Kevin Everson, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
  • 2013
    The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, SF Shorts: The San Francisco International Festival of Short Films, San Francisco, CA
  • 2011
    Mysterious Objects: Portraits of Joan Quinn, Santa Ann College Main Gallery, Santa Ana, CA
  • 2011
    Beauty CULTure, Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2000
    The Warhol Look: Glamour, Style, Fashion, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
  • 1999
    The Warhol Look: Glamour, Style, Fashion, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
  • 1998
    The Warhol Look: Glamour, Style, Fashion, Musée de la Mode, Marseilles, France
  • 1997
    The Warhol Look: Glamour, Style, Fashion, The Barbican Art Gallery, London, England
  • 1997
    The Warhol Look: Glamour, Style, Fashion, The Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
  • 1997
    The Warhol Look: Glamour, Style, Fashion, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
  • 1989
    New Nudes, Govinda Gallery, Washington, D.C.
  • 1988
    Fashion and Surrealism, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
  • 1987
    Fashion and Surrealism, FIT Gallery, New York, NY
  • 1987
    New Nudes, G. Ray Hawkins Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1985
    Working In L.A. (with Herb Ritts and Greg Gorman), G. Ray Hawkins Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1984
    Modern Masters (with Jean Pagliuso, Kim Steele, and Bruce Weber), Delahunty Gallery, Dallas, TX
  • 1984
    Modern Masters (with Jean Pagliuso, Kim Steele, and Bruce Weber), Hokin Kauffman Gallery, Chicago, IL

Selected Publications

  • 2021
    Matthew Rolston, Art People: The Pageant Portraits (Laguna Beach, USA, Laguna Art Museum)
  • 2017
    Hollywood Royale: Out of the School of Los Angeles (Kempen, Germany, teNeues)
  • 2012
    Talking Heads: The Vent Haven Portraits (New York, USA, Pointed Leaf Press)
  • 2008
    beautyLIGHT, Pictures at a Magazine (Kempen, Germany, teNeues)
  • 1991
    Big Pictures, A Book of Photographs (New York, USA, Bulfinch Press)

Selected Public Collections

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
National Portrait Gallery, The Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D.C.

Selected Talks and Lectures

  • 2023
    Seeing Through Style: The Past, Present and Future of Fashion Imagery, Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA
  • 2022
    William Mortensen at 125: A Virtual Panel Conversation, with curator, collector and gallerist Stephen Romano, curator, photographic historian and philanthropist Deborah Irmas, author, translator and editor Michael Moynihan, Ph.D., and curator, journalist and documentary filmmaker Brian Chidester, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
  • 2021
    In Conversation: Matthew Rolston, with cultural critic Christina Binkley, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
  • 2021
    In Conversation – Matthew Rolston and Michael Slenske: Art for Artist’s Sake, with arts writer and curator Michael Slenske, Soho Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2021
    In Conversation – Matthew Rolston and Merle Ginsberg: Art for Artist’s Sake, with arts and culture editor Merle Ginsberg, The Britely, West Hollywood, CA
  • 2021
    In Conversation: Matthew Rolston, with cultural critic Lindsay Preston Zappas and Getty Curator of Photographs Paul Martineau, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
  • 2019
    Studio to Studio: Hollywood’s Enduring Influence in Contemporary Art, Academy Museum Exhibitions Curator Jessica Niebel, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Curator Ryan Linkof, and art critic Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, Spring Place, Beverly Hills, CA
  • 2019
    The Power of Pleasure: Decoding the Art of Visual Seduction, Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA
  • 2019
    Is Glamour Art? A Conversation, with Autre Magazine founding editors Oliver Kupper and Summer Bowie, Frieze LA, Paramount Studios, Hollywood, CA
  • 2018
    In Conversation – Looking Back: Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine, with KCRW’s Frances Anderton, NeueHouse, Hollywood, CA
  • 2018
    Art People: A Conversation, with cultural critic Katya Tylevich, Ralph Pucci LA, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2018
    Photographic Arts Council of Los Angeles Artist Gallery Talk, Hollywood Royale, Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2018
    In Conversation: Matthew Rolston’s Hollywood Royale, with New Yorker Magazine contributing writer Christina Binkley, SoHo House West Hollywood, CA
  • 2018
    Hollywood Royale: Artist Talk with Matthew Rolston, with gallerist Ute Hartjen, The Battery Club, San Francisco, CA
  • 2018
    Iris Night Lecture Series: Hollywood Royale, with Vanity Fair contributing editor Matt Tyrnauer, The Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2018
    Glamour, Berlin, and Hollywood: Matthew Rolston, with Lee Kaplan, founder of Arcana Books on the Arts, Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, CA
  • 2018
    Hollywood Royale by Matthew Rolston, with Lee Kaplan, founder of Arcana Books on the Arts, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
  • 2018
    In Conversation: Matthew Rolston’s Hollywood Royale, with Wolfsonian curator Cathy Leff, SoHo Beach House, Miami, FL
  • 2018
    In Conversation: Matthew Rolston’s Hollywood Royale, with author and Warhol collaborator Pat Hackett, SoHo House New York, NY
  • 2017
    In Conversation: Matthew Rolston’s Hollywood Royale, with cultural critic Nadia Says, SoHo House Berlin, Germany
  • 2014
    The Rise of the Fashion Film, with New Yorker Magazine contributing writer Christina Binkley, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
  • 2011
    Iris Night Lecture Series: Matthew Rolston on “Beauty CULTure”, with journalist Merle Ginsberg, The Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2009
    beautyLIGHT by Matthew Rolston, with journalist Merle Ginsberg, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA

Selected Affiliations

  • Member, Director, Directors Guild of America
  • Board Member, FullCircle Alumni Association, ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, CA