Robin Lasser

Robin Lasser

rjlasser@earthlink.net

Website: http://www.robinlasser.com

   Oakland, CA

Robin Lasser is an artist residing in Oakland, California. She is currently a Professor of Art at San Jose State University.

Lasser produces photographs, video, site-specific installations and public art dealing with socially and culturally significant imagery and themes. Lasser often works in a collaborative mode with other artists, writers, students, public agencies, community organizations, and international coalitions to produce public art and promote public dialogue. Lasser is currently working on a collaborative project with Adrienne Pao titled Dress Tents, Nomadic Wearable Architecture that conflates public art, fashion, performance art, and photography. The most recent public art commission, Edible Dress Tent, is currently on display at the Montalvo Art Center. In 2011 Lasser received a $30,000 commission to create a public artwork titled: Ms. Yekaterinburgh: Camera Obscura Dress Tent and publish a book about the international exchange with Russia. In 2010 Lasser and collaborator Marguerite Perret received a $50,000 temporary public art commission from the San Jose Public Arts Program in collaboration with the ZERE01 International Arts Festival to create a sculpture, sound, and light public works titled:  Floating World: A Campground/Tent City for Displaced Human and Bird Song.

Lasser exhibits her work nationally and internationally. Recent international exhibitions include solo shows at museums such as: The Metenkov Museum of Photography, Yekaterinburg, Russia, The Recoleta Cultural Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and The Caixa Cultural Center in Rio De Janeiro. Lasser also participates in international biennials such as ZERO1: Global Art on the Edge, San Jose, California, Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Canada and the Pingyao International Photography Festival in Pingyao, China. Earlier national and international exhibitions include: Aronson Galleries – Parsons School of Design in New York City, Wave Hill Glyndor Gallery in the Bronx, New York City, L.A. County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, California, the De Young Museum in San Francisco, California, Osaka World Trade Center Museum in Japan and the Academy of Film in Prague, Czech Republic.

Her work has been published in numerous books and periodicals. Newspaper reviews include: The New York Times, New York Post, Time Out New York, Los Angeles Times, and the SF Chronicle. Magazine feature stories include: COLOR magazine (International), Flaunt (International), TOP (Brazil), Playboy (South America,) Marie Claire magazine (Taiwan, Greece), Dazed and Confused, (England), and Craft Magazine (US). Periodicals include: Afterimage, Artpapers and Artweek. In 2012-2013 Lasser’s work is included in the following books:  “Not a Toy: Radical Figures in Architecture and Costume,” PICTOPLASM Publishing, London, “Creative Fashion,” Olo editions, France, “We Are Photogirls, D.I.Y. Fashion Shoots Back,” London, “A Waiting Room Of One’s Own,” NEA and Washburn University Press, “Seven Days-Sister Cities-Artist Exchange,” published by the U.S. Department of State, and “Viz. Inter-Arts: Interventions,” University of Santa Cruz Publishing, U.S. Lasser’s work has also been included in books such as “Made in California, Art Image and Identity, 1900-2000, LACMA”, University of California Press, “Facing Eden 100 Years of Landscape Art in the Bay Area, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,” University of California Press, “Pregnant Images,” Mathews + Wexler, Routledge Press, “Fasting Girls”, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Vintage Press, “Women Artists of the American West”, Susan R. Ressler, McFarland & Company, Inc. and “Overlay Contemporary Art and the Art of Prehistory,” Lucy R. Lippard, Pantheon Books.

MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST

What did the Fellowship or Laureate mean to you at the time you received it?

This Fellowship helped to give me confidence in the unique directions developed for my art-making practice.

What do you do now? Has your art evolved or changed?

I am now a Full Professor of Art at San Jos? State University. My art continues to evolve. I now work internationally on creating public art spectacles by providing social sculptures that encourage civic dialogue about environmental issues, culture, and the geopolitics of place and placemaking. To see images and videos of my photographs and installations, go to my website: www.robinlasser.com

What is one piece of advice you would give to an emerging artist?

Spend time creating what you believe in.

Briefly, how would you describe the state of the arts locally, as well as national and beyond?

Movements towards community-based artworks that have a strong aesthetic and compelling components.