Paul Mpagi Sepuya (b. 1982, San Bernardino, CA) is an artist working in photography whose projects weave together histories and possibilities of portraiture, queer and homoerotic networks of production and collaboration, and the material and conceptual potential of blackness at the heart of the medium. His interests also include queer literary modernism, as well as questions of artistic responsibility and care regarding representation and refusal.
Sepuya received an MFA in photography at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, in 2016. From 2000 – 2014 Sepuya lived and worked in New York City, receiving a BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2004. Sepuya became known for his 2005 – 2007 zine series SHOOT and body of work Beloved Object & Amorous Subject, Revisited (2005-8), along with participation and collaborations in the re-emergence of queer zines culture of the 2000s. He went on to participate in Artist-in-Residence programs at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Center for Photography at Woodstock, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Fire Island Artist Residency.
Sepuya’s work is in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, MOCA Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Getty Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the ICA Boston, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the International Center for Photography, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Carnegie Museum, among others. Solo museum exhibitions include 144 Powers, The Alice Austen House Museum, Staten Island, NY (2022); The Hamilton Public Art Project, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA (2021); Drop Scene, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE (2020); Double Enclosure, Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (2018); and Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, MO / Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston, Houston, TX. Recent group museum exhibitions also include: Photography Now, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK (2023); Kinship: Photography and Connection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, (2023); Sightlines: Photographs from the Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (2022); The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today, National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C. (2022); Black American Portraits, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (2021); Implicit Tensions: Mapplethorpe Now, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (2019); the 2019 Whitney Biennial, New York, NY; The Body Electric, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (2019); Being: New Photography 2018, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon, the New Museum, New York, NY (2017).
Sepuya’s work has been covered and published in ARTFORUM, Aperture, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Art Review, Frieze, Art in America, Monocle, Osmos, The Nation, and The Guardian among others. He was a recipient of the 2019 Rauschenberg Residency. He is Acting Associate Professor in Media Arts at the University of California San Diego and has taught at CalArts and Bard’s MFA program.
Fish House Mirror (_1060652), 2019, 24 x 32 inches
Fish House Mirror (_1070368), 2019, 24 x 32 inches
Fish House Mirror (_1080062), 2019, 24 x 32 inches
Mirror Study (0X5A1933), 2019, 34 x 51 inches
Mirror Study (0X5A1948), 2019, 34 x 51 inches
Mirror Study (0X5A4206), 2019, 50 x 75 inches
Mirror Study (0X5A4215), 2019 34 x 51 inches
Mirror Study (0X5A4216), 2019, 9 x 13 inches
Mirror Study (0X5A4261), 2019, 50 x 75
Screen (_1100711), 2019, 34 x 45 inches
Screen (0X5A4359), 2019, 40 x 60 inches
A conversation around pictures (0X5A0816), 2019, 40 x 60 inches
A conversation around pictures (0X5A7523), 2019, 24 x 36 inches
Darkroom Mirror (0X5A4552), 2019, 24 x 36 inches
A portrait (0X5A8538), 2019, 24 x 36 inches
Darkroom Mirror diptych (0X5A4336, _1150028), 2019, 24 x 36 and 24 x 32 inches
Drop Scene (_1130068), 2019, 34 x 45 inches
Drop Scene (0X5A2742), 2019, 34 x 51 inches
Figure (0X5A4042), 2019, 24 x 36 inches
Figure (0X5A4229), 2019, 9 x 13 inches
Figures (0X5A7800), 2019, 13 x 9 inches
Paul Mpagi Sepuya, A Ground (0X5A1495), 2018, Archival pigment print, 51 x 34 in, Edition of 5
Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Black Mirror Study (_2110109), 2018, Archival pigment print, 24 x 32 in, Edition of 5
Installation view at Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, 2023 Photo: Sebastian Schaub
Courtesy of: The artist and Galerie Peter Kilchmann
Fish House Mirror (_1060652), 2019, 24 x 32 inches
Fish House Mirror (_1070368), 2019, 24 x 32 inches
Fish House Mirror (_1080062), 2019, 24 x 32 inches
Mirror Study (0X5A1933), 2019, 34 x 51 inches
Mirror Study (0X5A1948), 2019, 34 x 51 inches
Mirror Study (0X5A4206), 2019, 50 x 75 inches
Mirror Study (0X5A4215), 2019 34 x 51 inches
Mirror Study (0X5A4216), 2019, 9 x 13 inches
Mirror Study (0X5A4261), 2019, 50 x 75
Screen (_1100711), 2019, 34 x 45 inches
Screen (0X5A4359), 2019, 40 x 60 inches
A conversation around pictures (0X5A0816), 2019, 40 x 60 inches
A conversation around pictures (0X5A7523), 2019, 24 x 36 inches
Darkroom Mirror (0X5A4552), 2019, 24 x 36 inches
A portrait (0X5A8538), 2019, 24 x 36 inches
Darkroom Mirror diptych (0X5A4336, _1150028), 2019, 24 x 36 and 24 x 32 inches
Drop Scene (_1130068), 2019, 34 x 45 inches
Drop Scene (0X5A2742), 2019, 34 x 51 inches
Figure (0X5A4042), 2019, 24 x 36 inches
Figure (0X5A4229), 2019, 9 x 13 inches
Figures (0X5A7800), 2019, 13 x 9 inches
Paul Mpagi Sepuya, A Ground (0X5A1495), 2018, Archival pigment print, 51 x 34 in, Edition of 5
Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Black Mirror Study (_2110109), 2018, Archival pigment print, 24 x 32 in, Edition of 5
Installation view at Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, 2023 Photo: Sebastian Schaub
Courtesy of: The artist and Galerie Peter Kilchmann
2023 5.30
Le Quotidien de l'art
ARCO Lisboa
2023 5.6
Group Exhibition at SF MOMA
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 4.27
Group Exhibition at MACRO
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 3.26
Group Exhibition at Hammer Museum
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 3.23
Group Exhibition at Edouard Merlier Photo Gallery
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 3.15
Los Angeles Times
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 3.9
e-flux- Exhibition programme 2023
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 3.4
Group Exhibition at MANDEVILLE ART GALLERY
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 2.26
Solo Museum Exhbition at Temporary House of Photography
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 2.18
Event-"It's Time": Conversation moderated by Larry Ossei-Mensah
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 2.14
Group Exhibition at La MaMa Galleria and Lehman College Museum of Art
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 1.15
Group Exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Art
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 1.14
Group Exhibition at Vielmetter
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 1.14
Group Exhibition at The Center for Photography at Woodstock
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2023 1.7
Group Exhibition at Samiose
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 11.25
Solo Exhibition at The House of Photography at Deichtorhallen Hamburg
Paul Mpagi Seguya
2022 11.25
Press: V Magazine
Viewing Pleasure: Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 9.3
Solo Exhibition at Vielmetter
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 8.18
Group Exhibition at the Museum of the African Diaspora
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 7.8
Press: Cultured
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 6.1
Solo Biennial Presentation at Centre for Contemporary Photography in Melbourne
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 5.27
Acquisition by Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 5.27
Group Exhibition at the Getty Museum
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 5.26
Group Exhibition at Los Angeles Contemporary Archive
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 5.20
Solo Exhibition at Bortolami Gallery
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 5.19
Artist Lecture: “ICA Speaks: Paul Mpagi Sepuya”
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 5.13
Press: Document Journal
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 4.30
Group Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 4.19
Group Biennial Presentation at Bienal de Coimbra
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 2.26
Group Exhibition at Fotomuseum Winterthur
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 2.24
Group Exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 2.5
Group Exhibition at MCASB
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 2.3
Group Exhibition at Mitchell-Innes & Nash
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 2.1
Group Exhibition at Lehigh University Art Gallery
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2022 1.14
Group Exhibition at James Cohan
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 12.7
Group exhibition at Princeton University Art Museum
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 12.6
A Magazine curated by Grace Wales Bonner
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 12.2
The Art Newspaper
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 11.15
Artsy
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 11.12
Numéro
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 11.7
Group Exhibition at LACMA
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 11.5
Frieze
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 11.5
The Art Newspaper
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 11.4
Les Inrockuptibles
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 11.4
5 Questions, 5 Artists Panel at LACMA Online Public Programs
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 11.1
Solo presentation at Paris Photo
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 10.29
Photographs published in Fantastic Man, Issue 34
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 10.7
Finalist for 2022 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 9.7
Group exhibition at Grinnell College Museum of Art
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 9.2
Group exhibition at Gallery 400, University of Illinois at Chicago
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 9.1
Wallpaper Magazine limited edition cover
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 7.15
Athens Biennale - AB7: ECLIPSE
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 7.10
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 4.27
Art Viewer
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2021 3.18
Artadia 2021 Los Angeles Awardee
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2020 12.28
Artists for Akbar - Solidarity Print #3
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2020 12.10
Solo exhibition at Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2020 9.18
Solidarity Print #2
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2020 6.2
Solidarity Print
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2020 5.20
Participation in NADAs online art fair initiative: FAIR
Elizabeth Atterbury, Sterling Lawrence, Erin Jane Nelson, Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2020 4.28
The Guardian
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2020 4.4
Monograph via Aperture and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
2019 12.5
Art Basel Miami Beach 2019
DOCUMENT at Art Basel Miami Beach 2019
2019 10.19
Blaffer Art Museum
Paul Mpagi Sepuya at Blaffer Art Museum
2019 10.16
Artnet News
From Bruegel in Vienna to Basquiat in Paris, Here Are 38 Must-See Museum Shows Worth Traveling for This Fall
2019 9.14
Glamcult
Paul Mpagi Sepuya at Foam Amsterdam
2019 5.17
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
Paul Mpagi Sepuya at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
2019 5.17
Whitney Museum of American Art
Paul Mpagi Sepuya: Whitney Biennial
2019 4.27
Stonewall 50
Paul Mpagi Sepuya: Stonewall 50 at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
2019 3.29
The New Yorker
Paul Mpagi Sepuya Mines the Queer History of the Portrait Studio
2019 3.28
The New York Times
New York Art Galleries: What to See Right Now
2019 3.1
ARTFORUM
PROJECT: PAUL MPAGI SEPUYA
2018 10.18
FIAC
DOCUMENT at FIAC Paris 2018
2018 5.18
Contemporary Art Daily
Paul Mpagi Sepuya at DOCUMENT
2018 4.19
Newcity Art Review
INTIMATE MOVES IN A DARK ROOM, PAUL MPAGI SEPUYA AT DOCUMENT
2018 4.14
ARTFORUM
ARTFORUM CRITICS’ PICKS
2018 3.18
MoMA
Being: New Photography 2018
2021 4.16–5.29
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Stage
2020 7.10–8.29
Elizabeth Atterbury, Geraldo de Barros, Jessica Campbell, Mary Helena Clark, Julien Creuzet, Victoria Fu, Aron Gent, Gordon Hall, Jennefer Hoffman, Norman Kelley, Sterling Lawrence, Laura Letinsky, Christy Matson, Christopher Meerdo, Jonathan Muecke, Erin Jane Nelson, Gordon Parks, Sara Greenberger Rafferty, RO/LU, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Greg Stimac, Andrew Norman Wilson
Interiors
2018 4.13–5.26
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Dark Room
2015 10.24–12.5
Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Figures / Grounds / Studies
|
Artist |
Exhibition |
Dates |
Type |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paul Mpagi Sepuya |
Stage |
2021 4.16–5.29 |
Past |
 |
|||
|
Elizabeth Atterbury, Geraldo de Barros, Jessica Campbell, Mary Helena Clark, Julien Creuzet, Victoria Fu, Aron Gent, Gordon Hall, Jennefer Hoffman, Norman Kelley, Sterling Lawrence, Laura Letinsky, Christy Matson, Christopher Meerdo, Jonathan Muecke, Erin Jane Nelson, Gordon Parks, Sara Greenberger Rafferty, RO/LU, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Greg Stimac, Andrew Norman Wilson |
Interiors |
2020 7.10–8.29 |
Past |
 |
|||
|
Paul Mpagi Sepuya |
Dark Room |
2018 4.13–5.26 |
Past |
 |
|||
|
Paul Mpagi Sepuya |
Figures / Grounds / Studies |
2015 10.24–12.5 |
Past |
 |
|||
