An explorer and archivist of internet culture, Jon Rafman investigates the changing nature of the self under contemporary conditions as he navigates the boundaries between the virtual and the real, the historical and the personal. His body of digital and physical works traverses the found and the made, the still and the moving, incorporating video, installation, sculpture, photography and painting. By going back and forth from material to virtual, Rafman brings attention on how such a transformation has become intuitive for us, changing the different ways in which we know ourselves, and how we perceive and relate to the world around us. By exploring both the physical and the virtual, his works take up an unfamiliar and singular third space between the two realms.

Jon Rafman (b. 1981) lives and works in Montreal (Canada). He holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (USA). His work has gained international exposure with his series The Nine Eyes of Google Street View. Rafman has exhibited at the New Museum (USA), Palais de Tokyo (France), Stedelijk Museum (Netherlands), Saatchi Gallery (UK), the Contemporary Art Museum of Saint-Louis (USA), the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art of Toronto (MOCCA)(Canada) and the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (Canada). His work has been featured in prominent international group exhibitions, including K11 Art Shangai (2017), Sharjah Biennial (2017), Berlin Biennial 9 (2016) and Manifesta Biennial for European Art 11 (2016). Rafman’s work has been featured in Art in America, Modern Painters, Artforum, Frieze, and the New York Times. He was longlisted for the Sobey Art Award in 2014 and 2016, and finalist in 2015 and 2018. Rafman was one of the nominees for the prestigious Future Generation Art Prize in 2014. He was the recipient of the Prix Pierre-Ayot in 2015.

COLLECTIONS

Moderna Museum, Stockholm (Sweden)
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Julia Stoschek Collection, Dusseldorf (Germany)
Dallas Art Museum, Dallas (USA)
Rubell Family Collection, Miami (USA)
Zabludowicz Collection, London (UK)
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal (Canada)
Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Montreal (Canada)
Ville de Montréal Collection, Montreal (Canada)
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec Collection, Montreal (Canada)
Banque Nationale Collection, Montreal (Canada)
Hydro Québec Collection, Montreal (Canada)
Tedeschi Collection, Montreal (Canada)
Group Aldo Collection, Montreal (Canada)
Claridge Collection, Montreal (Canada)
TD Bank Group Collection, Toronto (Canada)
DeVos Art Museum, Northern Michigan University, Marquette (MI, US)
Getty Trust, Los Angeles (CA, US)
Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (Italy)
Blema and Arnold Steinberg Collection, Montreal (Canada)
Saatchi Collection, London (UK)
Depart Fondation (Italy)

EDUCATION

2008
Master of Fine Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Film, Video and New Media, Chicago (IL, US)

2004
Bachelor of Arts, McGill University, Philosophy and Literature, Montreal (Canada)