Alan Scarritt (1945–2023) was an artist active in California in the late 20th century. He is best known for his conceptual art projects, mixed-media works on paper, video installation, and sound art.
Alan Bell Scarritt | |
|---|---|
 Alan Scarritt in 2011 | |
| Born | November 14, 1945 |
| Died | July 1, 2023 (aged 77)[1] |
| Known for | video installation, sculpture, works on paper, sound art |
| Movement | Conceptual art |
| Parents |
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| Awards | Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant California Arts Council Grant New York State Council on the Arts Grant National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship |
| Website | alanbscarritt |
Early life and education
editScarritt was born in Oak Park, Illinois to Ralph Scarritt Jr. and Natalie Bell Scarritt. He attended Brown University where he received a bachelor's degree in 1967, and went on to attend the California College of the Arts, where he received an MFA degree in 1972. He later took post-graduate courses at the Rhode Island School of Design.[1][2]
Work
editScaritt co-founded a studio called Site (later known as Site, Cite, Sight, Inc.) in San Francisco, along with artists Marilyn Bogerd and Mike Roddy.[3][4] Site was "a non-profit space for artists in San Francisco".[5]
In 1979, Scarritt was a featured artist in Space/Time/Sound: Conceptual Art in the Bay Area, the 1970s, an exhibition curated by Suzanne Foley at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.[6][7]
In 1981, Scarritt had a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, Seven from Three (For Go). A multi-media installation, it repurposed video that Scarritt had contributed to Send/Receive, a project organized by Liza Bear and Keith Sonnier from September 10–11, 1977, where "communications between artists in verbal, visual, dance, musical forms took place for 15 hours via NASA satellite."[8][9][10][11][12] In the later part of the 1980s, he began to focus on sculpture and photography, moving away from the audio-visual work he produced throughout the 1970s. [13]
Death
editScarritt died on July 1, 2023.[1]
Collections
edit- Museum of Modern Art[14]
- Davis Museum at Wellesley College[15]
References
edit- 1 2 3 "Alan Scarritt Obituary". Scarritt Studios. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
- ↑ "Biography". Scarritt Studios. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
- ↑ Grace, Sharon & Cohn, Terri. In Conversation: Sharon Grace with Terri Cohn. SF Aqueous Festival. June 2014. Retrieved from https://www.sfaq.us/2014/06/in-conversation-sharon-grace-with-terri-cohn/
- ↑ San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Receipt of Delivery 4. Open Space: SFMOMA Blog. July 2012. Retrieved from https://openspace.sfmoma.org/2012/07/receipt-of-delivery4/
- ↑ Myers, Julian, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, and California College of the Arts Curatorial Practice Program. 2011. Give Them the Picture : An Anthology of La Mamelle and ART COM, 1975-1984. Edited by Liz Glass and Susannah Magers. San Francisco, CA: California College of the Arts.
- ↑ Ouzounian, Gascia. , 2008. "Sound Art and Spatial Practices: Situating Sound Installation Art since 1958." Order No. 3291983, University of California, San Diego.
- ↑ Atkins, Robert. "SF Moma: Space Time Sound—The Seventies." Live 5, no. 3 (1980): 24-26. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/655516.
- ↑ Tacata, Ryan David. "La Mamelle: Early Bay Area Conceptual Performance Art and the Alternative Art Archive." Order No. 28119845 Stanford University, 2015. United States -- California: ProQuest. Web. 9 Jan. 2026.
- ↑ London, Barbara. 1985. “Video: A Selected Chronology, 1963-1983.” Art Journal 45 (3): 249–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043249.1985.10792306.
- ↑ Send/Receive: Liza Bear and Willoughby Sharp After A/V. Rhizome. November 29, 2012. Retrieved from https://rhizome.org/editorial/2012/nov/29/sendreceive-liza-bear-and-willoughby-sharp-after-a//
- ↑ Alan Scarritt Audio-Visual Installation at MoMA. Museum of Modern Art Press Archive. Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/5915/releases/MOMA_1981_0046_47.pdf
- ↑ Loeffler, Carl E., and Darlene Tong. 1989. Performance Anthology : Source Book of California Performance Art. Updated ed. San Francisco: Last Gasp Press : Contemporary Arts Press.
- ↑ Artforum International; Los Angeles Vol. 29, Iss. 7, (Mar 1, 1991): 130-131.
- ↑ "Alan Scarritt". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 29 January 2026.
- ↑ "Alan Scarritt". Davis Museum. Retrieved 29 January 2026.