Klea McKenna is a visual artist who also makes films and writes. She is currently a Guggenheim Fellow in photography. Her work has been shown and published internationally. Her photograms are held in several public collections, including SFMOMA, LACMA, Getty Museum, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the US Embassy collection, The Mead Museum of Art and The Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Klea is represented by EUQINOM Gallery in San Francisco. In addition to her own art practice, she was co-founder and photographer at IN THE MAKE, an online arts journal that published studio visits and interviews with over 120 West Coast artists from 2011 to 2015. She is the daughter of renegade ethnobotanist Kathleen Harrison and the late psychedelic philosopher Terence McKenna. Klea lives in San Francisco with her partner and their young children. Her first monograph, Witness Mark, was published by Saint Lucy books in 2023.
SELECTED PRESS
2023
San Francisco Chronicle, artist feature by Jessica Zack
Harper’s Magazine, November Issue
2022
Brooklyn Rail, Klea McKenna: Rainbow Bruise by Hearne Pardee
LENSCRATCH, Klea McKenna in Conversation with Kim Biel by Kim Biel
Gold Circle (UK), Klea McKenna: Rainbow Bruise by Marina Syrmakezi
DOCUMENTUM, podcast interview with Bill Boling
2021
Elephant Magazine, Marking Time: Keeping Art Alive During the Covid Year by Ravi Ghosh
2019
Artforum, Critic’s Pick, Klea McKenna, SHIFT at EUQINOM Gallery by Robert Becker
Crafts Magazine (UK), Reading the Surface of the World by Malaika Byng
Alameda Magazine, Bedford’s ‘Altered States’ Show Uses Nature as a Muse by DeWitt Cheng
2018
Art in America, Critic’s Pick, Best Photography Books of 2018 by Leah Ollman
Art Practical, review of Witness Mark by Vanessa Kaufmann-Zimmerly
Quiet Lunch, Klea McKenna Steps Into the Light with Bi-coastal exhibitions by Kurt McVey
LA Times, review of Generation by Sharon Mizota
Collector Daily, Klea McKenna: Generation @Gitterman by Richard B. Woodward
Museé Magazine, Exhibition Review: Klea McKenna-Generation by Adam Ethan Berner
LA Weekly, review of Generation by Shana Nys Dambrot
Photograph Magazine, Klea McKenna: Generation at Gitterman Gallery by Michael Wilson
2017
San Francisco Chronicle, review of Witness Mark by Maxine Marshall
LensCulture, The Photographer’s Touch, video interview with Coralie Kraft
Art in America, Rematerializing Photography by Leah Ollman
Vice Magazine, artist feature by Noémie Jennifer
Art and Antiques Magazine, Low Tech, High Concept
Carmel Magazine, Review of Low Fidelity at CPA
2016
Artforum, Critic’s Pick, Of Many Minds at EUQINOMprojects by Kim Beil
LA Times, review of Automatic Earth by Leah Ollman
Gold Circle (UK), A Slice of Time and Space by Marina Syrmakezi
Cottages & Gardens, Inside the Studios of 5 Minnesota Street Project Artists by Alisa Carroll
PDN Magazine, August Issue, Photography's New Dimensions by Holly Hughes (cover image)
2015
LensCulture, Contact: Direct Reflections of Landscape by Alex Strecker
The Bay Area Reporter, Women Behind the Lens by Sura Wood
Art Practical, Night Begins the Day: Rethinking Space, Time, and Beauty by Vanessa Kaufmann
San Francisco Chronicle, review of Night Begins the Day by Kenneth Baker
KQED Arts, review of Night Begins the Day by Matthew Tedford
Squarecylinder, Night Begins the Day @ CJM by Maria Porges
2014
New York Times Style Magazine, artist feature by Caroline Hirsch
Vice Magazine, 'The Butterfly Hunter' by Klea McKenna by Tao Lin
Art Scene, Melanie Willhide and Klea McKenna by Jody Zellen and Michael Shaw
Conveyor Magazine, Issue No. 6, Alchemy: Air
2013
Wired, artist feature by Rebecca Horne
The New Yorker, Unique by Vince Aletti
DLK Collection, UNIQUE at Von Lintel Gallery
House, Autumn Issue, Klea McKenna by Rob Crossan
Tiny Atlas Quarterly, Field-Work, An Interview with Artist Klea McKenna by Aimee Friberg
In The Make, Artist Interview
The Buenos Aires Review, November Issue
San Francisco Chronicle, Cult Objects by Kenneth Baker
2012
Chronogram, Review of Surface Tension by Faheem Haider
Knight Arts, Review of Remainder by Chip Schwartz
Esquire (Russia), Images accompanying article on unmanned drones
Magazine Gitz Arts Journal (Korea), Vol. 4, Tracing Light by Sangyon Joo and Yoonsoo Kim
Moholy Ground Magazine, Issue 5, Slow Burn
2011
San Francisco Chronicle, review of Dark Star by Nirmala Nataraj
PDN Magazine, The Curator: Abstract/Mixed Media
Burn Away, Review of Echoes of the Sublime by Kristen Juarez
Art Critic ATL, Review of Echoes of the Sublime by Jerry Cullum
KQED Arts, Review of California Continued by Carmen Winant
Art Practical, Review of California Continued by Christina Wiles
2010
San Francisco Chronicle, review of Peripheral Vision by Kenneth Baker
ArtSlant, Illusive and Stunning by Parker Tilgham
Art News, March Issue, Counterpoint 2009, The Beginning by Lea Feinstein
2009
Taide & Design (Finland), Winter Issue, Butterfly Hunter by Gareth Spor
B&W Magazine, October Issue, Spotlight by Glen Helfand
2008
Boing Boing, December Issue, Terence McKenna’s Butterflies by Erik Davis
National Geographic Publishing: Peoples of the World
BOOKS
2023 Witness Mark, Monograph, St. Lucy Books
2022 The Olive Orchard, Limited Edition Artist Book
2018 Generation, Limited Edition Artist Book
2008 The Butterfly Hunter, Limited Edition Artist Book
RESIDENCIES, LECTURES, AND AWARDS
2023 Guggenheim Fellowship in Photography
In-Cahoots Artist Residency, Petaluma, CA
2022 Chalk Hill Artist Residency, Healdsburg, CA
2021 ARTADIA Award, Finalist
2018 Lucid Foundation Artist Residency
2016 SECA Award, Nominee
2015 Peter S. Reed Foundation Artist Grant
2013 Chalk Hill Artist Residency
2012 The Oxbow School, Artist in Residence
2011 The Curator Award, PDN Magazine
EDUCATION
2009 MFA, California College of the Arts
2002 BA, University of California Santa Cruz
2000 University of California Los Angeles
1999 Florence Art Institute, Italy
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Getty Museum
LACMA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Mead Art Museum at Amherst College
Museum of Fine Art Boston
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
New York Public Library
Peabody Essex Museum
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
SFMOMA: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Future Fair, solo booth with EUQINOM Gallery, NYC
2023
Rainbow Bruise, Penumbra Foundation, NYC
2022
Rainbow Bruise, EUQINOM Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2021
Klea McKenna, KM Arts, Washington Depot, CT
2019
Shift, EUQINOM Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2018
Generation, Gitterman Gallery, NYC
Generation, Von Lintel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2017
Witness Mark, EUQINOM Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016
Automatic Earth, Von Lintel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2014
No Light Unbroken, Von Lintel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Archipelago, Smith Anderson North, San Rafael, CA
Volcano Watchers, The Lab, San Francisco, CA
2011
Dark Star, site specific installation at Theatre Artaud, San Francisco, CA
2010
Slow Burn, Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco, CA
2008
Give Me a Sign, Café Royale Gallery, San Francisco, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
A Group Show, EUQINOM Gallery, San Francisco, CA
30 Year Anniversary Exhibition, Von Lintel Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2023
Vessel, EUQINOM Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Women of Northern California, John Natsoulas Center for the Arts, Davis, CA
You Are Here, Millard Sheets Art Center, Pomona, CA
2022
Sightlines: Photographs from the Collection, SFMOMA, CA
Known and Strange: Photographs from the Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
What Photography Is, Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke, VA
2021
Close to Home, SFMOMA, CA
Golden Hour: California Photography from LACMA, Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA; Riverside Art Museum, CA; Vincent Price Art Museum, CA; Cal State, Northridge, CA
2020
Image + Object, NUMU New Museum Los Gatos, CA
Rooted: Trees in Contemporary Art, Palo Alto Art Center, CA
2019
Altered States, Bedford Gallery, Lesher Center for the Arts, CA
Out of the Dark, Cabrillo College Gallery, Aptos, CA
Light, Paper, Process, The Mills Building, San Francisco, CA
2018
Talk to Me, Von Lintel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2017
Waterlines, NUMU New Museum of Los Gatos, CA
Insights, Photo Fair San Francisco, CA
Low Fidelity: The Action of Light, Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, CA
2016
California and The West, SFMOMA, CA
Of Many Minds, EUQINOMprojects, San Francisco, CA
Accumulations, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, MA
The Alchemist, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
Cameraless, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2015
Night Begins the Day, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
Femme Papel, Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco, CA
2014
Lay of the Land, Von Lintel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Modern Alchemy, Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY
Aggregate Exposure, George Lawson Galley, San Francisco, CA
Local Treasures, Berkeley Art Center, CA
Irrevocable Mark, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia, PA
The Possible, Berkeley Art Museum, CA
2013
Staking Claim: A California Invitational, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA
Unique, Von Lintel Gallery, NYC
Unseen, Cult /Aimee Friberg Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA
Tracing Light, Eugean Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2012
Surface Tension, Woodstock Center for Photography, Kingston, NY
Tracing Light, Datz Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
Remainder, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, PA
House Beautiful, site specific exhibition in a suburban home, Los Angeles, CA
Imagined Memory, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
X Libris, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
2011
Science of Sight: Alternative Photography, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, CA
California Continued, Smith Anderson North, San Rafael, CA
Dawn till Dusk, Jen Beckman Gallery, NYC
Exhibition of the recipients of PDN Magazine’s Curator Award, Milk Gallery, NYC
Echoes of the Sublime, Emily Amy Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2010
Foto Obscura, Heart, San Francisco, CA
Peripheral Vision, Togonon Gallery, San Francisco, CA
There’s a way in which…, PLAySPACE, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Cream, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, CA
Takashi Horisaki and Klea McKenna, Regina Rex, Brooklyn, NY
2009
ProArts Annual, ProArts Gallery, Oakland, CA
Home is something I carry with me, San Francisco, CA
Liberating Landscape, Togonon Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Fresh Young Things, Jay Jay Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Conversations, Sasha Wolf Gallery, NYC
2008
Code Switchers, The LAB, San Francisco, CA
Between Memory and Invention, PLAySPACE, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2007
California as Paradox, Fort Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Never Seen, Oliver Arts Center, Oakland, CA
2006
Group Show, Humble Arts Foundation, NY
Cruzando, FiftyCrows Gallery, San Francisco, CA
RaiseUp, ADM Project Gallery, Hollywood, CA; C. Emerson Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL