Troy Brauntuch

Troy Brauntuch (b. 1954, Jersey City, NJ)

For over forty years, Troy Brauntuch has been making paintings, drawings, and installations. He was born in 1954 in New Jersey and graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 1975. Shortly thereafter he moved to New York where he became a prominent member of a group of artists known as The Pictures Generation. He currently lives and works in Austin, Texas, where he is also a professor of Studio Art at The University of Texas at Austin.

Brauntuch first gained recognition in Douglas Crimp’s landmark Pictures exhibition at Artists Space, New York (1977), alongside artists such as Sherrie Levine, Robert Longo, and Jack Goldstein. He went on to exhibit in major international shows including the Venice Biennale and documenta 7 (both 1982), and An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art (1984). Brauntuch’s inclusion in The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Drawing from the Modern 1975–2005, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2026 reaffirmed his lasting influence on contemporary art.

Brauntuch has had numerous exhibitions at his galleries Petzel, New York and Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich. His current exhibition, Rodeo, is on view at The Warehouse in Dallas, Texas, until January 30, 2026. A major essay on his work was recently published in art critic and historian Alexander Bigman’s book, Pictures And The Past (The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 2024).

Troy Brauntuch, Untitled, 2016, Pigment on cotton, 111 x 157.5 inches, 281.9 x 400.1 cm

Brauntuch’s real quarrel has always been with beauty: what lies beneath it and how to navigate its often seductive amorality. He is a superb technician, and few would deny this show’s funereal splendor.

Zack Hatfield, Artforum, April 2020

Career Highlights

Installation view, Pictures, Artists Space, New York, 1977

1954 Born in Jersey City, New Jersey

1975 Receives B.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts, Valencia

1977 Participates in exhibition Pictures at Artists Space, New York

1982 Participates in Il Biennale di Venezia, Venice and Documenta 7, Kassel

1983 Partakes in exhibitions Back to the USA at Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne and Modern Nude Paintings: 1880-1980, National Museum of Art, Osaka

1984 Participates in exhibition An International Survey of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and Content at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.

1987 Participates in exhibition Avant-Garde in the ‘80s at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles

1988 Work included in exhibition Art for Your Collection at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

1989 Participates in Prospect ‘89 at Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, and Nocturnal Visions in Contemporary Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art at Equitable Center, New York

Installation view, Day for Night: Whitney Biennial 2006, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2006

1990 Participates in exhibition Art Meets Science and Spirituality in a Changing Economy, at Museum Fodor, Amsterdam

1991 Participates in exhibition American Art of the 80’s at the Palazzo delle Albere, Trento

1995 Participates in exhibition Glaube-Hoffnung-Liebe-Tod at Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna

1998 Paticipates in exhibition Fast Forward at Kunstverein in Hamburg, Hamburg

1999 Receives Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant Participates in exhibition Texas Draws at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston

2000 Participates in exhibition Modern Art Despite Modernism at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

2001 Participates in exhibition Brooklyn Collects at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn

2005 Participates in exhibition Springtide at the ICA Philadelphia, Philadelphia

2006 Participates in Day for Night: Whitney Biennial 2006 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York and Drawing from the Modern 1975-2005 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York

Solo exhibition at Petzel Gallery, New York

Installation view, Troy Brauntuch, A Strange New Beauty, Petzel, New York, 2020

2007 Work included in exhibition USB Openings: Drawings from the USB Art Collection, Tate Modern, London

2009 Participates in exhibition The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

2010 Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship

2011 Participates in exhibition Time Again at SculptureCenter, Long Island City

2014 Participates in exhibition In the Crack of Dawn at LUMA/Westbau Zurich, Zurich and The Illusion of Light, Palazzo Grassi/Francois Pinault Foundation, Venice

2019 Participates in exhibition Where Art Might Happen:The Early Years of Cal Arts at Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover

2020 Participates in exhibition Where Art Might Happen: The Early Years of Cal Arts, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz

Solo exhibition at Petzel Gallery, New York

Complete CV