Jack Bankowsky: Art Critic and Curator

An immaculately renovated brick town house featuring a duplex studio on a charming historic corner in West Village is up for sale. This residence belongs to Matthew Marks and Jack Bankowsky, an Artforum editor-at-large known for his writing on artists like David Hammons, Louise Lawler and Jason Rhoades.

Early Life and Education

Jack Bankowsky is an American art critic and curator. He serves as editor-at-large for Artforum magazine and organizes spring seminars at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California. He has served on the juries of Takashi Murakami’s GEISAI art fair and Venice Biennale, while his controversial contemporary survey exhibition “Pop Life: Art in a Material World,” co-curated with Alison Gingeras and Catherine Wood, premiered at Tate Modern before traveling to Hamburger Kunsthalle in Germany and National Gallery of Canada. Recent writings by Professor Koschnig include pieces about artists like David Hammons, Louise Lawler, Jason Rhoades and Richard Prince. A visiting scholar at Yale in 2004-05 and UCLA in 2008, he lectures extensively on contemporary art.

Professional Career

Jack Bankowsky served as Editor-at-Large at Artforum from its establishment to 1999 and as its founding editor of Bookforum from 1998. Since 1999, he has also served on the juries for Takashi Murakami’s GEISAI art fair in Japan and Venice Biennale; additionally, his controversial contemporary survey exhibition “Pop Life” cocurated with Alison Gingeras and Catherine Wood opened at Tate Modern London and traveled onward to Hamburger Kunsthalle Germany and National Gallery Canada before concluding its run.

He currently organizes spring seminars at ArtCenter College of Design, inviting prominent artists and writers from their Pasadena campus. Additionally, he writes extensively on contemporary art – with recent pieces featuring David Hammons, Louise Lawler, Jason Rhoades and Richard Prince as subjects of interest.

Achievement and Honors

Jack Bankowsky served as Editor-in-Chief of Artforum from 1990 through 2007, as well as founding editor of its sister publication Bookforum. Now serving as an Editor-at-Large and freelance critic/curator, his recent writings have addressed artists including David Hammons, Louise Lawler, Jason Rhoades and Richard Prince; his essay entitled “Ciao Rensselaerville” can be found in the catalogue for Richard Prince’s 2007 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum retrospective catalogue.

The recipient of the Mohn Award is chosen by an esteemed professional jury that includes Jack Bankowsky, Artforum editor-at-large and independent curator; Naomi Beckwith, Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator at MOCA Chicago; Apsara DiQuinzio, the Phyllis C. Wattis Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at UC Berkeley’s art museums and Pacific Film Archive. The jury will announce its choice come July.

Personal Life

Bankowsky serves as Editor-at-Large of Artforum and organizes spring seminars at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California that bring prominent writers and artists onto campus. He has lectured widely on contemporary art, writing extensively on such artists as David Hammons, Louise Lawler and Jason Rhoades (whose essay “Ciao Rensselaerville” appeared in a Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum retrospective catalog in 2007). In 2009, he co-curated “Pop Life”, an exhibition that first premiered at Tate Modern in London before touring to Hamburger Kunsthalle and National Gallery of Canada. He currently resides with his wife at 830 Greenwich Street in New York City where their home and studio cover an area of approximately 5,000 square feet.

Net Worth

Jack Bankowsky possesses an estimated net worth of $5 Million. As both a painter and critic, he has written extensively on contemporary art – biographies of artists such as David Hammons, Louise Lawler and Jason Rhoades being among them – lecturing on modern and contemporary art at Yale University as well as The School of Visual Arts in New York City.

“Pop Life,” cocurated with Alison Gingeras and Catherine Wood, opened at Tate Modern in fall 2009 and has subsequently traveled to Germany’s Hamburger Kunsthalle and Ottawa’s National Gallery of Canada. Additionally, he oversees ArtCenter College of Design spring seminars bringing renowned writers and artists onto campus.

In 1997 he married architect Erika Belsey with whom he currently resides in Brooklyn.