BIFF ELROD (1946 - )

Biff Elrod was born in Fort Worth, Texas the 21st of April 1946. He grew up in Texas moving from Fort Worth to Arlington, Galveston and Harlingen.

From 1964 to 1968 he attended the Memphis Academy of Arts in Memphis, Tennessee and received a B.F.A. (Bachelor of Fine Arts) in painting in 1968.

He spent the two following years (1969-70) in Hawaii where he received a M.F.A. (Master of Fine Arts) in painting from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. He had his first one-man show at the Foundry Gallery in Honolulu (1969).

Then he returned to Memphis to teach at the Southwestern College (1970-72). During those two years, he had two one-man shows in Memphis, some group shows in the area, a one-man show at the Pacific Grove Art Center in Monterey, California. In 1972, his work was shown in New York City at the French & Co Gallery.

In 1972, he decided to quit teaching to dedicate himself to painting and moved to Athens, Georgia. Between 1972-73, he had two one-man shows at the Scott Gallery in Atlanta and group shows at the High Museum of Art which purchased some paintings for the permanent collection of the Museum.

Then he moved to Boston, Massachusetts, had a group show at the Boston Center for the Arts and a one-man show at the Vault Gallery in 1974.

In 1974, he and his wife Daisy moved to New York City.

In 1977, he began working on large sheets of personally made cast paper. Those new works were shown in 1978 at the Soho Center for the Arts.

"My work is concerned with images from personal experience, remembered through black and white photographs, and executed on cast paper.

The paper itself is cast in specially constructed molds and then rhoplexed and gessoed to provide permanence. When the surface is ready, the photo image is transferred by means of a grid, and the painting is then built up in layers of brushed on primary color, from thin wash, to glaze, to opaque. All color used are drawn from memory or inherent requirements within the piece.

In general, my aim is to make a personal statement that can be encountered on a means and materials level as well as being read for representational content."

EDUCATION
1968 Memphis College of Art, Memphis, Tennessee BFA
1970 University of Hawaii, Manoa Campus, Honolulu, HI MFA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1988 Roswell Museum, Roswell, New Mexico, installation
1987 Schreiber/Cutler, Inc. New York, New York
1985 Ruth Siegel Gallery, New York, New York
1982 Gallery Yves Arman, New York, New York
1980 Gallery Yves Arman, New York, New York
1979 Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2003 "Saints and Gods" Galerie 311, New Orleans, LA
2000 "Self-Reflections-a glance in the Mirror" group show of paintings
in the Pfizer Corporation's exhibition space, east 42nd Street, NYC,
curator: Dorothy Solomon
1998 “Invitational” Memphis Arts Festival-Brooks Museum, Memphis,TN
1997 “Permanent Collection” Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art,
Roswell, New Mexico “Teamwork” Krasdale Foods Corp. Gallery, White
Plains, N.Y.
1990 “Creative Process” traveling exhibition-N.Y. area, Bronx Museum,
Brooklyn Museum, Lincoln Center Public Galleries
1989-88 “Art & the Law” sponsored by West Publishing Co. International
traveling exhibition (catalog)
1984-85 “Innocence and Experience” Greenville County Museum,
Greenville, South Carolina, (catalog). Also traveled to First Street
Gallery, N.Y.C.
1984 “The New Portrait” Institute for Art And Urban Resources (P.S.1),
Long Island City, N.Y., (curated by: Jeffrey Deitch, catalog)
1982 “Stylistic Plurality” Root Art Center, Hamilton College, Clinton,
N.Y. (catalog)
1980 “On Paper” Institute of Contemporary Art of the Virginia Museum,
Richmond, Virginia (catalog) “New York Realists- 1980” Thorpe
Intermedia Gallery, Sparkill, N.Y. (catalog)
1979 “Works on Paper” Nancy Hoffman Gallery, N.Y.,N.Y.

PUBLIC ART
1999 1986 mural titled “Ascent-Descent” restored, with all lower panels
replaced , painted in oil on cement board, and reinstalled. 13 panel
permanent mural), collection of PATH, The Port Authority of New York &
New Jersey, located: entrance to the Christopher Street PATH station,
Christopher Street, west of Hudson, N.Y.C. Originally sponsored by the
Public Art Fund.
1991 “Co-operative Labor A & B” two panels (8.5 feet X 12 feet - 11.5
feet X 6.5 feet) commission, PATH, Port Authority of N.Y. & N.J. “Sam
Houston’s School” 72 inches Sq., oil on canvas, Tennessee Heritage
Collection, First Tennessee Collection, First Tennessee Bank of
Memphis, Memphis, TN
1989 “Miami Mix” commission, (8 feet X 12 feet) collection of City of
Miami- located: Coconut Grove Convention Center, Miami, Florida

Paintings appearing in feature film and television productions:
Dressed to Kill, written and directed by Brian De Palma ( starring
Michael Caine, Angie Dickenson and Nancy Allen)
White Lies, written and directed by Ken Seldon (starring Julie Warner,
Rosanna Arquette)
Miami Vice, television series, one episode (starring Don Johnson)

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
McCall, Doug, The Times-Picayunne (Lagniappe) September 26, 2003,
reproduction.

Myles, Eileen, Art in America, review, Vol. 76, no. 3., March, 1988 pp.
156-7. reproduction.

“Fourteen Reasons Why New York is New”, The New York Times, Oct. 3,
1986. , repro.

The New York Times, September 3, 1986 , reproduction.

Westfall, Stephen, Arts Magazine, Vol. 60. no. 3., November , 1985,
p.130.

Niers, Gert, Aufbau , Germany June, 1985, reproduction.

Klein, Ellen Lee, Arts Magazine, review: “Rambunctious” show, March,1984

Hollfelder, Jack, Art Papers, Interview, Vol. 6., no. 2., March-April
1982 , pp.4-6.

Westfall, Stephen, Arts Magazine, Vol. 56., no.10., June 1982, p.20.

Schjeldahl, Peter, The New York Times, (Westchester Section) April 1

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, Roswell, New Mexico
Roswell Museum, Roswell, New Mexico
The National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, TN commission
The Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN
Coconut Grove Exhibition Hall, Miami, Florida commission
Tennessee State Foundation for the Arts, Nashville, TN
Oppenheimer and Company, New York, New York
A.T. & T.
Akerman, Senterfitt & Eidson, P.A., Miami, FL commission
Merck Inc., Rahway, New Jersey commission
Tennessee Heritage Collection, First Tennessee Bank, Memphis, TN
commission
Chemical Bank, New York, New York commission
Metro Media Corporation, Los Angeles, California
PATH, The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey commission
Prudential Insurance Company of North America, Chicago, Illinois
Brown University, Paul B. Pizzatola Building, Providence, R.I.
commission
Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN
Rhodes College of Art, Memphis, TN