CV
Mel Chin
Born in Houston, Texas, 1951
EDUCATION
Peabody College, Nashville, TN, BA, 1975
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
Lamar Dodd Professorial Chair of Fine Arts, University of Georgia, Athens, GA (1994-97)
Consulting Professor, Stanford University, Stanford, CA (Winter 1998)
Sculpture Professor, Cooper Union, New York, NY (Fall 1999)
Paula and Edwin Sidman Fellow in The Arts, Institute for the Humanities
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (Fall 2001-Spring 2002)
Roman J. Witt Visiting Professor in the School of Art and Design
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (Fall 2002-Spring 2003)
Basler Chair of Excellence, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
(Fall 2004)
McIlroy Family Visiting Professor in the Visual Arts, Univ. of Arkansas,
Fayetteville, AR (Winter 2009)
MIT CoLab Mel King Community Fellow (2014-2016)
William Wilson Corcoran Visiting Professor of Community Engagement,
Corcoran School of Arts and Design at George Washington University
(2016-2017)
Black Mountain College Legacy Fellow, University of North Carolina,
Asheville, NC (2017-2018)
AWARDS / GRANTS
Visual Arts Commission, Houston Festival, 1982
Founder’s Day Grant, Uranian Phlanstery: The First NY Gnostic Lyceum,
1988
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 1988
Pollock/ Krasner Foundation Fellowship, 1989
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant, 1989
New York State Council for the Arts, Sponsored Projects Award, 1989-1990
Mid Atlantic Art Foundation, Residency: Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, 1990
Art Matters, Inc.: Artist’s Fellowship, 1990
National Endowment for the Arts: Artist’s Projects/New Forms, 1990/91
Englehard Award, 1991
Penny McCall Foundation Award, 1991
Cal Arts Alpert Award in the Visual Arts, 1995
Rockefeller Foundation Grant, 1996
Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, 1997
Creative Capital Grant, 2001
Nancy Graves Foundation Award, 2004
Honorary Doctorate, Rhode Island School of Design, 2006
Art Matters, 2007
Pedro Sienna Award, Best Animation, Nat. Council for Arts and Cultures,
Chile, for 9-11/9-11, 2007
Project Row House Artist Award, 2007
Voices Breaking Boundaries, Biennial Valiente Award, 2007
Cross Currents Foundation, 2008
Nathan Cummings Foundation, Award 2008
Transforma Projects/National Performance Network, 2006, 2007, 2008
Honorary Doctorate, Maryland Institute College of Art, 2008
Joan Mitchell Foundation, 2008
Honorary Doctorate, Green Mountain College, 2010
United States Artists, Fellow, 2010
Fritschy Prize, Sittard, Netherlands, 2010
Public Art Network Award, 2012
Alice Award, Interdisciplinary Art, 2012
A Blade of Grass Distinguished Artist Fellow, 2013-2016
Guggenheim Fellowship, 2015
Lee Krasner Award, Pollock Krasner Foundation, 2017, 2018, 2019
MacArthur Fellowship, 2019
American Academy of Arts and Letters, Elected Life Member, 2021
Honorary Doctorate, University of North Carolina, Asheville, NC, 2021
American Academy in Rome, Resident, Fall, 2023
ADVISORY BOARDS
Fabric Workshop and Museum, Artist Advisory Board, Philadelphia, PA
S.O.U.R.C.E. Studio, Burnsville, NC
ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
Robinson Galleries, Houston, TX, 1976, 1977
“Modus Operandi: 1974-1985,” Diverse Works, Houston, TX, 1985
“The Operation of the Sun Through the Cult of the Hand,” Loughelton
Gallery, NYC, 1987 *
“Selected Weapons,” Frumkin/Adams Gallery, NYC, 1988
“Directions: Mel Chin,” Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,
Washington, DC, 1989 *
“Viewpoints: Mel Chin,” Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, traveling
exhibition, 1990 *
“Mel Chin,” Menil Collection, Houston, TX, 1991 *
“Degrees of Paradise,” Storefront for Art and Architecture, NYC, 1991 *
“Soil and Sky,” The Fabric Workshop and Swarthmore College, Philadelphia,
PA, 1992 *
“Anxious Objects,” Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO, 1995
“Inescapable Histories,” Exhibits USA, traveling exhibition, 1997-1999 *
“Knowmad,” Frederieke Taylor Gallery, NYC, 2001
“Render,” Frederieke Taylor Gallery, NYC, 2003
“Do Not Ask Me,” Station Museum, Houston, TX, 2006 *
“Lamentations,” Frederieke Taylor Gallery, NYC, 2007
“Disputed Territories,” Museum Het Domein, Sittard Netherlands, traveling
exhibition, 2010 *
“Mel Chin,” Thomas Rehbein Galerie, Cologne, Germany, 2011
“The Funk and Wag From A to Z,” traveling exhibition, Nave Museum,
Victoria, TX, 2011-2012
“High Low and In Between,” Asheville Art Museum, 2012
“It’s Not What You Think,” Galerie Steinek, Vienna, AUS 2012
“ReMatch, Retrospective Exhibition” New Orleans Museum of Art, New
Orleans, LA, traveling exhibition, 2014 *
“All Over the Place,” Queens Museum, New York, NY, April – August 2018
“Points of View,” Five Points Museum of Contemporary Art, Victoria, TX,
2021
“Mel Chin, Inescapable Histories,” University of Texas, Arlington, 2022
“Mel Chin: There’s Something Happening Here,” Madison Museum of
Contemporary Art, Madison, Wis, 2022
PROJECTS, INSTALLATIONS AND PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
“A SUBURBAN CELL,” 3511 Main Street, Houston, TX, 1976
“THE EARTH WORKS: SEE-SAW,” Houston Arts Festival, Hermann Park,
Houston, TX, 1976
“THE MANILA PALM,” Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, 1978-
present
“WATER WHEEL/KEEPING STILL (The Great Wheel of China),”
U of H/Clearlake, TX, 1976
“MYRRHA/P.I.A,” Bryant Park (Public Art Fund), NYC, 1984-85;
___Max Hutchinson Sculpture Fields, Kenoza Lake, NY, 1986-2012
“ECLIPTIC FENCE,’ commissioned work, private collection, Houston, TX,
1986
“FORGETTING TIANANMEN, KENT STATE, TLATELOLCO,” performance and
production in collaboration with the Corcoran School of Art, Washington,
DC, 1989
“CONDITIONS FOR MEMORY,” installation: Central Park Arts Commission,
NYC, 1989
“GHOST,” site specific installation: Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 1990*
“SUPPORT: INSTALLATION AND RESPONSE TO JUNE 10, 1991,” Simon
Watson Gallery, NYC, 1991
“REVIVAL FIELD: MINNESOTA,PENNSYLVANIA” implemented: June 1991,
Harvested: October 1991, 1992, and 1993
___Site: Pig’s Eye Landfill, St. Paul, MN (a designated Hazardous Waste State
Superfund site)
___Site: Palmerton, PA (a designated Hazardous Waste Federal Superfund
site)
“REVIVAL FIELD/NETHERLANDS: SIMULTANEOUS REPLICATED FIELD
TEST,” Initiated: Spring 1992, Sites: Floriadepark, Zoetermeer / rural
Netherlands
“GALLERY,” simultaneous installation: Capp Street Project, San Francisco,
CA, Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA, May, 1992*
“STATE OF HEAVEN,” collaborative international project, US, Canada,
Turkey, 1992-ongoing
“HEARTFELT” Storefront for Art and Architecture, Eco Tec International,
Corsica, France, 1994
“GOUGE,” Monuments to Murder Victims, New York Times Magazine, April
9, 1995
“LANDMIND,” West Queens High School, Percent for Arts Commission,
permanent installation, NYC, 1995
“SIGNAL,” Broadway/Lafayette Subway Station Design, Metro Transit
Authority, Commission, NYC, permanent installation, 1995
“SCRATCH,” Thread Waxing Space, New York, NY, 1996*
“HOUSTON SESQUICENTENNIAL PARK MONUMENT,” Commission,
permanent installation, Houston, TX, 1996-1998
“ADDISON ROAD PROJECT,” Commission, national competition, team design
with Michael Van Valkenburg Associates, permanent installation,
Addison, TX, 1996-1999
“RECOLECCIONES: SAN JOSE LIBRARY PROJECT,” commission, national
competition, permanent installation, San Jose, CA, 1999-2005
“S.O.S. MOMENT,” in association with Art 21, video documentary, 2004
“UNTITLED HISTORY,” City of Corpus Christi, TX, Commission, national
competition, permanent installation, 2005
“911-911,” animated film, U.S./Chile production, 2007
“SAFEHOUSE” installation, St. Rock Community, New Orleans, LA 2008-2010
“UNCOMMON WEALTH BY THE PEOPLE OF PHILADELPHIA,” The Fabric
Workshop Museum, Philadelphia, 2010-2011
“THE CABINET OF CRAVING,” Asia Society of Houston, Houston, TX 2012
“THE USE AND ABUSE OF HISTORY,” special presentation at 21 St. Projects,
New York, NY, 2013
“RECAP,” McColl Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC, 2013
“BEST LAID PLANS AND UNAUTHORIZED COLLABORATIONS,” Thomas
Rehbein Galerie, Cologne, Germany, 2013
“MORE GREATEST HITS,” Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA, 2014
“GALA POOL,” Red Bull Studio, New York, NY, exhibition concurrent with “TOTAL PROOF: The Gala Committee 1995-97”, 2016
“THE FUNDRED RESERVE,” The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design,
Washington DC, 2017
“TWO ME,” Monument Lab, Philadelphia, PA, 2017, Toledo Museum of Art,
Toledo, OH 2019
“SAN ANTONIO PORTAL,” San Antonio River Foundation, TX, Spring, 2018
“WAKE” & “UNMOORED,” Times Square, New York, NY, Summer, 2018
“WAKE,” Asheville Public Art Program, Asheville, NC, 2021, Atlanta Beltline,
2023-2024
“BETTER TOGETHER,” Frieze Art Fair, New York, NY; Dallas Museum of Art,
Dallas, TX 2021
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
“Houston Area,” Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, TX, 1977
“Fire,” Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, 1979
“Prisoners of Conscience,” traveling exhibition organized by Amnesty
International, Studio One, Houston, TX, 1982*
“Showdown/Lowdown: Art of the Southwest,” Alternative Museum, NYC,
1983
“Seen/Unseen,” Diverse Works, Houston, TX, 1983
“Benefit for Amnesty International, USA,” Diverse Works, Houston, TX,
1983*
“The Texas Landscape 1900 -1986,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, 1986*
“The Double Bind,” Loughelton Gallery, NYC, 1987
“Notes on the Virtual,” Loughelton Gallery, NYC, 1987
“Spectrum: New Developments in Three Dimensions,” Frumkin/Adams
Gallery, NYC, 1988
“Texas Art: Selections from the Menil Collection, the Museum of Fine Arts
and the Trustees’ Collections of the Contemporary Arts Museum,” Menil
Collection, Houston, TX, 1988*
“Public Art in Chinatown,” Asian American Arts Center, NYC, 1988
“Sculpture: Part II,” Frumkin/Adams Gallery, NYC, 1989
“Tradition and Innovation: A Museum Celebration of Texas Art,” Museum of
Fine Arts, Houston, TX,1990
“This Land: The State of Texas,” Lawndale Art and Performance Center,
Houston, TX, 1990
“The Conceptual Impulse,” Security Pacific Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA, 1990 *
“Garbage Out Front: A New Era of Public Design,” The Municipal Art Society,
NYC, 1990
“Diverse Representations,” Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey, 1990*
“Glass: Material in the Service of Meaning,” Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma,
WA, 1991*
“Salvage Utopia,” A/C Project Room, NYC, 1991
“Beyond Glory: Re-Presenting Terrorism,” Maryland Institute College of Art,
Baltimore, MD, 1992*
“The Retangled Bank,” E. M. Donahue Gallery, NYC, 1992
“Allocations: Art for a Natural and Artificial Environment,” Floriadepark,
Zoetermeer, Netherlands, 1992
“Putt Modernism,” traveling exhibition, Artists Space, NYC, 1992
“Fragile Ecologies,” traveling exhibition, Smithsonian Museum, originating
The Queens Museum of Art, NYC, 1992*
“From Destruction to Reclamation: Art and the Environment in the
Nineties,” Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC,
1993*
“Exposition Differentes Natures,” traveling exhibition, La Defense, Paris,
France, 1993*
“Kunst-Kultur-Okologie,” Bea Voigt Gallery, Munich, Germany, 1993
“Markets of Resistance,” White Columns, NYC, 1993*
“New York Artists,” Prague, Czech Republic, February, 1994
“Out of This World,” Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, 1994
“The Lure of the Local,” University of Colorado at Boulder, 1994
“The Garbage Show,” Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 1994
“Public Interventions,” ICA, Boston, MA, 1994
“Landscape As Metaphor,” Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, traveling
exhibition, 1994*
“Equal Rights and Justice,” High Museum, Atlanta, GA, 1994*
“Fifth Biennial of Havana,” National Museum of Fine Arts, Centro Wifredo
Lam, Havana, Cuba: 1994*
“Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art,” Cleveland Center for
Contemporary Art, OH, 1994*
“Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American
Art” Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, 1994*
Armand Hammer Collection, Los Angeles, CA
“Murder,” Bergamot Station Art Center, Santa Monica, CA, 1995*
Thread Waxing Space, NYC
Centre Gallery, FL
“Magic Objects,” Munich, Germany, 1995*
“Texas Myths and Realities,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, 1995
“Thinking Print,” Museum of Modern Art, NYC, 1996
“Is It Art? Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY, traveling exhibition, 1996*
“Art at the End of the 20th Century,” Whitney Museum, NYC, 1996*
National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens, Greece*
Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain
Kuntsmuseum Bonn, Germany
In the Name of the Place, “Uncommon Sense,” Museum Of Contemporary
Art, Los Angeles, CA, 1997*
Kwangju Biennale, Kwangju, Korea* Grand Arts, Kansas City, MO*
Lawing Gallery, Houston, TX
“In Print: Contemporary Artists at the Vinal Haven Press,” 1996*
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, 1997
Boston College, Boston, MA, 1997
“Embedded Metaphor,” Ringling Museum of Art, 1996*
Western Washington University
Bowdin College Museum of Art
Contemporary Art Center of Virginia
Wesleyan University
“Natural Reality, Artistic Positions Between Nature and Culture,” Ludwig
Forum for International Art, Aachen, Germany, 1999*
“World Views,” Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, MN, 1999*
“Botanica, Contemporary Art and the World of Plants,” Tweed Museum of
Art, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN, July 20 -October 12, 1999,
traveling exhibition, 1999-2000*
“Money-Making: The Fine Art of Currency,” The Federal Reserve,
Washington, DC, traveling exhibition, 2000*
“Texas,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, 2000*
Lyon Biennial, Lyon, France, 2001*
“Tele(Visions),” Kunsthalle, Vienna, Austria 2001*
“One Planet Under A Groove,” Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY,
traveling, 2002*
“A New World Trade Center: Design Proposals,” Max Protetch Gallery, NYC,
traveling, 2002
“Selections from the Collection of Wilhelm Schurmann,” Stadehaus
Museum, Dusseldorf, Germany 2002*
“The Culture of Violence,” Amherst College Museum, Amherst, MA,
traveling, 2002*
“Ecoventions,” Cincinnati Art Center, OH, 2002
Max Protetch Gallery, NYC, 2002
“Signatures of the Invisible,” PS1, NYC, 2003
“Freedom Salon,” Deitch Projects, NYC, 2004
“Road In Sight,” Duke University, Durham, NC, 2005
“Down the Garden Path: The Artist’s Garden After Modernism,” Queens
Museum, NYC, 2005*
“Wunderkammer: A Century of Curiosities,” Museum of Modern Art, NYC,
2008
“Close Encounters: Facing The Future,” American University Museum,
Washington, DC, 2008
“No Zoning,” Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX 2009*
“Forbidden Love: Art in the wake of Television Camp”, Kolnischer
Kunstverein, 2010*
“Living As Form,” Creative Time, NYC, 2011*
“ARTIFACTUAL realities,” Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston,
TX, 2012*
“This Side of Paradise,” presented by No Longer Empty at the Andrew
Freedman Home, Bronx, NY, 2012
“No Man May Carry a Fish into a Bar,” Blum and Poe Gallery, Los Angeles,
CA, 2012
“How Much do I Owe You?,” No Longer Empty, Long Island City, NY, 2012
“no emotion: Drawings by William Anastasi, Mel Chin and Jochem
Hendricks,” Thomas Rehbein Galerie: Bruxelles, Belgium, 2013
“Carbon 14: Climate is Culture Exhibition,” Royal Ontario Museum, Institute
for Contemporary Culture, Toronto, Canada, 2014
“Experiments With Truth: Gandhi and Images of Non-Violence,” The Menil
Collection, Houston, TX, 2014-2015 *catalogue
“Connecting the World: The Panama Canal at 100,” Mint Museum, Charlotte
NC, 2014*
“Guns in the Hands of Artists,” Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, traveling
exhibition, 2014
“Unloaded,” Space, Pittsburgh, PA, traveling exhibition, 2015
“TELE:Gen,” Kunst Museum Bonn, February – May 2016, Kunstmuseum,
Liechtenstein, October 2015 – January 2016
“The Value of Food,” Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York, NY 2015-
2016*
“TOTAL PROOF: The Gala Committee 1995-97” Red Bull Studio, New York,
2016
“In(di)visible, Station Museum, Houston, TX, 2018
“Occupy Colby” Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine 2019-2020
“Proof of Stake,” Kunstverein, Hamburg, GR 2021
“Art at a Time Like This,” Ministry of Truth 1984/2020, New York, NY, 2020
“Toward Common Cause,” Smart Museum, Univ. of Chicago, Sweetwater
Foundation, Chicago, Il, 2021*
“The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our
Time,” Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY 2021-2022
“New Members Exhibition,” American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2022
“Spirit in the Land,” Nasher Museum, Duke University, Durham, NC
traveling exhibition, 2023-2024*
“Six Scenes from Our Future,” Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX,
2023-2024
“Longing, Grief, and Spirituality: Art Since 1980,” Menil Collection, Houston,
TX 2023-2024
*catalogue
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Art Car Museum, Houston, TX
Birmingham Museum, Birmingham, AL
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
City of Corpus Christi, TX
City of Houston, TX
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX
The Federal Reserve, Washington, DC
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
The Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Museum of Fine Art (MFAH), Houston, TX
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
New York Public Library, New York, NY
Walker Art Center Minneapolis, MN
Harold Washington Library, Chicago, IL
The Weatherspoon Gallery, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, Amy. “Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom . . . ” New Scientist, (December
1997): 2626.
Adams, Alice. “Gardens, Art Space, Downtown/Neartown.” Houston
Chronicle, July 16, 1997: 1.
Adams, Debra. “Faith Congregational: black church’s roots date back to
1819.” HartfordCurrent, February 3, 1991.
Akhtar, Suzanne. “Houston Artist brings world view to Irving Arts Center.”
Star-Telegram, July 27, 1997.
Alan, John. Urban Mythologies: The Bronx Represented Since the 1960s, exh.
cat. Distributed Art Publishers, 1999.
Art: 21: Art in the Twenty-First Century. Produced by Art:21, Inc., New York:
PBS, 2001.
Barbier, Laurence. Biennale de Lyon Art Contemporarin. Montreal: Musee
d’Art Contemporain, 2001.
Barbiero, Daniel. “Mel Chin.” Sculpture, (May/June 1989): 92.
Borasi, Giovanna and Mirko Zardini, ed. Imperfect Health: The
Medicalization of Architecture, exh. cat. Quebec, Canada: Canadian Centre
for Architecture, pg. 178-179, 2012.
Bauer, Ute Meta and Fareed Armaly. “Mel Chin Conversando con Ute Meta
Bauer y Fareed Armaly.” Trans> arts.culture.media # 8, (2000): 174-182.
Beardsley, John. “Mel Chin.” in Visions of America: Landscape As Metaphor
in the Late Twentieth Century, exh. cat. Denver, Colorado: Denver Art
Museum and Columbus Art Museum, 1994.
Bernstein, Emily. “‘Magic’ Plants That Clean Up Soils.” San Francisco
Chronicle, September 20, 1992.
Bijvoet, Marga. “Natural Reality: Art Between Science and Nature.” in
Artistic Positions between Nature and Culture. Aachen: Ludwig Forum for
International Art, 1999.
Bjelajac, David. American Art: A Cultural History. New Jersey: Prentice Hall,
Inc., 2005.
Bloodworth, Sandra and William S. Ayres. Along the Way: MTA Arts for
Transit. New York: Monacelli Press, 2006.
Bookhardt, D. Eric. “From Field Testing to Even Exchange: Mel Chin
Discusses Operation Paydirt and Safehouse.” Art Papers,
January/February 2009.
Boswell, Peter. Viewpoints: Mel Chin, exh. cat. Minneapolis, MN: Walker Art
Center, 1990.
_____. Sculpture at the Point, exh. cat. Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Museum of
Art, 1992.
Brand, Peter and Catelijne De Muynck, Jouke Kleerebezem, eds. Allocations:
Art For a Natural and Artificial Environment. Zoetermeer: Floriade
Foundation, 1992.
Carr, C. “The Endangered Artists List.” Village Voice Vol.XXXV, no.34, (August
21,1990): 84.
Cembalest, Robin. “Lettuce in the Landfill.” ARTnews (November, 1991): 43.
Chin, Mel, Lucy R. Lippard and Benito Huerta. Inescapable Histories: Mel
Chin, exh. cat. Exhibit USA, 1996.
______. “Mrs. D and Me.” In Art and Activism: Projects of John and Dominique
de Menil, edited by Josef Helfstein and Laureen Schipsi, 270-271. Houston:
The Menil Collection, 2010.
Chin, Mel. “Das Revival Field Project.” Translated by Klaus Binder in ERDE,
Kunst und Ausstellungshallder Bundesrepublik Deutschland.
Schriftenreihe, Forum: Band 11, 2002.
_____. “Revival Field.” Environmental Action, (July/August 1991):27.
_____. “Art and the Environment: The Ingredient,” FYI, 8(1) Spring 1992: 1
_____. “Rethinking the New World.” Art Papers 17, no. 3 (May/June 1993): 30-
34.
_____. “Night Rap.” Social Text 35 (Summer 1993): back cover.
_____. “I See . . . The Insurgent Mechanics of Infection.” In ECO-TEC
Architecture of the In Between, edited by Amerigo Marras, 68-70. Princeton: Princeton Architectural Press,1999.
_____.“Three Houston History Lessons.” Good, edited by Toni Beauchamp, 7-
15. Houston,TX: 2000.
_____. “My Relation to Joseph Beuys is Overrated.” Mapping the Legacy.
Edited by Gene Ray. New York: The John and Mable Ringling Museum of
Art, D.A.P., 2001.
_____. “Mrs. D and Me.” In Art and Activisim: Projects of John and Dominique
de Menil, edited by Josef Helfstein and Laureen Schipsi, 270-271. Houston:
The Menil Collection, 2010.
_____. Associations. New Smyrna Beach, FL: Atlantic Center for the Arts,
1993.
_____. “Our Changed World REMEMBERING SEPT. 11 Finding Answers in
Art.” Houston Chronicle, September 11, 2002.
______. “A drawing–while digressing from meditations on power and art–a
resistance to insignificance.” in Creative Time: The Book, edited by Anne
Pasternak and Lucy Lippard, 118-119. Princeton: Architectural Press,
2007.
_____. “Mel Chin: Operation Paydirt.” Public Art Review 20, no. 2
(Spring/Summer 2009).
Cotter, Holland. “Art in Review: Mel Chin.” New York Times, January 17,
1992.
Cudlin, Jeffrey. “Working By Any Means Necessary: A Conversation With
Mel Chin.” Sculpture, 29, no.2 (March 2010): 34-39.
Decter, Joshua. “Prime Time: ‘In the Name of the Place’ of Art and
Television.'” In the Name ofthe Place, exh. cat. Kansas City, MO: Grand
Arts,1998.
Finkelpearl, Tom, and Valerie Smith, Domenick Ammirati, and Jennifer
Liese, ed. Down the Garden Path: The Artist’s Garden After Modernism,
exh. cat. Queens, NY: Queens Museum of Art: 2005.
Finkelpearl, Tom. Dialogues in Public Art. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press,
2000.
Fischer, Jack. “33 Reasons to Visit the MLK Jr. Library.” San Jose Mercury
News, 2003.
Friedman, Martin. Visions of America: Landscape As Metaphor in the Late
Twentieth Century.
Denver and Columbus: Denver Art Museum and Columbus Art Museum,
1994.
Gallant, Aprile. “Getting Graphic: Experimentation at the Vinalhaven Press.”
In Print –Contemporary Artists at the Vinalhaven Press. Portland: Portland
Museum of Art, 1997.
Hager, Mary. “New Hopes for Old Plants.” Newsweek Focus (November 23,
1992): 2-3.
Harithas, James and Marica Brennan, Paul Farmer, James Metcalf, Eugenie
Tsai and Mel Chin. Do Not Ask Me, exh. cat. Houston: Station Museum of
Contemporary Art, 2011.
Heartney, Eleanor. “Skeptics in Utopia.” Art in America (July 1992): 76-81.
Henry, Gerrit. “Mel Chin: Surveying Heaven and Earth.” Sculpture (Jan/Feb
1991): 38-45.
Hirsch, Masako. “Cleanup method tackles lead.” Times Picayune, May 2,
2011.
Holden, Constance. “NEA Dumps on Science Art.” Science 250 (December 14,
1990): 1515.
Honan, William H. “U.S. Arts Chief Overturns an Approval.” New York
Times, November 27, 1990.
Hunter, Simeon. “ ‘New Orleans the Rescue City’: Mel Chin and the Poetics of
Pragmatism.” ArtVoices, 21 (2009): 30-32.
Johnson, Patricia. “Mel Chin’s ‘Landscape’ is One of Those Rare Breathtaking
Art Works.”
The Houston Chronicle, March 26, 1982.
_____. “Houston artist hits N.Y. mark.” The Houston Chronicle, January 23,
1985: 4.
_____. “Mel Chin: Poetic, Pragmatic With a Rare Sensitivity.” The Houston
Chronicle, September 22, 1985: 19.
_____. “Artist tackles the universe, assisted by alchemy.” The Houston
Chronicle, November 30, 1987.
_____. “Works More Complex Than Appearance Suggests.” The Houston
Chronicle, September 18, 1988.
_____. “True to Form: Houston-Born Mel Chin Addresses Power & Politics in
Three New Sculptures.” The Houston Chronicle, April 16, 1989.
_____. “Taking The Plunge/ 4 ex-Houston Artists Talk About Risks, Rewards of
Moving to the Big Apple.”The Houston Chronicle, April 23, 1989.
_____. “Inquiring Mind: Survey of Work Reveals Mel Chin’s View of the
World.” The Houston Chronicle, April 28, 1991.
_____.“Chin’s art test soil decontaminates.” The Houston Chronicle, August 14,
1991.
_____. “Artist Visits Project with BBC in Tow.” The Houston Chronicle,
December 7, 1997.
_____. “Art Reflects Politics at Station.” The Houston Chronicle, October 30,
2004: Star 3.
_____. “PBS Show Spotlights Downtown’s Finest.” The Houston Chronicle,
April 23, 2006: Zest 5.
_____. “The Aviator in the Poem . . .” The Houston Chronicle, January 29,
2006: Zest 12.
Katauskas, Ted. “Agitpop.” The New Yorker, (March 24, 1997): 35.
Kim, Ryan. “Raves for a new San Jose Library.” San Francisco Chronicle.
August 2, 2003.
Kim, Byron. “Mel Chin: Visionary and Activist.” Asian New Yorker, July 1991.
Kozik, KK. “Mel Chin.” Journal of Contemporary Art, 6 no. 2 (Winter 1993): 5-
15.
Kuzma, Sally. “Myth-Making and Myth-Breaking: Multiple Meanings in Mel
Chin’s Revival Field.” Art Criticism 10, no. 2 (1995): 82-93.
Leffingwell, Edward. “Mel Chin at Frederike Taylor Gallery.” Art in America
(2007).
Lipson, Karin. “Nea Doesn’t Dig His Toxic Cleanup.” Newsday, November 27,
1990.
Matilsky, Barbara. “Mel Chin: Revival Field.” In Fragile Ecologies –
Contemporary Artists’ Interpretations and Solutions. New York: Rizzoli,
1992.
Masters, Kim. “Arts Chief Ignores Advice, Vetoes Grant.” The Washington
Post, November 22, 1990.
McCormick, Carlo. “Operation of the Sun Through the Cult of the Hand.”
Artforum (March 1988).
McEvilley, Thomas. “Explicating Exfoliation in the Work of Mel Chin.” Soil &
Sky. Philadelphia: The Fabric Workshop, 1993.
McKee, Katherine. “Palmerton turns to science, art to clean soil of metals.”
The Morning Call, May 20, 1993.
Miles, Malcolm. “Viral Art—Strategies for a New Democracy.” (2001).
Murphy, Jay. “Mel Chin at The Menil Collection.” Art in America (April 1992):
167.
Phillips, Julie. “Athens Artist And Students Place Art On Popular Melrose TV
Show.” AthensBanner-Herald, March 10, 1997.
_____. “Television a Gallery for Athens Artist and University Students.”
Athens Daily News, March 10, 1997.
Phillips, Patricia C. “Subverting Landscape.” Public Art Review 8, no.2, issue
16 (Spring/Summer 1997): 4-8.
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