Biography

Steven Hampton is a painter, writer, and art historian who lives and works in Los Angeles. He has had solo shows at Autonomie, Laurence Asher, and David Salow in Los Angeles and has been included in Oasis (Shangri-La Arts), Painting on Edge II (DEN Contemporary), The New Cool School (White Box Contemporary), The Subterraneans (Torrance Art Museum), The Status of Portraiture (Autonomie), and Politics as Unusual: Art at the Edge of Conspiracy (Fine Art Complex 1101).

Hampton received his Master’s degree in art history from the University of California, Riverside in 2011, and wrote his thesis on kitsch and “Bad Painting.” He is currently pursuing his PhD at UCR, writing his dissertation on “Dictator Kitsch and the Iraq War.” He has curated shows around Los Angeles relating to themes of kitsch, monuments, and mourning, including Super-Salon (Flagstop), Traumatic Materiality (Autonomie), Savage Sentimentality (Torrance Art Museum), and Drawing Now (Cal State Northridge).

Hampton was awarded the Karl and Beverly Benjamin Fellowship while at Claremont Graduate University, where he received his MFA in 2006. Hampton is also a graduate of the Art Center College of Design, receiving his BFA in 2003. He regularly lectures to professionals in the entertainment industry and has taught classes at the Art Center College of Design, Laguna College of Art and Design, California State University, Long Beach, Orange Coast College, Riverside Community College, and Mount San Antonio College. For several years he was a board member of the Foundation for Art Resources (FAR), helping to organize Pacific Non-Standard Time: FAR 1977-Present, FAR Bazaar, among other projects.

Steven can be contacted at: hamptonsteve (at) gmail (dot) com.