Jamal Cyrus is a multidisciplinary Houston-based artist. Cyrus’s conceptual and research-driven practice draws on the creative strategies of collage and assemblage, and explores the evolution of African American identity within Black political movements and the African diaspora. He is engaged with an aesthetic practice that aims to transform the most mundane materials into objects with rich, densely packed networks of meaning and purpose. A founding and continued member of the pioneering collective, Otabenga Jones & Associates, Cyrus actively engages with the cultural cross-pollination and hybridity across and between historical eras, cultures, and events. 

CURRICULUM VITAE

Born 1973, Houston, TX
Lives and works in Houston, TX

EDUCATION
2008
MFA, University of Pennsylvania 

2005
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
2004
BFA, University of Houston

SELECTED SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024
On turning ground, PATRON, Chicago, IL 

2022
Long to go, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX 
The End of My Beginning, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
FOCUS: Jamal Cyrus, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX

The End of My Beginning, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA

2021
The End of My Beginning, Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, TX
Manna and Braised Collards, PATRON, Chicago, IL

2019 
Currents & Currencies, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX

2018
Jamal Cyrus x Jamire Williams: Boogaloo & The Midnite Hours, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX
Jamal Cyrus and Julia Barbosa Landois: Regional Fictions, Mass Gallery, Austin, TX

2016
STANDARDZENBLŪZ, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX

2015
As Long as these Weeds and Green Grass Grows, Jamal Cyrus and Walter Stanciell, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX

2014
Melizmatik, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX

2011
DKONKR, Bryan Miller Gallery, Houston, TX
Museum as Hub: Steffani Jemison and Jamal Cyrus: Alpha’s Bet is Not Over Yet, New Museum, New York, NY

2009
Jamal Cyrus, Winners Have Yet to be Announced, The Kitchen, New York, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 
2025 
Like Water, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal, HAMMER Museum, Los Angeles

2024 
Flight into Egypt : Black Artists and Ancient Egypt 1897- Now, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
A Language of Lineage, Kinfolk House, Fort Worth, TX 
From Alpha to Creation: Religion in the Deep South, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina
Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX 
Intimate Landscapes, The Orange Advisory, Minneapolis, MN

2023
Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage, First Art Museum, Nashville, TN
Spinning in Place, 601Artspace, New York, NY
Black Writing, Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
Longing, Grief, and Spirituality: Art Since 1980, The Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Hidden Histories, Selections from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

2022
This Tender, Fragile Thing, Jack Shainman Gallery, Kinderhook, NY
Soundwaves: Experimental Strategies in Art + Music, Moody Center for the Arts, Houston, TX

African Cosmologies: Redux, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston, TX
Subversive Media: Materiality and Power, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA

2021
Yesterday We Said Tomorrow curated by Naima J. Keith and Diana Nawi, Prospect, New Orleans, LA
Slowed and Throwed: Records of the City Through Mutated Lenses, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX

The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA (2021); travels to: Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX (2021); Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR (2022); Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Dever, CO (2022)
A New Landscape/ A Possible Horizon, Texas Biennale 2021, San Antonio, TX 
re: collections, Six decades at the Rose Art Museum, Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 
Levels & Layers: An Artist’s Reflections on Third Ward, The University Museum at Texas Southern University, Houston, TX

2020
Everywhere. Now, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX
African Cosmologies: Photography, Time, and the Other, FOTOFEST, Houston, TX
The Souls of Black Folk, The Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston, TX

Public Life Distance and Diaspora, FOTOFEST, Houston, TX

Please form a Straight Line, Blue Star Contemporary, San Antonio, TX 
Sanctuary, Aga Kahn Museum, Toronto, Canada 

2019
Direct Message, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
We are the People. Who are you?, Edel Assanti, London, England
Sanctuary, Smart Museum, Chicago, IL 

2018 
Walls Turned Sideways: Artists Confront the American Justice System, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX
Front International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH
Spin: Turning Records Into Art, KMAC Museum, Louisville, KY

2017 
Prospect.4: The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp, Prospect New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
Sonic Rebellion: Music As Resistance, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, MI
Other Side: Art, Object, Self, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
looking at the overlooked: Jamal Cyrus, Nathaniel Donnett, Rodney McMillan, Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
Sanctuary, For-Site Foundation, San Francisco, CA
Walk the Distance and Slow Down: Selections from the JoAnn Gonzalez Hickey Collection, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO
Tell Me Why, Tell Me Why, Tell Me Why (Why Can’t We Live Together?), Lisa Sette Gallery, Phoenix, AZ

2016 
The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 – Now, Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
False Flags, Pelican Bomb, New Orleans, LA
Dark Water Revival, Arthur Ross Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

2015 
AgitProp!, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 – Now, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
Arresting Patterns: Race and the Criminal Justice System, New Haven, CT
Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2014
Round 40: Monuments: Right Beyond the Site, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX
Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
After Walker Evans, Fort Worth Contemporary Arts

2013 
Fore, Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY
Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art, New York University, Grey Art Gallery, New York, NY; traveled to The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY

2012 
Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX
The Bearden Project, Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY
Fort HMAAC, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston, TX

2010 
International Artist in Residence, New Works; 10.2. Artpace, San Antonio, TX
Huckleberry Finn, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA

2009 
LandFall, Museum of London Docklands, London, England

2008 
After 1968: Otabenga Jones and Associates: Contemporary Artists and The Civil Rights Legacy, High Museum, Atlanta, GA

2007
New Works, CTRL gallery, Houston, TX
Lessons from Below: Otabenga Jones and Associates, Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Alabama, Office Baroque Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
When The Revolution Comes, Kathleen Cullen Gallery, New York, NY

2006
Whitney Biennial 2006: Day for Night, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Emerging 2, Space 125, Houston, TX

2004 
Who Goliards? Artists at the Turn of the Century, The University Museum at Texas Southern University, Houston, TX
Digital Impact: Video (R) Evolution, Station Museum, Houston, TX
New American Talent: The Nineteenth Exhibition, Arthouse, Austin, TX
Ain’t that a Groove, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX
Synesthesia, Raw Space, Houston, TX

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2023 
Delmez, Katherine E. Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage.
Scott, Chad. “Black Women in Art and Black Writing in Art on View at Kansas Museums,” Forbes, Aug.
Fuentes, Jessica. “The City of Houston Unveils New Public Art Monument by Jamal Cyrus and Charisse Pearlina Weston.” Glasstire, July.
Gonzales, Elaine. “Exploring the Power of Language: Black Writing Exhibition at Spencer Museum of Art Showcases the Intersection of Visual Art and Literature,” Sugarcane, May.
Dawkins, Chad. “Jamal Cyrus: The End of my Beginning,” Art Papers, Spring 2023.
Durón, Maximilíano. “2023 Guggenheim Fellowships Go to Artists Kapwani Kiwanga, Martine Syms, Pamela Council, and More,” Artnews, April.

2022
Exhibition catalogue. Nashville: Frist Art Museum.

Valentine, Victoria L., “Seeing in Texas: From Dallas to Houston and San Antonio, Museums are Showcasing a Spectrum of African American Art,” Culture Type, May
Harris, Alysia Nicole. “In the soil, in the sound: Houston’s Jamal Cyrus gets to the root of southern Black aesthetics,” Scalawag, November.
“Reading Material: Books Shaping Artists’ Practices Now,” Art in America, August.
Harper, Daria Simone. “Unearthing Sonic Territories: In Conversation with Jamal Cyrus,” Burnaway, July.
Gipson, Amarie. “An Art-Filled Weekend in Fort Worth,” Houstonia, June.
Cantrell, Scott. “The Modern in Fort Worth explores Jamal Cyrus’ art of layers,” The Dallas Morning News, June.
Valentine, Victoria L. “Seeing in Texas: From Dallas to Houston and San Antonio, Museums are Showcasing a Spectrum of African American Art,” Culture Type, May.
Lewis, Betsy. “Review: Jamal Cyrus at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth,” Glasstire, May.
Zastudil, Nancy. “The Pace of Place: Jamal Cyrus at the Modern,” Art and Culture, Texas, April.
Vogel, Wendy. “Artful Volumes,” Bookforum, March.
Duerler Chavéz, Caitlin. “Soundwaves: An Interview with the Moody Center for the Arts’ Alison Weaver,” Glasstire, February.
Dansby, Andrew. “Art, sound and science collide in Moody Center’s ‘Soundwaves’,” Houston Chronicle Preview, February.
Halsell, Betti. “Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Host First Time Exhibitions: Presenting Black Identity and the Effects of Marketing,” Los Angeles Sentinel, February.
Becker, Chris. “For these Artists, the Ear is as Essential as the Eye,” CityBook, Houston, January.

2021

Cassel Oliver, Valerie. The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the
Sonic Impulse. Exhibition catalogue. Richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Gipson, Amarie. “The South Still Has Something to Say,” Houstonia, Winter 2021edition, December.
Gipson, Amarie. “Houston-Based Contemporary Artists You Should Know,” Houstonia, Winter 2021 edition, December.
“Jamal Cyrus and Charisse Pearlina Weston to Collaborate on Barbara Jordan Monument in Houston,” Glasstire, November.
Feldman, Melissa. “How Prospect.5 Captures the Tenacious Spirit of New Orleans,” Galerie, November.
Davis, Ben. “In Pictures: See the Sharp, City-Spanning Art From the Long AwaitedReturn of the Prospect New Orleans Triennial,” artnet news, November.
“Art Notes: Blaffer’s Best,” Paper City, September 2021.
Fielder, Garland. “The End of My Beginning: Jamal Cyrus at the Blaffer,” Glasstire, August.
Bradley, Taylor. “Review: ‘Jamal Cyrus: The End of My Beginning’ at the Blaffer Art Museum,” Sightlines, July.
Lucas, Peter. “A Conversation With Jamal Cyrius,” Glasstire, July.
Cotter, Holland. “Art Meets Its Soundtrack Deep in ‘The Dirty South’,” The New York Times, July.
Glentzer, Molly,. “Houston Artist Jamal Cyrus’s Playful, Subversive, Vision of Black History,” Texas Monthly, July.
“Houston Artist Jamal Cyrus Tells Us About Finding Inspiration in the City’s Under-Researched Art History and His Studio Rituals,” artnet news, June.
Duerler Chávez, Caitlin. “New Historiography for Black Excellence: Jamal Cyrus ‘The End of My Beginning’ at the Blaffer Art Museum,” The Art Studio INC, June.
Renfrow, Daniel. “Jamal Cyrus, Whose Work Explores Black Culture and Justice, Featured in Sister Shows at UH and TSU,” CityBook Houston, June.
Battaglia, Jennifer. “Houston Goes to Chicago: Jamal Cyrus ‘Manna and Braised Collards’ at Patron Gallery,” Glasstire, May.
Fauerso, Neil. “Please Form a Straight Line (And More) at Blue Star,” Glasstire, March.

2020

Lee, Pamela M. Think Tank Aesthetics: Midcentury Modernism, the Cold War, and the Neoliberal Present. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Robinson, Riley. Artpace at 25. San Antonio: Artpace.
Finlayson, Ciarán. “Project Jamal Cyrus,” Artforum, June.
Glentzer, Molly,. “Houston Museum of African American Culture reopens with ‘Souls of Black Folk;,” Houston Chronicle, June.
“Jamal D. Cyrus Wins High Museum of Art’s 2020 David C. Driskell Prize,” Artforum, February.
Valentine, Victoria L. “Houston-Based Artist Jamal D. Cyrus on Receiving 2020 David C. Driskell Prize: ‘The Symbolism is Extremely Important to Me’” Culture Type, February.
“Highline Invites Artists to Imagine New Monuments,” Artforum, November.

2019

“LALA Dispatch: Collectors Ric & Tina Perry-Whitney on Art that Fuels You,” Cultured, February
Harren, Natilee. “Jamal Cyrus,” Artforum, December.
Chamberlain, Colby. “Brought To Justice,” Artforum, January.
Clayton, Dominique. “LALA Dispatch: Collectors Ric & Tina Perry-Whitney on Art that Fuels You,” Cultured Mag, February.

2018
Risa Puleo and Elizabeth Alexander. Walls Turned Sideways: Artists Confront the Justice System. Exhibition catalogue. Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston in association with [NAME] Publications, Miami.
“Highline Invites Artists to Imagine New Monuments,” Artforum, November
Banks, Nargess, “BMW Art Journey and Art Basel Take on Cultural Identity, Slavery, and Migration,” Forbes, July.
Glentzer, Molly, “Houston artist Jamal Cyrus wins BMW’s Art Journey Prize,” Houston Chronicle, March
“African-American artist Jamal Cyrus selected for next BMW Art Journey,” Art Radar, March

2017
“Brain Sounds – Jamal Cyrus,” The Art Assignment, PBS Digital Studios, January
“Positions Sector at Art Basel Miami Beach,” Blouin Art Info, December
Shaw, Anny, “Race relations in the spotlight at Art Basel in Miami Beach,” the arts newspaper, December
Sharp, Sarah Rose, “Strains of Dissent: Art and Music at MOCAD,” Art in America, September
Gates, Anita, “Art Basel Miami Beach: New Show Design, New Energy,” The New York Times, December 
Glentzer, Molly, “Jamal Cyrus shortlisted for prize at Art Basel Miami Beach,” Houston Chronicle, December
“Revolutionary Spirit,” Art Basel Miami Beach Magazine, December
Goldstein, Caroline. “The Freshman Class: 5 Galleries Making a Splash With Their First Time at Art Basel Miami Beach,” artnet news, December

2016
Morgenthal, Deborah. Darkwater Revival: After Terry Adkins. Exhibition catalogue.
Philadelphia: Arthur Ross Gallery at the University of Pennsylvania.
Glentzer, Molly, “Artists honor music as gateway to expression,” Houston Chronicle, December
Gray, Chris, “The Coolest Thing to Hit Downtown Houston in Ages (R.I.P. Michael Condray),” Houston Press, March
Bourland, Ian, “Sunrise In Different Dimensions.” Frieze, January-February.
Mason, Isabella, “”Standardzenbluz” by Jamal Cyrus at Inman Gallery, Houston.” Blouin Art Info, December

2015
Naomi Beckwith and Dieter Roelstraete. The Freedom Principle, Experiments in Art and Music 1965 to Now. Exhibition catalogue. Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art in association with The University of Chicago Press.
Bier, Arielle, “Review: The Freedom Principle,” Artforum, September.
Farago, Jason, “The Freedom Principle review – an astounding fusion of jazz and art,” The Guardian, July
Margasak, Peter, “Why AACM and AfriCOBRA still matter,” Reader, July
Naomi Beckwith and Dieter Roelstraete, “The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music 1965 to Now,” Exhibition catalogue, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in association with The University of Chicago Press, July

2014
Klaasmeyer, Kelly, “Two Third Ward Exhibitions Show the Importance of Perspective,” Houston Press, May

2013 
Yona Backer, Naomi Beckwith, “Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary
Art,” Exhibition catalogue, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, September

2012 
“Jamal Cyrus, Will Henry, Jeff Williams: Texas Prize,” Exhibition catalogue. AMOA-Arthouse, May
Fore. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Studio Museum in Harlem.
Lott, Jesse and Samir S. Patel. The Bearden Project. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Studio Museum in Harlem.

2011
Vogel, Wendy, “Jamal Cyrus, Linda Post and Kristin Musgnug,” Fluent Collaborative, May
Bier, Charlie, “Revise & Consent,” Houston Magazine, April
Jemison, Steffani. The Reader. Exhibition catalogue. New York: New Museum of Contemporary Art.

2010
 Merla-Watson, Catherine Josephina. “Jamal Cyrus - Artpace,” ART LIES. Fall/Winter
Meehan, Margaret. “San Antonio on the Horizon,” Glasstire, September
Re:Collection: Selected Works from The Studio Museum in Harlem. New York: Studio Museum in Harlem.

2009
Korczynski, Jacob, “Jamal Cyrus on The Cut”, Prefix Photo, Issue # 20
Rosenberg, Karen, “Jamal Cyrus: Winners Have Yet to be Announced,” New York Times, May

2008 
King, Jennifer, “Lessons From Below: Otabenga Jones & Associates at the Menil
Collection,” Art on Paper, April

2007 
Johnson, Patricia, “Visually Challenging Work Challenges Tradition,” Houston Chronicle, October
King, Jennifer, “Lessons from Below at the Menil Collection,” Art on Paper, Oct/Nov

2006 
White, Roger, “2006 Whitney Biennial,” ART LIES, Spring

2004 
David Fahl & Kelly Klaasmeyer, “A Picture of Our Opinions on Local Exhibitions”, Houston Press, November
Anspon, Catherine D, “Digital Impact: Video (R)Evolution”, ART LIES, Fall issue
White, Michelle, “Contemporary Arts Museum Houston,” ART LIES, Fall issue

LECTURES AND ARTIST TALKS
2024 
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL

2023 
Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Queens Museum, Queens, NY

2022 
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, Houston, TX

2021 
Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, TX
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
University Museum at Texas Southern University, Houston, TX
Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts, University of Houston, Houston, TX

2020 
Driskell Prize Lecture, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University, St. Louis, MO

2017
Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX
The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY

2016
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX

2015 
Art Basel, Hong Kong

2010
Creative Time Summit: Revolutions in Public Practice (with Otabenga Jones & Associates). Cooper Union, New York, NY

AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2024 
Trellis Art Fund, 2024 Stepping Stone Grant 

2023 
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship 

2020 
David C. Driskell Prize

2019 
Joan Mitchell Painters & Sculptors Grant

2018 
BMW Art Journey

2012 
AIRspace Residency, Abrons Arts Center, New York, NY
Texas Prize finalist, Arthouse at the Jones Center

2011
Terra Summer Residency Program, Giverny, FrancE

2010 
Vermont Studio Center Residency, Johnson, VT
Artpace – San Antonio, International Artist in Residence
HAA Individual Artist Grant Recipient

2009 
Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship

2007 
Creative Capital Foundation grant (w/ Otabenga Jones & Associates)

2006 
Artadia Houston Award in the Visual Arts

2005 
Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award
CACH Individual Artist Grant Recipient

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MI 
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
National Museum of African American History and Culture
The Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY 
The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
The Menil Collection, Houston, TX
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX
The Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA
Ruby City, San Antonio, TX 
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA