Ethan Minsker's descriptors include writer, filmmaker, artist, publisher, and zine creator. His work chronicles the lifestyles and cultures of overlooked and underappreciated artists. He was a founding member of the Antagonist Art Movement, a New York City-based group of artists, writers, and musicians who promoted work by up-and-coming talent between 2000 and 2011. Ethan was the recipient of the Acker Award for Visual Arts in 2017. He was also the creator and editor-in-chief of Psycho Moto Zine, which has been in publication from 1988–2020. He received his B.F.A. in Film with honors from School of Visual Arts and his masters in Media from the New School. Ethan has written three novels, produced nine feature films, and continues his relationship with artists as a board member and president of Citizens for the Arts, a nonprofit group whose mission is to promote art for kids in underserved communities.
ETHAN H. MINSKER CV
ART PROJECTS AND EXHIBITS
HOPE/less, 2022 - Papier-mâché sculptures exhibited as part of a group show presented by The Heller Museum, New York City.
Ensuing Moments, 2022 - Papier-mâché sculptures exhibited as part of a group show presented by Ivy Brown Gallery, New York City.
Negative Space Portraits, 2022 - Contemporary artists have broken free from the rectangle by making all manner of shaped canvases, from Elizabeth Murray to Lee Bontecou to Richard Smith, but no one is doing it quite like Ethan Minsker. He treats his portraits like billboards, constructing entire cityscapes and buildings on which to display them. Displayed at the Spring Break Art Show, New York City, September 9-15, 2022.
Fashion Institute of Technology, 2022 - Papier-mâché sculptures and issues of the art and literary fanzine Psycho Moto Zine, spanning over thirty years, were displayed in the library of FIT, New York City, during the spring semester of 2022. A collection of issues of the fanzine and Mr. Minsker’s novels, Rich Boy Cries for Momma and Barstool Prophets, have been entered into the library’s permanent archives.
Artwork Selected for Art-o-mat®, 2022 - Art-o-mat® machines are retired cigarette vending machines that have been converted to vend art. See https://www.artomat.org.
I Love You New York But You’re Bringing Me Down, 2021 - Papier-mâché sculptures recreate a dream landscape of New York. Made from recycled material, the exhibit is comprised of over 50 Papier-mâché buildings, mailboxes, subways cars, taxi cabs, and water towers. Each element is adorned with vivid colors and images. The viewer can even peer into windows to reveal interior micro-installations. Displayed at Spring Break Art Show, New York City, September 8-13, 2021. See https://youtu.be/G1-F_vnmTXw
Artist Residency, Governor’s Island, 2021 and 2022 - Under the auspices of 4heads.org, awarded an artist-in-residency on Governors Island, New York City, together with the exclusive use of a studio, August-November 2021 and 2022. Projects include water towers made of recycled material and sculptural figures.
Fight or Flight, 2019 - A study of the cruelty and beauty of the cycle of life. The flight of arrows, made from bird feathers and used to hunt birds, is like fashioning a weapon out of a jawbone of a man and then using it to kill another man. These works are based on images of dead birds brought back to life and then killed again. https://vimeo.com/271513735
The Ghost Guns, 2016 - An artistic conversation on horrific mass gun shootings. In total, there were 372 mass shootings in the United States in 2015, killing 475 and wounding 1,870. (www.massshootingtracker.org) The exhibit was displayed at Governor’s Island Art Fair 2015 and at 326 Gallery, New York City, 2016. https://vimeo.com/275925695
ART SHOW JUROR
2023 Scholastic National Art Awards – Juror, Ceramics and Glass
ART TALK VIDEOS
Art Talk Videos is a series of art gallery reviews and artist interviews produced by on a weekly basis until the onset of the pandemic. See https://www.citizensforthearts.com/videos.
INDEPENDENTLY PRODUCED ART DOCUMENTARIES
Producer, Writer, Director, Videographer, Editor, Animator and Host
Scooter LaForge, A Life of Art, 2023 (to be released) - Iconic queer artist Scooter LaForge reflects on his career, his struggles and triumphs, and the impact that current events have had on his life and the lives of so many artists in New York City.
Man in Camo: The Art and Artist, 2020 - Programmer’s Award, Hell’s Half Mile Film & Music Festival; Best Experimental, STIFF. Available on multiple streaming services.
The Great Record Hunt, 2019 - Winner, The Telly Awards, General Documentary, Series, Bronze 2019.
Self-Medicated: A Film about Art, 2014 - Winner, D.I.Y. award at RXSM 2014. Available on multiple streaming services.
The Dolls of Lisbon, 2011 - Winner, Best of Fest VTXIFF. Available on multiple streaming services.
This is Berlin, Not New York, 2008 - Winner, Best in Show, Royal Flush Festival.
Current Documentary Film Project: Film Threat, a documentary focused on Chris Gore, its founder.
AUTHOR
Rich Boy Cries for Momma (2012) is told from the perspective of the good son turned teenage punk rocker and is set in Washington, DC during the turbulent 1970s and 80s.
Barstool Prophets (2011) is a fictional memoir of true events that follows the lives of a wild spectrum of characters, narrated by a young writer working in a bar in New York’s East Village.
Creator and Editor-in-Chief, Psycho Moto Zine, 1988 to Present
Publisher of zine featuring original artwork and articles by diverse artists and writers. The zine was exhibited during the Alternative Youth Exhibit at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City.
RECENT PRESENTATIONS ON ART, FILMMAKING AND FANZINES
Northeast Magnet High School Classroom Grant Program, Wichita, Kansas: Daylong presentation
on art practices and hands-on fanzine workshop, October 14, 2021
YAI Arts, an art program for disabled adults: Hands-on workshop creating papier-mâché buildings, October 12, 2021
4Heads College Art Residency Program: Filmmaking as a Career, September 27, 2021
Fashion Institute of Technology: Q&A session on filmmaking, September 3, 2021
Howl High School: Filmmaking Practices, Sponsored by Howl Arts, April 24, 2021
CIVIC ACTIVITIES
Citizens of the Arts, Inc. New York, NY
Co-Founder, Chairman of the Board and President 2012 to Present
A non-profit, 501(c)(3) which promotes emerging artists, writers and musicians. See http://www.citizensforthearts.com/.
EDUCATION
The New School New York, NY
M.A., Media 1999
School of Visual Arts New York, NY
B.F.A. with Honors 1993