ATLANTA—The College of the Arts, in partnership with the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design and the School of Film, Media & Theater, is pleased to present NY-based artist Dave McKenzie as the featured artist for the 2026 Ferrer Visiting Artist Program. The micro-residency will be highlighted by an artist talk on Tuesday, March 31, at 5:30 p.m. at the Kopleff Recital Hall and followed by a reception in the recital hall lobby.
McKenzie will also engage in studio visits with art & design MFA candidates, a screening from one of McKenzie’s video projects, a meet and greet with film graduate students, and a visit to the MFA thesis exhibitions at the Welch School Galleries.
Dave McKenzie was born in Kingston, Jamaica. In videos, sculptures, performances, and installations, McKenzie explores how public space and the private self are simultaneously alienated, connected and restricted. At the heart of this diverse practice lies a quest for interactions that lay bare the complications of social rules and obligations with which we navigate personal relationships.
Leading the residency is Craig Drennen, Distinguished University Professor of Drawing and Painting at the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design. "In an art world increasingly distracted by market trends and social media, Dave McKenzie is a role model for artists choosing rigor across a variety of disciplines,” said Professor Drennen. “His performances, videos, and sculptures have been shown in biennials and gallery exhibitions around the world, while his social practice works have breathed new life into piñatas, parades, and even paintings."
McKenzie's recent solo exhibitions include “AEIOU” at Galerie Barbara Wien; “An Intermission” University Art Museum, State University of New York, Albany; “And sometimes y,” Vielmetter, Los Angeles; “Dave McKenzie” at the Aspen Art Museum; “Screen Doors on Submarines” REDCAT, Los Angeles; and “Momentum 8: Dave McKenzie” ICA Boston.
McKenzie's work has been featured in group exhibitions including: “Soft Power” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; “Stories of Almost Everyone” Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the 2014 Whitney Biennial; “Etched in Collective History” at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; “Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art” at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX; and Prospect. 1, New Orleans, LA.
Dave MeKenzie is represented by Vielmetter Los Angeles.
Click here for more information about the artist lecture.