EDUCATION 

2004 MFA, California College of the Arts 
2002 BS, Humboldt State University 

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024     Alluvial Fan, Strange Attractor, Casemore Gallery, San Francisco, CA

 

2020     4.5 billion years a lifetime, Casemore Kirkeby, San Francisco, CA

 

2018     Sleeping Flowers, Unseen Amsterdam/Casemore Kirkeby, Amsterdam, NL          

 

2017     EchoCasemore Kirkeby, San Francisco, CA        

 

2017     SECA Art Award, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA 

 

2015     Sean McFarland – Project Space, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY 

 

2014     Glass Mountains, San Francisco International Airport Museum, San Francisco, CA 

 

2013     Glass Mountains, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

 

2012     Sean McFarland, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA 

 

2012     Untitled (1948-2012), Eli Ridgway Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

 

2011     Viewshed, Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA 

 

2010     Untitled Landscapes (California), Adobe Books, Backroom Gallery, San Francisco, CA (catalog) 

 

2009     Sean McFarland - 2009 Baum Award for an Emerging American Photographer, SF Camerawork,     San Francisco, CA (catalog) 

 

2008     Landscape Photographs, San Francisco International Airport Museum, San Francisco, CA 

 

2005     White Rooms, curated by Matthew Higgs, White Columns, New York, NY 

 

2004     Photographs, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

 

TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS 

 

2014     Jake Longstreth and Sean McFarland, Ever Gold Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

 

2012     Exceptional Journeys, 3 + 1 ARTE CONTEMPORANEA, Lisbon, Portugal

 

2012     Dreams of the Darkest Night, Works by Vanessa Marsh and Sean McFarland, Richard L. Nelson Gallery, University of California, Davis, CA 

 

2010     The Sea All Around Us - James Sterling Pitt and Sean McFarland, Sight School, Oakland, CA 

 

2009     John Chiara || Sean McFarland, curated by Karsten Lund, Swimming Pool Projects, Chicago, IL 

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022     Shifting Perspectives: Landscape Photographs from the Collection, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI

 

2022     Last Waltz, Delaplane, San Francisco, CA


2021     Ox, Child, and The River, Delaplane, San Francisco, CA
 

2020     Cloudscurated by Heather Shannon, George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY (July 2020)

 

2019     A History of Photography (The Moon), curated by Lisa Hostetler and Tracy Stuber, George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY

 

2019     UnlimitedBerkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA

 

2018     Academic Practice | Bay Area Photography Now, Coulter Art Gallery, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

 

2018     Way Bay, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA

 

2017     Recollected: Photography and the Archive, Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, Curator: Sharon Bliss 

 

2017     Insights: New Approaches to Photography Since 2000, Photofairs San Francisco, San Francisco, CA , Curator: Allie Haeusslein 

 

2017     Blue/Print, Slide Space 123, Mills College, Oakland, CA 

 

2016     Photography and America’s National Parks, George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY 

 

2016     I Never Learned the Title of the Song I Always Sing, curated by Brion Nuda Rosch, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA 

 

2016     Art Book Show, Bass and Reiner, San Francisco, CA 

 

2015     Signal Shift, Casemore Kirkeby, San Francisco, CA 

 

2015     Highlights from SFAQ, SFAQ [Projects], San Francisco, CA 

 

2015     Strata, Bass & Reiner, San Francisco, CA

 

2015     OUT THERE, Plug Projects, Kansas City, MO 

 

2014     The Photographer’s Playbook, Aperture, New York, NY 

 

2014     Not of This World, curated by Renny Pritikin, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA 

 

2014     Night, Haw Contemporary, Kansas City, MO 

 

2013     Sea Stories Between the Tides, Highlight Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

 

2012     Selected Histories, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA 

 

2012     At the Edge: Recent Acquisitions, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA 

 

2012     10 Artists Walk from Home, We Are Will Brown, San Francisco, CA 

 

2012     (re)collection – A Collaboration with Lost and Found, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA 

 

2011     Bay Area Now 6, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA 

 

2011     BETTER A LIVE ASS THAN A DEAD LION, curated by David Kasprzak, Eli Ridgway Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

 

2011     CALIFORNIA CONTINUED: New Approaches in West Coast Photography, Smith Anderson North, San Anselmo, CA 

 

2011     The 707 Show, Adobe Books Backroom Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

 

2011     Soil to Site, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA 

 

2010     There’s a Way In Which…, Playspace, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA 

 

2010     It’s My World, Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA 

 

2010     Paper!Awesome!, curated by Brion Nuda Rosch, Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA 

 

2010     Do I Have to Paint You a Picture?, Morgon Arcade, Cardiff, Wales 

 

2010     Kala Fellowship Exhibition, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA          

 

2010     Smokebath, curated by Peter Sutherland, www.smokebath.com (book) 

 

2009     Passport, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA 

 

2009     Hyperspaces, Park Life, San Francisco, CA 

 

2009     One to Many, Partisan Gallery, San Francisco, CA          

 

2009     Lay of the Land, Reese Bullen Gallery, Humboldt State University, Arcata , CA     

 

2009     Ersatz, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA 

 

2008     Let Us Now Praise San Francisco, curated by Robert Mailer Anderson, Marx and Zavattero Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

 

2008     Eighteen Months, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, CA 

 

2008     The Secret Life of Plants, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

 

2008     Close Calls, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA 

 

2008     From the Vault - Works from the Permanent Collection, Reese Bullen Gallery, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 

 

2007     Albedo, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

 

2007     Never Been to Houston, curated by Jon Rubin, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX 

 

2007     Facts and Figures (catalog), Artwalk, Amsterdam, Netherlands 

 

2006     It's a Small World, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA 

 

2006     West Coast Windows, Samson Projects, Boston, MA 

 

2006     Joint Venture (catalog), co-curated by Renny Pritikin and Matthias Geiger, Nelson Gallery, UC Davis, Davis, CA    

 

2006     WHERE WE HAVE BEEN WHERE WE ARE AND WHERE WE ARE GOING, Backroom Gallery, Adobe Bookshop, San Francisco, CA 

 

2005     Altered Spaces, Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Indianapolis, IN 

 

2006     Phelan Award Exhibition, SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA 

 

2005     Group Show, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

 

2005     New Found Land, Priska Juschka Fine Art, New York, NY 

 

2005     THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT, curated by Renny Pritikin, Nelson Gallery, UC Davis, Davis, CA 

 

2005     Sprawl, Haley Martin Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

 

2004     Urban Echoes, Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco, CA 

 

2004     National Photography Institute Fellows' Exhibition, Columbia University, New York, NY 

 

2004     Big Picture Show, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA 

 

2004     Group Show, curated by Eleanor Harwood, Adobe Bookshop, San Francisco, CA 

 

AWARDS/GRANTS/FELLOWSHIPS 

2017     SECA Art Award, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA 

 

2011     The Eureka Fellowship, The Fleishhacker Foundation, CA 

 

2009     John Gutmann Photography Fellowship 

 

2009     Baum Award for Emerging American Photographers 

 

2009     Kala Art Institute Fellowship and Residency, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA 

 

2005     Phelan Art Award in Photography, San Francisco Foundation and SF Camerawork 

 

2004     Fellowship, National Photography Institute, Columbia University 

 

2004     Dennis Leon and Christin Nelson Scholarship, California College of the Arts 

 

2002     Van Duzer Scholarship for the Arts, Humboldt State University 

 

2002     Presidential Purchase Award, Humboldt State University 

 

2002     Tom Knight Photography Award, Humboldt State University 

 

RESIDENCIES 

2015     Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY 

 

2015     Saltonstall Foundation, Ithaca, NY 

 

2013     Project 387, Gualala, CA 

2011     Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA 

 

2010     Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sachs, Danica, “Critic’s Pick: Sean McFarland”, Artforum, February 2020, https://www.artforum.com/picks/sean-mcfarland-82123

 

Robinson, Rel, “Invisible Infrastructure Guides You Through ‘Handless Operative’”, KQED Arts, May 21, 2019, https://www.kqed.org/arts/13857770/handless-operative-casemore-kirkeby

 

Exhibition Catalog, “UNLIMITED Recent Gifts from the William Goodman and Victoria Belco Photography Collection”, University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2019

 

Harris, Gareth, “Millennials in mind: Unsees Amsterdam photography even temps young collectors”, The Art Newspaper, September 22, 2018, https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/making-a-move-on-the-millennials-unseen-amsterdam-photography-event-tempts-younger-collectors

Bell, Adam, “Landscapes to Come”, Unseen Platform, 2018,

https://unseenplatform.com/story/landscapes-to-come

 

Van Lynden, Emily and King, George H., “Sean McFarland”, Unseen Magazine, Issue 5, 2018, p.150

 

Exhibition Catalog, “UNLIMITED Recent Gifts from the William Goodman and Victoria Belco Photography Collection”, University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 2019

 

Beil, Kim, “Sean McFarland”, Artforum, October 17, 2017,

http://www.artforum.com/?pn=archive&id=71353

 

Desmarais, Charles, “See These SF Gallery Shows Before They Close”, SFGATE, September 27, 2017,

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/See-these-SF-gallery-shows-before-they-close-12233075.php

 

Geith, Jenny, and Erin O’Toole, 2017 Seca Art Award, (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2017)

 

Desmarais, Charles, “Solid exhibition of unstable art at SFMOMA”, SFGATE, July 14, 2017,

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Solid-exhibition-of-unstable-art-at-SFMOMA-11289385.php

 

Whiting, Sam, “Meeting the winners of 2017 SECA Art Award at SFMOMA, SF Chronicle, June 29, 2017, http://www.sfchronicle.com/art/article/Meeting-the-winners-of-2017-SECA-Art-Award-at-11257584.php

 

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Sean McFarland 2017 SECA Art Award Recipient, https://www.sfmoma.org/sean-mcfarland-seca-2017/

 

Evans, McNair, “Sean McFarland: The States Project: California, August 9, 2016, http://lenscratch.com/2016/08/sean-mcfaland-the-states-project-california-2/

 

Rexer, Lyle, “Photography and America’s National Parks”, Photograph , July/August 2016, 

http://photographmag.com/issue/julyaugust-2016/

 

Allen, Jamie, “Picturing America’s National Parks”, (New York: Aperture, 2016), 17. 

 

Sutcliffe, Lisa, “Sean McFarland’s Glass Mountains”, Afterimage, Vol. 43, Nos. 1&2, pp. 34-39. 

 

Schulman, Blair, “Dual Exhibition at PLUG Projects Explore the Cosmos”, Huffington Post, March 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/blair-schulman/plug-projects-explores-th_b_6954832.html

 

Rafferty, Rebecca, “Theater of the Wild”, Rochester City Newspaper, March 2015, http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/rochester/theater-of-the-wild/Content?oid=2503247

 

Fulford, Jason, and Gregory Halpern. The Photographer’s Playbook. (New York: Aperture, 2014), 218. 

 

Stull, Ashley, “Sean McFarland by Ashley Stull – finding landscapes in the least obvious places”, BOMB Magazine, June 2014, http://bombmagazine.org/article/1000146/sean-mcfarland

 

Helfand, Glen, “Sean McFarland: Glass Mountains”, Photograph, January/February 2014, http://www.photographmag.com/newsandreviews/view/293

 

Baker, Kenneth, “Sean McFarland: Polaroid Pictures Medium for Landscape Art”, San Francisco Chronicle, November 20, 2013, http://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Sean-McFarland-Polaroid-pictures-medium-for-4996879.php

 

Willard Sachs, Danica, “Glass Mountains”, Art Practical, November 30, 2013, http://www.artpractical.com/review/glass-mountains/

 

Harrison Tedford, Matthew, “Sean McFarland: An Artist Who Found His Calling”, California College of the Arts, October, 24, 2013, https://www.cca.edu/news/2013/10/24/sean-mcfarland-artist-who-found-his-calling

 

McFarland, Sean, “Lightning Strike, 07.25.2013”, San Francisco Arts Quarterly (SFAQ), Fall 2013, Issue 14, pp. 67-69. 

 

Pictures of the Earth, Eli Ridgway Gallery, 2013 (catalog) 

 

Dreams of the Darkest Night, Nelson Gallery, UC Davis (exhibition catalog) 

 

YBCA, Video Profile: Sean McFarland's Pictures of the Earth 

 

Pritikin, Renny, SFMOMA Open Space, ‘NOCTURNE’, August 1 

 

Baker, Kenneth, San Francisco Chronicle, ‘Tiny photos offer a bigger vision of landscapes’, August 28, P. E1 

Cataloge for Joint Venture, Richard L. Nelson Gallery, UC Davis, P.16 

 

Leaverton, Michael, and Swanhuyser, Hiya, SFWeekly, 'Night & Day', October 26 November 1, P.22-23 

 

Orden, Abraham, Flash Art, 'Aperto San Francisco', July - September 

Instant City, Issue 2, Fall Cover, P.76, 83 

 

Nataraj, Nirmala, Artweek, 'Sprawl at Haley Martin Gallery', September, P. 17-18 

 

Justine Sharrock, San Francisco Magazine, 'Best Eye for Talent', July, P. 92-93 

 

1111 Journal of Literature and Art, 'Untitled Works Portfolio', Volume 2, P. 58-61 

 

Helfand, Glen, Artforum, 'Glen Helfand on Sean McFarland', December, P. 201-202 

 

Ansite, Katie, Kitchen Sink, 'Seeing Things: Closely from a Rooftop', issue 9, P.71-72 

 

Bing, Alison, SFGate, September 23 

 

Orden, Abraham, ArtNet, 'San Francisco Days' 

 

Gagnon, Adrienne, SFWeekly, September 22, 28, P.37 

 

Whiteside, Amber, Artweek, 'Urban Echoes: Wind, River, Trees, Clouds, 

 

Chickens and Orange' at Galeria de la Raza', September, P. 15-16 

 

Knobel, Kyle, Record/Play, 'Interviews with four Bay Area Artists' 

 

COLLECTIONS 

Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive 

George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY 

Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington 

Humboldt State University 

Genentech 

Milwaukee Art Museum 

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC 

Oakland Museum 

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Stanford University 

University of California Davis 

Whitney Museum of American Art Library