Jim Toia
Artist’s statement
“I seek to convey the absolute brilliance of circumstance and contingency. When successful, the viewer becomes aware of the fragility of the moment, realizes the miracle of our predicament, and bends to the fascination of pure experience.”
Toia Summation:
Jim Toia generates work by exploring environments around the world, but his primary studios are in Northwestern New Jersey and the Florida Keys. He sought the hills, valleys and river basins of NJ as both refuge from the metropolitan area and its proximity to the New York art world where he exhibited with the Kim Foster Gallery for over two decades. When in Key West he spends time peering into the straits of Florida searching out life below. Toia received his BA from Bard College in 1984 and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in1993.
His work has been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe and the Far East. The many collections that own his work include the Yale Museum of Art, the NJ State Museum, the AT&T Collection, and the Dallas Museum of Art and Stamford University to name a few. He is the recipient of many grants and awards including a 2000 New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship and a Geraldine Dodge Foundation Grant.
Along with his art making process, Toia has been an active curator since his early years as an artist. He is currently co-curating the traveling exhibition, Post-Posthuman which will travel to numerous locatuions throughout the next few years, www.post-posthuman.com. In addition, Toia is the executive director and chief curator of the Karl Stirner Arts Trail in Easton, PA.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 | Jim Toia: Notes on Threatened Landscapes, Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. |
2020 | Crust Lust – A residency exhibition at Boxo Projects, Joshua Tree, CA |
2018 | 30+3, Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY |
2015 | From Here to Uncertainty, The New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ |
2015 | Nature Made, The Pingry School, Warren, NJ |
2013 | Tempting Impulse, Tempting Nature, The Gruss Center for the Arts, Lawrenceville, NJ |
2012 | Everything’s Fine, Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY |
Tempting Nature, Tempting Impulse & The Petri Island Project, Studios of Key West, FL | |
2010 | Islands, Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY |
Dissolving Gardens, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ | |
2008 | Knee Deep & Risin’, Grossman Gallery, Lafayette College, Easton, PA |
At the Mercy of the Gate, Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY | |
2006 | Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY |
2005 | Haines Gallery, San Francisco, CA |
2004 | Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY |
Ben Shahn Galleries, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ | |
2002 | Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ |
Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY | |
2000 | Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY |
1997 | Yearsly Spring Gallery, Philadelphia, PA |
Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY | |
1996 | The Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ |
1995 | Spazi Contemporary Art, Housatonic, MA |
1993 | Centenary College, Hackettstown, NJ |
Montclair State College, Montclair, NJ | |
1992 | Spazi Contemporary Art, Housatonic, MA |
Sculptures S.V.A. Gallery, New York, NY | |
1991 | Public Proof Installation, Port Authority Bus Terminal, New York, NY |
1987 | Gallery Patisserie, Jersey City, NJ |
1986 | The Torn Awning Gallery, New York, NY |
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 | |
2021 | Pathological Landscape, Marquee Projects, Bellport, NY. |
2020 | passing bittersweet, Williams Center Gallery, Easton, PA |
2019 | Works by AD Tinkham, Carol Munder & Jim Toia, Lucky Street Gallery, Key West, FL |
2018 | Human/Nature, Wayne State University, Elaine Jacob Gallery, Detroit, MI |
2018 | Temporal Convergence, Lucky Street Gallery, Key West, FL |
2017 | Winterfell, Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY |
2016 | Come in from the Cold, Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY |
2014 | Ready or Not, New Jersey Arts Annual, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ |
Summer Dreams, Lucky Street Gallery, Key West, FL | |
Mushrooms, Moss and a Movie, Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY | |
2013 | New Faces, Lucky Street Gallery, Key West, FL |
2012 | Emergence & Structure Traveling Exhibition, University Gallery, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, MDC Freedom Tower Gallery, Miami, FL, Grossman Gallery, Lafayette College, Easton, PA |
2011 | Night, Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY |
Sticks and Stones, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY | |
Blooms & Bulbs, Everhart Museum, Scranton, PA | |
Bloom, Islip Museum, East Islip, NY | |
2009 | DrawingPainting, Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY |
Rahway Arts Guild, Rahway, NJ | |
2007 | On Paper, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, CA |
2006 | Terrain, Kim Foster Gallery, NY |
2005 | Collectors Gallery, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY |
Taipei Artists’ Village International, Taipei, Taiwan, The Mind of Nature: Structures and Processes: Kerns, Minter, Toia, Digitized: Kerns, Minter, Toia, at the Chen-Lin University Art Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan | |
2004 | Temporalscape, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, CA |
Metamorphosis, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Kohler, Wisconsin | |
2003 | SmART Gallery – Inaugural Group Exhibition, Munich, Germany |
The For-Site Foundation- Inaugural Exhibition, Grass Valley, CA | |
Organics, two person exhibition with Illlia Barger curated by Tricia Fagan, Mercer Community College, Trenton, NJ | |
2002 | Made by Nature, Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, Long Island City, NYArtists and the Art of the Book, Traveling exhibition curated by Curlee Holton, Director of the Experimental Print Institute, Lafayette College |
Museo de Arte y Diseno Contemporaneo, San Jose, Costa Rica | |
Spaces Gallery, Cleveland, OH | |
Artists’ Image Resource Center, Pittsburgh, PA | |
Banana Factory, Bethlehem, PA | |
2001 | Selections, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Members Gallery, Buffalo, NY |
1999 | In View of Nature, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY |
A Book in Hand, Brooklyn Public Library by Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY | |
Small Works, Kim Foster Gallery, NY | |
1998 | Drawings, Yearsley Spring Gallery, Philadelphia, PA |
Drawings On Paper and Off, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, PA | |
1997 | ArtLink: Miniature Golf Course, Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ |
1996 | Il Politecnico XX Arte, Rome, Italy |
Kim Foster Gallery, New York, NY | |
Image & Text, Rathbone Gallery, Albany, NY | |
450 Broadway Gallery, New York, NY | |
1995 | Buoys, curated by Bill Bace, New York, NY |
1994 | Art of Italian Americans, Lehman College, White Plains, NY |
Beyond Bard, National Arts Club, New York, NY | |
1993 | Artists’ Books and Books about Art, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York |
Three Sculptors, The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, NJ | |
1992 | Books By Artists, Spazi Contemporary Art, Housatonic, MA |
Enigma, Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY | |
Rituals, The Cork Gallery, Lincoln Center, New York | |
Breaking Space, A.J. Lederman Gallery, Hoboken, NJ | |
Range, Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY | |
1991 | Dreams and Ambiguities, Curated by Barbara Green, Spazi Contemporary, MA |
1990 | New Jersey Arts Annual, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ |
1989 | Prints and Multiples, Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, CT |
Selections 1989, Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, CT | |
1988 | The Milk Bar, New York, NY |
1986 | The Metro Show, City Without Walls, Newark, NJ |
No Lo Contendere, New York, NY |
COLLECTIONS
The Newhouse Collection, NY
Allan Chasanoff Collection, NY, NY
Snyder Collection, NY, NY
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ
Stanford University, Stanford, CA
AT&T/ Lucent, Basking Ridge, NJ
IC Deal Collection, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
Stephen & Naomi Antonakos, New York, NY
Lafayette College, Easton, PA
The Lands Collection, Beverly Hills, CA
Haines Collection, San Francisco, CA
Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ
The FOR-SITE Foundation, Nevada City/San Francisco, CA
The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N
D’Agostino Collection, Rome, Italy
Smerling Design, Lenox, MA
Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2015 | State of the Arts, PBS Television, NY/NJ Metropolitan Market. |
2015 | New York Times, Pieces of Nature Preserved as Art and the New Jersey State Museum. Tammy La Gorce. |
2015 | The Time of Trenton, N.J. State Museum Displaying Jim Toia’s Art. Janet Purcell. |
2015 | Newsworks.org, WHYY, Philadelphia. The Future is Uncertain in Nature Based Exhibit and the New Jersey State Museum. |
2014 | SciArt in America, In The Studio with Jim Toia, Interview by Ed Kerns. |
2013 | Orion Magazine, Life in a Petri Dish. Illustrations. Charles Mann |
2009 | Lehigh Valley Style The Process Principle, by Steve Piccione, , pg 33-36, September |
2006 | Art in America , Jim Toia at Kim Foster, Leigh Anne Miller October |
2005 | Artweek, Alison Bing |
2003 | Sculpture Magazine, “Metamorphosis: Jim Toia” Carol Rosen, May issue |
2002 | New York Times, “Made by Nature at Dorsky Gallery” Ken Johnson, October 11 |
2002 | NY Arts, “Collaboration with Nature: Jim Toia” Tova Beck Friedman, Summer issue |
2002 | Sculpture Magazine, “Jim Toia: groundwork,” April |
2002 | The Sunday Star-Ledger, “Nature mushrooms into art at Clinton museum,” Dan Bischoff, March 31 |
2002 | New York Times, “Finding Meaning in Mushrooms Served Up as Art,” William Zimmer, March 24 |
2002 | “Magical Mushrooms,” Time Off, reviewed by Susan Van Dongen, March 22 |
2001 | “Jim Toia,” Sculpture, Erica-Lynn Huberty, January/February |
2000 | “Jim Toia” New York Times, Ken Johnson, June 23 |
2000 | “Jim Toia” Village Voice, Kim Levin, June 27 |
1998 | New Jersey Network, Artist Spotlight, NJN TV, Trenton, NJ |
1997 | “Strokes of Inspiration” New York Times, Bill Zimmer, Sept 28 |
1997 | “Manhattan Avant Garde Galleries” Kunstmarket Newspaper, Sept 14 |
1997 | Review: Jim Toia at Yearsly Spring , The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 6 |
1997 | Time Out Magazine, September |
1997 | Review Magazine, September |
1996 | “Sculptor Who Collaborates with Nature” New York Times, Vivian Raynor, September 1. |
1996 | “Sculptor’s Creations are Second Nature” The Star Ledger, Eileen Watkins, August 21. |
1996 | Cover Magazine – Review by David Gibson, October issue |
1994 | “Italian Americans Pose Questions about Ethnicity” New York Times, Vivian Raynor, December 25 |
1992 | “Imagery with Surrealistic Accent” New York Times, Vivian Raynor |
1988 | The Print Collector’s Newsletter, Jackie Brody Vol. XIX, No 4 |
RESIDENCIES
2020 | Boxo Projects, Joshua Tree, CA |
2012 | The Studios of Key West, Key West, FL |
2008 | Costa Rica Cultural Arts Center, San Jose, Costa Rica |
2007 | University of Texas, Pan American, Edinburg, TX |
2006 | Taipei Artist Village, Taipei, Taiwan |
2005 | University of California, San Jose |
2003 | FOR-SITE Foundation, Grass Valley, California |
1999 | Drury College, Springfield, IL Artist in residence |
1997 | Lafayette College, Easton, PA Artist in residence |
1994 | The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, NJ Artist in residence |
