BIO

Randall Sinner was an American artist who explored the death penalty, institutional violence, and memory, developing conceptual and performative projects that questioned justice, power, and contemporary human rights.

Biography

Randall Sinner was an American artist whose practice developed at the intersection of conceptual art, documentary research, and performance, critically addressing social and political issues deeply rooted in contemporary society. His work focused particularly on the U.S. judicial system and the death penalty as a mechanism of institutional violence, exploring its ethical, symbolic, and territorial implications. Through a methodology that combined physical displacement, direct observation, and the collection of materials, Sinner constructed a body of work that articulates memory, representation, and power. His approach was characterized by rigorous field research, as well as by the translation of that research into artistic gestures laden with political meaning. In this sense, her practice was not limited to the production of objects but expanded into long-term processes in which the artist’s body, the territory, and national symbols took on a central role. His most renowned work, 38/50, encapsulates this approach by involving actions carried out in multiple states, highlighting the relationship between geography and legislation regarding capital punishment. Sinner used elements such as flags, ropes, and media documentation to generate a complex visual narrative that questions the state’s structures of legitimacy. Throughout his career, he maintained a significant connection with Central America, particularly with Honduras, where his work resonated in contexts marked by historical conflicts and struggles for human rights. His artistic legacy is part of a tradition of critical practices that seek to stimulate public reflection, proposing art as a space for analysis and confrontation in the face of the forms of structural violence that permeate contemporary societies.

Randall Sinner

EDUCATION
2000 MFA New Genres
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

1998 BFA Sculpture – Ceramics,
San Francisco Art Institute, Francisco, CA

1997 Studio Arts Program
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS /PERFORMANCES

2007
Finding Place, life as ritual: Video/Installation/Dance Performance
Sandy Carson Gallery. Denver, CO

2006
8 of5o Capitol Embroidery: Installation
Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art. Fort Collins, CO

Finding Place, life as ritual: Video/Installation/Dance Performance
Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art. Fort Collins, CO

2005
In/Justice: 38 of 5o Capitol Embroidery: Installation
Virginia Film Festival. Charlottesville, VA

Unfurled:
Tartu Ulikool. Tartu, Estonia

38 of5o Capitol Embroidery: Installation
The Bridge. Charlottesville, VA

2004
38 of 50 Capitol Embroidery: Performance
Austin, TX – Nov 1-3
Springficld, IL – Oct 4-6
Indianapolis, IN – Sep 27-29
Dover, DE – Aug 2-4
Albany, NY – Jul 28-30
Jefferson City, MO – Jun 1-3
Little Rock, AR – May 26-28
Denver, CO – Apr 7-9
Atlanta, GA – Feb 2-4
Jackson, MS – Jan 28-30

FOR MORE PROJECTS, READ THE FOLLOW PDF:

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