CV
EDUCATION
2005 | Museum of Fine Arts School, Boston (traditional painting techniques)
1996 | Theatre D’Ange Fou; Paris, France (Decroux Corporeal Mime)
1993 | Pickle Family Circus; San Francisco (trapeze; tite-wire) 1990 | Accademia Musicale Ottorino Respighi; Assisi, Italy (voice)
1976-79 | Parsons School of Design, NY; (drawing; painting; photography; illustration)
1974-76 | Harkness House for Ballet Arts, Trainee; (technique; flamenco; jazz; repertoire)
1972-75 | American Ballet Theatre School, Scholarship; (technique; pas de deux; character; repertoire)
1972-74 | Charles Weidman Expression of Two Arts Theatre; (modern technique; repertoire); James Waring Studio; (ballet)
PERFORMANCE WORKS
2019/2022 UNDERNEATH THE SKIN
2019 THE CRAZY CRIES OF LOVE
2017/2018 TIME NO LINE
2017 DOWN TO YOU: JOHN KELLY SINGS JONI MITCHELL
2017 TIME NO LINE
2016 BEAUTY KILLS ME
2015 LOVE OF A POET (Reconstruction/Revision)
2014 ESCAPE ARTIST REDUX (video installation)
2013 REBEL SONGS OF A RANGE QUEEN
2013 CARAVAGGIO SONGS: MUSIC FROM THE ESCAPE ARTIST
2012 MUSE ASCENDING A STAIRCASE (video installation & photography exhibition)
2012 JOHN KELLY & DARGELOS
2011 THE ESCAPE ARTIST
2011 FIND MY WAY HOME (reconstruction/revision)
2010 COHESION
2010 PASS THE BLUTWURST, BITTE (reconstruction/revision)
2009/10 PAVED PARADISE REDUX
2009 SONGS FOR A SHINY HOT NIGHT: JONI MITCHELL’S COURT AND SPARK
2008 DARGELOS AT BAR 13
2007 CARA VIAGGIO
2007 MUSIC FOR ROMANIANS
2006 MRS. HAMLET
2006 21ST CENTURY VOX
2002/05 SHINY HOT NIGHTS
2004 THE SKIN I’M IN
2003 GET UP AND JIVE
2002 THE PARADISE PROJECT
2001 BROTHER
1999 MOONDRUNK
1999 CAFÉ BLUEBEARD HOF
1998 SING LOW SWEET LOVE
1998 LIFE OF CRUELTY
1998 FIND MY WAY HOME
1997 PAVED PARADISE
1996 20TH CENTURY VOX
1995 CONSTANT STRANGER
1995 PASS THE BLUTWURST, BITTE (reconstruction)
1994 FAR CRY FROM BLISS
1993 LIGHT SHALL LIFT THEM
1993 I WANT YOUR MYTH
1992 AKIN: TRUE BUT DOUR
1992 ARIAS I LOVE
1992 DIVINE PROMISCUE
1991 DOWN IN THE MOUTH
1991 HER TENDER MOMENT
1990 LOVE OF A POET
1990 THE DAGMAR ONASSIS STORY (revision for THE DECADE SHOW)
1990 CUPID AND DEATH
1990 MAYBE IT’S COLD OUTSIDE
1988 ODE TO A CUBE
1988 FIND MY WAY HOME
1986 BORN WITH THE MOON IN CANCER
1986 PASS THE BLUTWURST, BITTE
1985/6 DIARY OF A SOMNAMBULIST
1985 GO WEST JUNGER MANN
1985 JOHN KELLY SINGS
1985 LONG LIVE THE KNIFE
VISUAL ART EXHIBITIONS (solo shows marked by *asterisk)
2023 | MAKE ME FEEL MIGHTY REAL: DRAG/TECH AND THE QUEER AVATAR, Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Bill Arning Exhibitions, Kinderhook, NY; ‘The Performative Self-Portrait’, RISD Museum, Providence, RI
2021 | ICONS, ICONOCLASTS, AND OUTSIDERS, Howl Arts, NY
2018 | *SIDEWAYS INTO THE SHADOWS, Howl! Happening, NY; Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT; WORKS: BOBBY BUSNACH | KATRINA DEL MAR | MICHELLE HANDELMANN | JOHN KELLY | BOBBY MILLER, AMP: Art Market Provincetown, MA; CAST OF CHARACTERS, Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, NY
2017 | THE NATURE LAB, LABspace, Hillside, NY
2015 | LIKE, Rhode Island School of Design Painting Gallery, RI; COUNTER) PUBLIC ART, INTERVENTION, & PERFORMANCE IN LOWER MANHATTAN FROM 1978- 1993, Arts Center, Governors Island, NY
2014 | *MUSE ASCENDING A STAIRCASE, Center Hall Gallery, Hudson Opera House, Hudson, NY; THE HOUSE IS OPEN, Fisher Center, Bard Live Arts, NY
2013 | MUSE ASCENDING A STAIRCASE (video & photography installation), ‘Masquerade’ Exhibition, Coreana Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
2012 | * SELF-PORTRAITS, Julie Heller Gallery, Provincetown, MA
2011 | LOOKING AT MUSIC 3.0, Museum of Modern Art, NY
2010 | * SCHIELE-KELLY, La Galleria La MaMa, NY ; QUEERE VOICE, Institute for Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA, curated by Ingrid Schaffner; LONDON BIENNALE SATELLITE SHOW, Christopher Henry Gallery, NY, curated by Inbred Hybrid Collective; VIRTUOSO ILLUSION: CROSS-DRESSING AND THE NEW MEDIA AVANT-GARDE, MIT List Visual Arts Center, curated by Michael Rush
2009 | *THE MIRROR STAGES: SELF-PORTRAITS 1979-2009, Alexander Gray Associates, NY; ‘Postcards From The Edge’, Metro Pictures, NY
2007 | *CARA VIAGGIO, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy; ONE DAY IT WILL PLEASE US TO REMEMBER EVEN THIS, 33 Plaques throughout NYC marking contemporary history & cell tour, Creative Time, NY; TRYINGTOLOAD, MACRO Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma, Rome; SUMMERFEST, at Villa Massimo, Rome; ‘Tiber Hawks’, FotoGrafia – Festival Internationale di Roma, Gallery of Art, Temple University, Rome; STARS AND STRIPES, Biagiotti Progetto Arte, Florence, Italy; SE UNA NOTTE D’APRILE, Blueroom Rialtosantambrogio, Rome, Italy
2005 | *RECYCLING THE MUSE, Baker Room Gallery, Radcliffe Yard, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 2004 | EAST VILLAGE USA, New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY
2003 | *THE PARADISE PROJECT, The Kitchen, NY
2002 | ENOUGH ABOUT ME; Momenta Arts, Williamsburg, NY
2001 | *BROTHER, Performance Space 122 Gallery, NY; APPROPRIATING SYMBOLS, Whitney Art Works, Greenport, NY 2000 | FRIENDSHIPS IN ARCADIA: ARTIST’S AND WRITERS AT YADDO, Art In General, & Saratoga Art Museum, NY 33.
SELECTED PERFORMANCE VENUES
2023
Institute for Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Howl Gallery, NY
2022
La MaMa, ETC
2019
Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater | REDCAT
Met Live Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Skirball Center for The Performing Arts
BAM, NY
2018
La MaMa, NY
Performance Space New York
2017
Oberon @ American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA
Mladi Levi Festival, Ljubljana, Slovania
La MaMa, NY
Dixon Place, NY
Joe’s Pub, NY
2016
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
Abrons Arts Center, NY
Joes Pub, NY
2015
River To River Festival, Governors Island, NY
Pangea, NY
2014
Hudson Opera House, Hudson, NY
Bryn Mawr College, PA
St. Marks Danspace, NY
City Winery, NY
2013
La MaMa, ETC, NY
Participant, NY
Spiegeltent, Bard College, NY
Joe’s Pub, NY
2012
Park Avenue Armory, NY
Joe’s Pub, NY
2011
New York Live Arts, NY
MAD Museum of Art & Design, NY
Performance Space 122, NY
Park Avenue Armory, NY
Afterglow Festival, Provincetown, MA
2010
Park Avenue Armory, NY
Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA
Galapagos, NY
Il Poisson Rouge, NY
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA
Weimar New York, Abrons Art Center, NY
Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX
2009
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN
Symphony Space, New York, NY
Arons Arts Center, New York, NY
River To River Festival, Castle Clinton, New York, NY
One Arm Red, Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY
Dixon Place, NY
Envoy Gallery, NY
City Winery, NY
DIA at the Hispanic Society of America, NY
2008
Tate Modern, London, UK
Hong Kong International Festival, China
Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, NY
Speigeltent, New York, NY
Speigletent, Bard College, NY
2007
Accademia Americana in Roma, Italy
Accademia di Romania in Roma, Italy
Goteborg Theatre, Goteborg, Sweden, Hassleblad Award Ceremony/Nan Goldin
Theater Offensive, Boston, MA
2006
Santa Monica Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Monica, CA
Spiegel Tent, New York, NY
Pier 17, Benefit For Visual Aids, New York, NY
Southern Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
2005
American Repertory Theatre, Benefit For A.R.T., Cambridge, MA
Fez, New York, NY
2004
Joyce Theatre, Altogether Different Festival, NY
Warhol Museum, Pittsburg, PA
Bockenheimer Depot, Frankfurt, Germany
On The Boards, Seattle, WA
Oberlin Dance Collective, San Francisco
2003
Howl Festival, NY
Gagosian Gallery, Bang On A Can Benefit, NY
2002
Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Sundance Theater Institute, Sundance, Utah
The Kitchen, NY
2001
Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT
Performance Space122, NY
Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, NY
Warhol Museum, Pittsburg, PA
Fez, New York, NY
1999
New Victory Theatre, Lincoln Center’s Great Performers New Visions Series, NY
PS 1, Long Island City, NY
Universal Amphitheatre, Opening Act For Natalie Merchant, Los Angeles, CA
Copley Symphony Hall, San Diego, CA
Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA
Joni’s Jazz at Central Park Summerstage, NY
Martha At Mother, NY
AWARDS | GRANTS | FELLOWSHIPS | RESIDENCIES
2023 | Baryshnikov Arts Fellowship At Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, Tivoli, NY; Good Works Foundation, Fellowship; Yaddo, NY (residency)
2022 | Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (residency); Good Works Foundation, Fellowship
2021 | Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Fellowship; Art Matters, Inc., Grant
2020 | The Ruth Maleczech Award; Art Matters, Inc, Grant; Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Grant
2019 | Good Works Foundation, Fellowship; Ucross Foundation, WY (residency); Yaddo (residency)
2018 | New York State Council on the Arts, Grant for “Underneath The Skin”; MacDowell (residency)
2017 | NEA Dance Grant for “Time No Line”; Yaddo (residency); Millay Arts (residency)
2016 | Good Works Foundation, Fellowship; Dance In Process Residency, Gibney Dance Center; MASS MoCA, creative residency; Abrons Arts Center, performance workshop
2015 | Good Works Foundation, Fellowship; Yaddo (residency); MacDowell (residency)
2014 | LMCC Process Space Artist Residency
2013 | USA Artists Award ‘Gracie’ Fellowship; Visiting Artist in Residence, Bard College; Yaddo (residency)
2012 | Bogliasco Foundation, Italy (residency); Good Works Foundation, Grant; MacDowell (residency)
2011 | NEA American Masterpieces (Dance) Award, for “Find My Way Home”; Jerome Robbins Foundation, Grant; Ethyl Eichelberger Award; MacDowell (residency)
2010 | NEA American Masterpieces (Dance) Award, for “Pass The Blutwurst, Bitte”; Visual AIDS Vanguard Award; Artist In Residence, Park Avenue Armory, NY; Sundance Institute Theatre Program; Civitella Ranieri Center, Umbria, Italy (residency)
2008-09 | ARC (Advancement, Reinvention, Creativity) Grant; Digital Performance Institute, (residency)
2006-07 | Rome Prize in Visual Art, The American Academy In Rome; Good Works Foundation, Grant
2005 | Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Actor Large Ensemble, for ‘Dido, Queen of Carthage’, A.R.T.
2004-05 | Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University (fellowship)
2003 | Yaddo (residency)
2001 | Cal/Arts Alpert Award, in Dance/Performance
2001 | New York Foundation for the Arts, Fellowship
1998-99 | P.S.1 National Studio Artist Program, The Clocktower, NY
1998 | NEA Creation Grant
1991-98 | New York State Council for the Arts, Grants
1997 | MacDowell (residency)
1996 | NEA Creation/Presentation Grant
1991-1996 NEA Choreographer Fellowships
1991 & 1987 | Obie Awards
1991 | New York Foundation for the Arts, Artist Fellowship
1989 | John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
1988 & 1986 | Bessie Awards
SELECTED WRITINGS
~ SINGING ‘COURT AND SPARK’, (essay) for ‘The Rumpus: SWINGING MODERN SOUNDS #82: JONI MITCHELL’S COURT AND SPARK: A SYMPOSIUM‘, curated by Rick Moody, 2017
~ ‘Portfolio: John Kelly’, ‘Performance New York’, Performing Arts Journal #100, 2012
~ ‘Performing the Paintings: A contemporary artist inhabits the Baroque realist’s paintings in a work entitled “Cara Viaggio” ’, The Italian Journal, Volume 20, Number 3, 2010
~ CLOSET TRUSH, essay in catalogue for exhibition ‘Queer Voice’, at Institute for Contemporary Art, Philadelphia 2010
~ IN PRAISE OF DRAG II, essay in catalogue for exhibition ‘Virtuoso Illusion; Cross-Dressing and the New Media Avant Garde’, at List Art Center, MIT Press, 2010
~ THEY STRIPPED WITH THEIR BOTS ON: REVENGE WITH REPRIEVE; Movement Research Performance Journal #34, 2009
~ GIVING ORDER TO THE GOOGLE, InsideArts, Nov/Dec 2005, 35.
~ GRATEFUL, Reader: Ideas & Information on Arts & Culture, Vol. 13, No. 3, Fall 2002
~ ‘110 STORIES: New York Writes After September 11th’, New York University Press, 2002
~ ‘JOHN KELLY’, Autobiography/Monograph published by the 2wice Arts Foundation, in association with Aperture, 2001
~ THE MIRROR, 2wice, Self issue Vol. 2, No. 1, 2000, 14-17.
~ I WANT YOUR MYTH, Movement Research Journal: Heroes and Histories, #6, 1993
~ IN PRAISE OF DRAG, Movement Research Journal: Gender Performance, #3, 1991
~ A WAY WITH WORDS, Movement Research Journal
~ ‘The Kitchen Turns Twenty: A Retrospective Anthology’, The Kitchen Center for Video, Music and Dance, NY 1992, 97.
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY
John Kelly, BEAUTY KILLS ME, Strange Troubadour Records, 2017
Laurie Anderson, LIFE ON A STRING, Nonesuch Records, 2003
David Del Tredici, SECTET MUSIC, (lyricist and vocalist) CRI Records, 2001
Mitja Vhrovnik-Smrekar, THE NAME ON THE TIP OF THE TONGUE, (Slovenia: A Chamber Opera, vocalist/director), 1998
OUT LOUD, Knitting Factory Records, 1996
The Jazz Passengers, JAZZ PASSENGERS IN LOVE, Wydham Hill Records, 1995
ROLES AS DANCER / SINGER / ACTOR
2023
GODS FOOL, (Devil), Directed by Martha Clarke. La MaMa, NY; The Spoleto Festival, Italy
2020
THE SOLDIER’S TALE, music by Igor Stravinsky, with New York Theatre Ballet, choreographed and directed by Robert LaFosse, role: The Devil
2018
WORDS ON THE STREET, a music theatre work, music by Matt Marks/ David Little, director Kristen Marting, role: Lust
2018
THE ECHO DRIFT, chamber opera by Michel Karlsson, director Mallory Callott, role: Moth; Governor
2015-16
DOG DAYS, chamber opera by David Little, director Robert Woodruff, role: Prince
2014
THE THREEPENNY OPERA, director Martha Clarke, role: Street Singer/Filch, Atlantic Theatre Company, NY
2013
IN A YEAR WITH 13 MOONS, director: Robert Woodruff, role: Man in Street; Trans Sister, Yale Rep, CT
2009
ORPHEUS X, by Rinde Eckert, director: Robert Woodruff, role: (Jon/Persophene); Theater For A New Audience, NY
2007 & 09
UNCIVIL WARS: MOVING WITH BRECHT & EISLER; director: David Gordon: roles (Vice Viceroy / Lopez & Madame / Mother Superior) Peak Performances, Montclair, NJ; The Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN; The Kitchen, New York, NY
2009
THE GOLDEN LEGEND; choreography by Christopher Williams (St. Anthony Abbott), DTW, NY
2008
TABBOO!’S FINOCCHIO – THE LYIN’ QUEEN OR THE SOUND OF CRICKETS; role: Cripple and the Starfish, Gene Frankel Theatre, NY
2007
LECTURE ON THE WEATHER, by John Cage, director: Laura Kuhn, role: (soloist); Fisher Center, Bard College, NY
2006-07
ORPHEUS X, by Rinde Eckert, director: Robert Woodruff, (Jon/Persophene); Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland; American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA; Hong Kong Arts Festival
2005
DIDO, QUEEN OF CARTHAGE, by Christopher Marlowe, director: Neil Bartlett, role: (Cupid); American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA
2003
CARMILLA, (Montebank): La MaMa ETC, NY
2001-02
JAMES JOYCE, MARCEL DUCHAMP, ERIK SATIE: AN ALPHABET, by John Cage, director: Laura Kuhn, role: (Narrator); Edinburgh International Festival; University of Illinois, Champaign, IL; Zellerback Hall, Berkely, CA; Perth International Arts Festival, Perth, Australia; Hebel Theatre, Berlin, Germany; Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland;
2000
JAMES JOYCE’S THE DEAD, adaptation/director: Richard Nelson, role: (Bartel D’Arcy); Belasco Theatre, NY; Playwrights Horizon’s, NY; Ahmanson Theater, Los Angeles, CA; Kennedy Center, Washington DC
SELECTED FILM and VIDEO ROLES
2018 HUSTLERS AND EMPIRES, video installation by Michelle Handelman
2010 THE CLERKS TALE, directed by James Franco
2010 FADE TO WHITE, by video artist Janet Biggs
2009 JOHN KELLY DANCES ON A POOL TABLE, collaboration with video artist Shelly Silver
2005 THE PATHOLOGICAL PASSION OF THE CHRIST, director Dario D’Ambrosio
2005 ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES, director John Tuturro
2000 CIRCLES SHORT CIRCUIT, director Caspar Stracke
1996 CATER WAITER, director Eric Lane
1995 WIGSTOCK, THE MOVIE, director Barry Shils
1992 ROBERT’S MOVIE, director Genan Gerede
1992 STOLEN TANGO, director David Moore
1991 SUBLET, director Chus Gutierrez
1991 FAKE FUR IS GROING ON ME, director Simon Grome
1991 STUDY OF A PLANT, director Simon Grome
1990 SON OF SAM AND DELILAH, director Charles Atlas
1986 WIGSTICK, director Tom Rubnitz
TEACHING and LECTURING
2013-17 Visiting Artist in Residence, Bard College
2011 The New School, NY
2010 Pratt Institute, NY; Yale University, CT
2007 ‘Slow Art; Time Symposium’, Institute For Advanced Study, University of Minnesota
2007 Visiting Artist, Master Program in Fine Arts (PennDesign) program, University of Pennsylvania
2005-06 Guest Lecturer on Dramatic Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2005 Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Cambridge, MA
2002 Visiting Artist, Cal Arts, Los Angeles, CA
1998 Guest Lecturer, Tyler University, Philadelphia, PA
