Stephen Prina was born in 1954 in Galesburg, Illinois and received his M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts in 1980. His work has been included in numerous thematic exhibitions, including Departures (The J.Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2000); Sunshine & Noir: Art in L.A. 1960-1997 (The Louisiana Museum, Denmark, 1997); 51st Carnegie International(Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, 1990); A Forest of Signs: Art in the Crisis of Representation (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1989).
Stephen Prina’s complex artworks examine the underpinnings of cultural production and consumption. His works further the investigations of representation and language explored by artists in the Conceptual movement of the 1970s. Prina’s objects, which are often serialized and long-term, draw attention to the making and preservation of cultural and art history, as well as the systems of the art business. Often questioning issues of authenticity, authorship, originality, and appropriation, Prina’s rigorous exercises challenge assumptions about the art object.