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Mike Henderson

Mike Henderson

  • Biography
  • Artist Digest
  • Works
  • Exhibitions
  • News
  • Press
  • American, b. 1943 Lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA Mike Henderson is a pioneering African American...
    Photo: Robert Divers Herrick

    American, b. 1943

    Lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA

     
    Mike Henderson is a pioneering African American artist, filmmaker and musician, whose dynamic practice has spanned more than fifty years. Born and raised in Marshall, Missouri, he moved to the Bay Area to attend the San Francisco Art Institute in 1965. His early, breakthrough figurative paintings from this period reveal the spirit of protest and social justice in 1960s San Francisco, as well as the vibrant community of artists and friends that would nourish his creativity for decades to come.
     
    Henderson received his MFA from the SFAI in 1970, and soon left behind his figurative style, turning his artistic vision increasingly towards abstraction. Today, he is known for abstract, highly gestural paintings that demonstrate a palpable connection to post-war abstraction and a defining instinct for improvisation. Henderson’s lived experiences, conversations he has heard, and places he has visited — those moments that “stick to your retinas” — are all conjured up in his work through texture, form, and color.
     
    Recent exhibitions include his first museum retrospective, Before the Fire, 1965–1985 at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art (2023); Honest to Goodness at SFAI (2019); and the group exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963–1983 at the de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA (2019). His works have been collected by such institutions as the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, CA; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA; Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, Davis, CA; Oakland Museum of California, CA; Phoenix Art Museum, AZ; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; and The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY.
     
    In addition to painting, Henderson is an accomplished blues guitarist and filmmaker. His experimental short films have been screened at venues around the world, including recent presentations at the New York Film Festival, NY (2017); the Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL (2016); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (2016); Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, MA (2017); and Academy Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2023). Henderson has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (1973), National Endowment for the Arts Artist Grants (1978, 1989), Artadia Award (2019), and the Margrit Mondavi Arts Medallion (2022), conferred by the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis. 
     
    Artist CV (PDF)
  • ARTIST DIGEST | MIKE HENDERSON

    ARTIST DIGEST | MIKE HENDERSON

    Discover the work of Mike Henderson in Haines Gallery's Artist Digest, a carefully curated mix of content that invites you to explore his practice in depth.
     
    READ MORE
  • Works
    • Mike Henderson Between Dreams and Truth Again, 2023 Oil on canvas 72 x 60 inches
      Mike Henderson
      Between Dreams and Truth Again, 2023
      Oil on canvas
      72 x 60 inches
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EMike%20Henderson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EBetween%20Dreams%20and%20Truth%20Again%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2023%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EOil%20on%20canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E72%20x%2060%20inches%3C/div%3E
    • Mike Henderson After Image, 2023 Oil on Canvas 24 x 20 inches
      Mike Henderson
      After Image, 2023
      Oil on Canvas
      24 x 20 inches
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      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EMike%20Henderson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EAfter%20Image%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2023%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EOil%20on%20Canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E24%20x%2020%20inches%3C/div%3E
    • Mike Henderson Signals to Enjoy or Ignore, 2023 Oil on canvas 24 x 18 inches
      Mike Henderson
      Signals to Enjoy or Ignore, 2023
      Oil on canvas
      24 x 18 inches
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      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EMike%20Henderson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ESignals%20to%20Enjoy%20or%20Ignore%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2023%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EOil%20on%20canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E24%20x%2018%20inches%3C/div%3E
    • Mike Henderson Sunday Before, 2023 Oil on Canvas 24 x 20 inches
      Mike Henderson
      Sunday Before, 2023
      Oil on Canvas
      24 x 20 inches
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      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EMike%20Henderson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ESunday%20Before%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E2023%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EOil%20on%20Canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E24%20x%2020%20inches%3C/div%3E
    • Mike Henderson Cleopatra and Champ, 1980 Acrylic and mixed media on canvas 67.25 x 57.5 inches
      Mike Henderson
      Cleopatra and Champ, 1980
      Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
      67.25 x 57.5 inches
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    • Mike Henderson Cloud Nine, 1977 Acrylic and mixed media on canvas 54 x 100 inches
      Mike Henderson
      Cloud Nine, 1977
      Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
      54 x 100 inches
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      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EMike%20Henderson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ECloud%20Nine%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E1977%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EAcrylic%20and%20mixed%20media%20on%20canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E54%20x%20100%20inches%3C/div%3E
    • Mike Henderson Untitled, 1977 Mixed media on paper 15.5 x 21.25 inches, framed
      Mike Henderson
      Untitled, 1977
      Mixed media on paper
      15.5 x 21.25 inches, framed
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EMike%20Henderson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EUntitled%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E1977%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EMixed%20media%20on%20paper%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E15.5%20x%2021.25%20inches%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eframed%3C/div%3E
    • Mike Henderson Untitled, 1978 Mixed media on paper 23.5 x 32 inches, framed
      Mike Henderson
      Untitled, 1978
      Mixed media on paper
      23.5 x 32 inches, framed
      Inquire
      %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EMike%20Henderson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EUntitled%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E1978%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EMixed%20media%20on%20paper%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E23.5%20x%2032%20inches%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eframed%3C/div%3E
  • Exhibitions
    • Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976–1980

      Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976–1980

      January 14 - April 1, 2023
      Haines Gallery proudly presents Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976–1980 , a solo exhibition by the acclaimed Bay Area artist, filmmaker, and blues musician. Henderson's fifteenth solo exhibition with the gallery...
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    • Blaze Across the Firmament

      Blaze Across the Firmament

      September 10 - October 30, 2021
      Haines Gallery proudly presents Blaze Across the Firmament , a group exhibition exploring our relationship to the heavens — those ethereal bodies that illuminate the night sky, mark our place...
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    • Chromotherapy

      Chromotherapy

      July 8 - September 5, 2021
      Haines Gallery is pleased to announce our reopening to the public with Chromotherapy , a group exhibition celebrating the transfor-mative powers of color. Opening on Thursday, July 8, our first...
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    • Mike Henderson: The Black Paintings

      Mike Henderson: The Black Paintings

      January 2 - March 28, 2020
      Haines Gallery proudly presents our thirteenth solo exhibition with pioneering Bay Area artist Mike Henderson (b. 1943; lives and works in San Leandro, CA). Henderson and his work have been...
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    • Mike Henderson: At the Edge of Paradise

      Mike Henderson: At the Edge of Paradise

      November 7 - December 14, 2019
      Haines Gallery proudly presents our latest solo exhibition of new paintings by the pioneering Bay Area artist and 2019 Artadia Award winner Mike Henderson . Henderson moved to the Bay...
      Read more
    • Likenesses

      Likenesses

      July 9 - August 31, 2019
      Haines Gallery proudly presents Likenesses , a group exhibition bringing together works by seven contemporary artists from around the world to explore the conventions, possibilities, and limits of portraiture. The...
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    • Mike Henderson: Parallel Spaces

      Mike Henderson: Parallel Spaces

      September 7 - October 28, 2017
      Haines Gallery is pleased to present Parallel Spaces , a solo exhibition comprising new paintings and works on paper by Mike Henderson (b. 1943; lives and works in San Francisco,...
      Read more
    • Mike Henderson: Traces of Places

      Mike Henderson: Traces of Places

      May 1 - July 3, 2014
      Haines Gallery is pleased to present new work by pioneering Bay Area artist Mike Henderson , who has exhibited with the gallery for over twenty years. Through his highly gestural...
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    • Fundamental Abstraction III

      Fundamental Abstraction III

      January 9 - March 1, 2014
      Haines Gallery is pleased to present Fundamental Abstraction III , a group exhibition featuring an international selection of artists concerned with the formal aspects of line, color, shape and composition...
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  • News
    • Mike Henderson Museum Exhibition, Dwelling: New Acquisitions Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, CA October 4, 2024 - ongoing
      News

      Mike Henderson
      Museum Exhibition

      Dwelling: New Acquisitions
      Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, CA
      October 4, 2024 - ongoing
      The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University presents Dwelling: New Acquisitions opening early October. The exhibition showcases the Center's recent acquisitions to their collection, including Mike Henderson's Rain , 1978....
    • Mike Henderson Museum Acquisition, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, CA acquires painting Mike Henderson's The Yellow Pencil (1979)
      News

      Mike Henderson
      Museum Acquisition

      Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, CA acquires painting Mike Henderson's The Yellow Pencil (1979)
      Haines is pleased to announce that MIKE HENDERSON'S The Yellow Pencil (1979) has been acquired by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. The Yellow Pencil is part of...
    • Mike Henderson Artist Talk, You Should Have Seen It: A Discussion with Christina Schlesinger and Mike Henderson Skowhegan School of...
      News

      Mike Henderson
      Artist Talk

      You Should Have Seen It: A Discussion with Christina Schlesinger and Mike Henderson
      Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME
      Sunday, May 12, 2024 | 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
      This past winter, the Skowhegan Alliance published You Should Have Seen It, a zine of lost and destroyed artwork. Of its many incredible examples of loss and heartbreak, one story...
  • Press
  • Jamie Kennedy, “Mike Henderson’s provocative art exhibition sheds light on racial justice,” Spectrum News, July 4, 2023

    Vanessa Labi, “Fire destroyed 20 years of Mike Henderson’s work. But it also turned his art in a new direction,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 2, 2023

    Maria Porges, "Mike Henderson," Artforum, Summer 2023
    Margarita Lila Rosa, "Mike Henderson: Before the Fire, 1965–1985," The Brooklyn Rail, February 2023
    Harley Wong, "Mike Henderson's Heated 'Protest Paintings' Re-Emerge From the Flames," Frieze, February 24, 2023
    Shanti Escalante-De Mattei, "An Oddyssey of Fire: Nearly Destroyed in a Blaze, Mike Henderson's Long-Lost Paintings About the Rage of the '70s Reemerge," ARTnews, February 13, 2023

    David M. Roth, "The Dialectical Journey of Mike Henderson," Squarecylinder.com, February 4, 2023
    David Smith, "'I could have died': how an artist rebuilt his career after a studio fire," The Guardian, February 2, 2023
    Chadd Scott, "Mike Henderson's American Odyssey On View At University of California, Davis," Forbes, January 31, 2023
    Darrell Smith, "His works feared lost, pioneering painter Mike Henderson's art rises in new UC Davis show," The Sacramento Bee, January 30, 2023
    Hillary Louise Johnson, "By Any Means Necessary, I Will Keep Being An Artist," Sactown Magazine, January/February 2023

    Marcus Crowder, “Mike Henderson’s Personal Renaissance,” Alta, December 21, 2022

    Tony Bravo, “Bay Area visual arts scene stacked with new shows, anniversary celebrations for 2023,” San Francisco Chronicle, December 28, 2022

    “LAURELS: Professor Emeritus Mike Henderson Receives Arts Medallion,” UC Davis, October 25, 2022

    David M. Roth, “Water & Sky @ Crown Point and Haines,” Squarecylinder.com, October 1, 2021

    Janet Reilly, “Mike Henderson Has More to Do,” Nob Hill Gazette, May 1, 2021

    Qianjin Montoya, “It Doesn’t Come Overnight: Mike Henderson and Qianjin Montoya in Conversation,” SFMOMA Open Space, May 4, 2020

    Sura Wood, “Art from injustice: 'Soul of a Nation’,” Bay Area Reporter, November 19, 2019

    Jonathan Curiel, “Mike Henderson Does It All,” SF Weekly, October 30, 2019

    Soraya Murray, “Mike Henderson @ SFAI + Haines,” Squarecylinder.com, October 11, 2019

    “Mike Henderson and Angela Hennessy Win 2019 San Francisco Artadia Awards,” Artforum, September 16, 2019

    Charles Desmarais, “7 Bay Area gallery shows to see this fall,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 22, 2019

    Robert Feuer, “Mike Henderson: Blues Professor,” Living Blues, April 2019

    "Down Hear: The Films of Mike Henderson," School of the Art Institute of Chicago, March 31, 2016

    Julia Couzens, "Mike Henderson @ Haines Gallery," Squarecylinder.com, June 30, 2014

    "Mike Henderson: Colorful Improvisation," Arts Observer, June 18, 2014

    Kenneth Baker, "Mike Henderson's Abstract Paintings at Haines Gallery," SF Gate, May 17, 2014

    Carlos Restrepo, "Marshall is Music: Homecoming: 'The Blues Professor' to be Featured at Bob James Jazz Festival," The Marshall Democrat-News, May 2, 2013

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