Leslie Dick

Leslie Dick, Senior Critic in Painting/Printmaking

Transplanted to London from her native New York at the age of ten, Ms. Dick received a B.A. in English literature from the University of Sussex in 1977 before beginning her work as a teacher and writer. She published two novels, Without Falling (1987) and Kicking (1992), and a book of short pieces, The Skull of Charlotte Corday and Other Stories (1995). She currently writes about art for various magazines, most recently X-TRA and East of Borneo. She has taught in the art program at California Institute of the Arts since 1992 and is deeply engaged in the discourse around contemporary art and culture. In 2008 she collaborated with artist Martin Kersels on a video installation, Ripcord, which was shown at Acme Gallery, Los Angeles. In 2010 she participated in the Whitney Biennial in New York, presenting a performance of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s essay on the mirror stage, with projections of still and moving images, and a live performance by Das Racist. Also in 2010 she took part in the exhibition Separation Anxiety at the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Rancho Cucamonga, California, presenting a photographic work and a performance called Boundary Lines, on the subject of maternal idealization of the body of the child. The exhibition subsequently traveled to Pelham, New York. In 2011 Ms. Dick gave two presentations: one on feminism at the Royal College of Art and another on her own work at Goldsmiths, University of London. In 2012 she participated in On Perfection, a conference at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. A book based on the conference was published the following year. Ms. Dick was appointed critic in sculpture in 2012.