Kip Fulbeck

Biography

Fast-paced, wry and often acidic, the work of Kip Fulbeck explores the contemporary Asian American and Hapa (multiracial Asian) experience through personal narrative. Fulbeck taps into the ambiguities of his identity while challenging the boundaries of "identity" as a category. An inveterate storyteller, his clever, nuanced tales are presented with an irony that is grounded in his own blurred cultural footing and fascination for pop culture.

Kip Fulbeck was born in 1965 in Fontana, California. He received a B.A. and an M.F.A. in Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego, studying under Eleanor Antin. His videos and performance work have exhibited throughout the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Singapore International Film Festival; the Transmediale Media Arts Festival, Berlin; the World Wide Video Festival, The Hague; and the 1993 Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial. He has been featured on CNN, MTV, PBS, The Today Show, and Voice of America. His work has been shown at The Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Bonn Videonale, Bonn, Germany; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Sydney International Film Festival. Solo exhibitions and performances include the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, California; The Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, New Zealand; Newcastle Museum, New South Wales, Australia; and Riverdale Country School, Bronx, NY. His first novel, Paper Bullets: A Fictional Autobiography, was published in 2001 by the University of Washington Press. He has received awards from the Rochester International Independent Film Festival, Red River International Film Festival, the USA Film Festival, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival, and the Brooklyn Arts Council Film & Video Festival. Fulbeck teaches as a Professor of Art and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara during the school year, and works as an ocean lifeguard during the summer months.