David Ebony

Born in Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, David Ebony studied media and communications, and art history at Trenton State College, and at the University of Madrid, Spain, on a junior year abroad scholarship. Soon after graduating in 1976, Ebony moved permanently to New York City, where he immersed himself in the avant-garde art and music scenes of the day. 

A trained pianist, he cofounded the pop-punk rock band, Erasers—with Susan Springfield, and Jane Fire—performing original songs in local clubs. At the same time, he ran a short-lived experimental art space, David Ebony Gallery in the Fine Arts Building in Manhattan’s Tribeca.  After a year, he took temporary leave of the band and the gallery, moved to England, and traveled extensively for seven months in Europe and India. 

He returned to New York in 1978, and resumed performing with Erasers at C.B.G.B. and other venues. After many shows, and recording several songs for Ork Records, Erasers disbanded in 1982. He has continued to play piano and write songs, however. In 2015, Bryan Ferry recorded one of Ebony’s compositions, Gun Shaft City for Chris Spedding’s Joyland LP. 

After the Erasers breakup, Ebony enrolled in New York’s Hunter College graduate program, where he studied art history with theorist Rosalind Krauss, and artist Robert Morris. Soon after earning his MA, he was hired by Art in America magazine. He is currently a Contributing Editor of the magazine, formerly its Managing Editor. Over the course of some thirty years, he has written hundreds of feature articles, news items, interviews, and other pieces for the magazine. 

A long-standing member of AICA (International Association of Art Critics), Ebony is a former board member of the organization. Currently, a senior editor at Snap Editions, NYC, he is the author of “David Ebony + Art Books,” a column for Yale University Press online; and he has been a frequent contributor to artnet News, and The Magazine Antiques, among other publications. In addition, he teaches a graduate seminar in art history and theory at the New York Academy of Art. 

Ebony is also an independent curator; among his recent exhibitions are “Grasshopper: A Judy Pfaff Survey,” at CR10, Linlithgow, New York, in 2016; and “Metropolis,” at Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery, New York, in 2015. He is the author of numerous artist monographs, including Julio Larraz (forthcoming from Rizzoli); Larry Poons (forthcoming from Abbeville Press); Beatriz Milhazes (Taschen 2017); Arne Svenson: The Neighbors (2015); Anselm Reyle: Mystic Silver (2012); Manolo Valdés (2011); Emily Mason: The Fifth Element (2006); Craigie Horsfield: Relation(2005); Carlo Maria Mariani (2001); and Graham Sutherland: A Retrospective(1998). He lives and works in New York City.

Janis Gardner Cecil