The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley is pleased to welcome professor Darian Longmire as of July 1, 2023. Longmire is an assistant professor in the Department of Art Practice where he utilizes his artwork to articulate the dichotomy of Blackness through invisible matter, black holes and time warps. With years of experience studying mediums like digital processes, drawing, printmaking and design, Longmire considers himself a "remixer," utilizing his skills to create a world of abstraction.
After having received his bachelor’s from Illinois State University, Longmire completed his M.F.A. at SUNY Albany, where he was inspired to combine his print-based work, which explores physics, philosophy and outer space, with broader ideas regarding space and time. Longmire has developed his prior research into a larger artistic framework, with his recent explorations in the studio impacted by what he describes as “living through a time distortion.”
Longmire’s recent works, such as his Convoluted Magnetism series, aim to challenge the idea of the fixed image, inspired by his interest utilizing concepts of physics and outer space to construct alternate political realities. His works have also been exhibited in a number of shows, including “Yelling at the sky,” curated by La Keisha Leek at The Gaylord & Donnelley Foundation in Chicago (2016); “Time Camp,” curated by Black Quantum Futurism at Icebox Projects in Philadelphia (2017); “What is leaping in your chest?,” curated by Alexandra Foradas (Mass MOCA) at Collar Works gallery in Troy, NY (2017); as well as his thesis exhibition, “Blackness was in the Beginning and Blackness will be in the end,” for which he was awarded Best in Show by the University Art Museum at SUNY-Albany in 2018.