BIOGRAPHY
A Southern California native born in 1945, Hardy began tattooing in 1966 while completing a B.F.A. degree in printmaking (etching) at the San Francisco Art Institute. He developed the fine art potential of the medium with emphasis on its Asian heritage, frequently studying and working in Japan since 1973. Although still maintaining a San Francisco tattoo studio, he no longer tattoos but focuses on painting, printmaking, and porcelain. He has had numerous exhibitions in galleries and museums internationally, curated several shows, and written and published over twenty books on alternative art. Recently his vintage tattoo designs are the basis of an international fashion line, Ed Hardy.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1992 Death or Glory World Tattoo Gallery, Chicago
1993 La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles
Janet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia
1994 Sensitive Issues La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles
Edward Thorp Gallery, New York
Cavin-Morris, New York
1995 Flash Art Paintings Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco
Drawings That Last a Lifetime Janet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia
1997 Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco
Permanent Curios Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (catalog)
1998 Some Weird Beauty Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO
Panoply of Wonders The Art Guys, Houston
Bibelots Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco
1999 Tattooing the Invisible Man: Bodies of Work, 1955-1999 Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (Catalog)
2000 2000 Dragons & Related Paintings Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (catalog)
2001 New Gods Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco
2000 Dragons Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO
Asian Waves Babilonia 1808, Berkeley, CA
2002 The Elephants’ Graveyard Fred Spratt Gallery, San Jose, CA
2000 Dragons Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
2003 Exhibition Match Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2004 Recent Paintings Oceania Gallery, Honolulu
2000 Dragons Linekona Center for the Arts, Honolulu
2005 Indelible Voyage Instituto de Artes Graficas, Oaxaca, Mexico
Ghost Writers and Automatics Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Recent Paintings Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1971 Tattoo! Museum of American Folk Art, New York
1975 In Celebration of Ourselves San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
1985 L’asino e la Zebra Mercato di Triani, Rome (catalog)
1989 Dia de Los Muertos Mission Cultural Center, San Francisco
1990 Artists of Hawaii Annual Honolulu Academy of Arts (also 1993 & 1995)
1992 Best of the West Zero One Gallery, Los Angeles
Rocks of Ages La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles (catalog)
1993 Raw Visions Artisana Gallery, Dallas
Eye Tattooed America Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago (traveled) - catalog
Big Cat Etchings Bridgewater / Lustberg Gallery, New York
Kustom Grafix The Works Gallery, Costa Mesa CA.
Gallery Artists’ Drawings Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco
The Return of the Cadavre Exquis The Drawing Center, New (traveled)
1994 Flash Janet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia
Edge of the Toon Cavin-Morris, New York
Mutant Messengers Ann Nathan Gallery, Chicago
American Tattoo Flash Drawings Gallerie Suzanne Zander, Cologne, Germany
1995 Biennial Exhibition of Hawaii Artists The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu / Maui Arts & Cultural Center
Pierced Hearts & True Love The Drawing Center, New York (traveled) - catalog
Lasting Impressions Quartet Editions, New York
In the Light of Goya University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
1996 Three From Shark’s (John Buck, Red Grooms, D.E. Hardy) Augen Gallery, Portland, OR
Out of the Skin Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco
1997 Art and Provocation: Images From Rebels Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO
1998 Tribute to La Luz de Jesus Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Camouflage Schmidt-Bingham Gallery, New York
Spinal Epidural,Please! Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco
1999 New Religion Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
2000 Select Prints Shark’s Ink William Havu Gallery, Denver
I Love Mom Roq LaRue Gallery, Seattle
2001 Circos Globulos Babilonia 1808, Berkeley, CA
7th Bienal of Painting, Cuenca, Ecuador (catalog)
2004 100 Artists See Satan Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, CA
Post-Tattoo The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu (catalog)
2005 Marked Men Rogue Buddha Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (traveling)
Wood Skin Ink Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center, Makawao, Maui (traveling)
2007 5 Stories Higher Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
I’d Rather Be Drawing Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu
Honolulu Academy of Art
Spenser Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas