Andrius Alvarez-Backus
Born in Warwick, NY, 1999. Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
EDUCATION
2025
MFA, Columbia University School of the Arts, New York
2023
BFA, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York
SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2026
I Want to Know, I Need to Know, Eli Klein Gallery, New York
2025
Ordinary Permanence, MAMA Projects, New York
Some Dissemblance Required, Chelsea Walls, New York
2023
Desastre!, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
How to Inherit a Hazard, The Cooper Union, New York
2022
Haptic Register, Ben Blaustein, Brooklyn, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
Kaleidoscope: 100 Years of Collecting for Our Community, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
Second Nature, Fundación Maceta, Mexico City
Critic’s Choice, Ki Smith Gallery, New York
APRIL, Nguyen Wahed, New York
Stay With Me (Neither Here nor There), Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai
SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York
2025
Expressive Bodies, The Liu Shiming Art Foundation, New York
Fault Lines, The Blanc, New York
Class of 2025 Thesis Exhibition, Wallach Art Gallery, New York
The Unruly Dance of Form, Fragment Gallery, New York
Blood as Thick as Water, Plato Gallery, New York
No Place Like Home, LATITUDE Gallery, New York
2024
A Triptych in Jazz, Jerome L. Greene Science Center, New York
Container, A Space Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Currents, SK Gallery, New York
VOLUME, Black Brick Project, Brooklyn, NY
Class of 2025 First Year MFA Exhibition, Wallach Art Gallery, New York
Suite No. 1, Fundación Maceta, Mexico City
2022
86th Regional Exhibition of Art & Craft, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
They/He/She, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY
2019
Outside the Lines, Post Office Gallery, North Truro, MA
2018
Next Up!, Page Waterman Gallery, Wellesley, MA
2014
Westford Regional Art Event, Westford, MA
2013
78th Regional Exhibition of Art and Craft, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
AWARDS, RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS
2026
The Meridian Award, Finalist, New York
Curatorial Program for Research Resident, Brooklyn, NY
2025
Artist in Residence, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn, NY
The Nicholas Dahl Visiting Artist, Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Provincetown, MA
2024
The D’Arcy Hayman Scholarship, Columbia University, New York
The Quinta Carolina Scholarship, Columbia University, New York
The Visual Arts Intraschool Scholarship, Columbia University, New York
The Dean’s Travel Grant, Columbia University, New York
The Marcy L. Wachtel Scholarship, Columbia University, New York
The Visual Arts Program Scholarship, Columbia University, New York
2023
The Provost Fund Scholarship, Columbia University, New York
The Richard Lewis Bloch Memorial Prize, The Cooper Union, New York
Master of Fine Arts Program Scholarship, Columbia University, New York
The Cooper Union Half Tuition Scholarship, The Cooper Union, New York
The Cooper Union Innovator’s Scholarship, The Cooper Union, New York
2022
The Martin A. Rothenberg Travel Fellowship, The Cooper Union, New York
The TDC Scholarship, Type Directors Club, New York
First Prize, Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
2021
The Cooper Union Half Tuition Scholarship, The Cooper Union, New York
The Cooper Union Innovator’s Scholarship, The Cooper Union, New York
2020
Essay Award for Second Year Core Curriculum, The Cooper Union, New York
Diversity Fellow, The Adirondack Experience, Blue Mountain Lake, NY
2019
The Cooper Union Half Tuition Scholarship, The Cooper Union, New York
The Cooper Union Innovator’s Scholarship, The Cooper Union, New York
2018
The Cooper Union Half Tuition Scholarship, The Cooper Union, New York
The Cooper Union Innovator’s Scholarship, The Cooper Union, New York
COLLECTIONS
Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
SELECTED PRESS
2026
The Meridian Award, “Finalist Interview: Andrius Alvarez-Backus”
Jiayin Flora Song, “Mystifying the Already Unknowable: In Conversation with Andrius Alvarez-Backus,” Impulse Magazine
Asian American Life, “NYC Nurses Strike, Korean Book Talk, Diverse Artists,” CUNY TV
Shuhan Zhang, “Andrius Alvarez-Backus: I Want to Know, I Need to Know,” Art Spiel Richard Starbuck, “Andrius Alvarez-Backus,” Floorr Magazine
Emma Cieslik, “‘Agency within Objecthood’: A conversation about embodiment and creation with artist Andrius Alvarez-Backus,” WhiteHot Magazine
Floriana Savino, “Andrius Alvarez-Backus da Eli Klein Gallery a New York,” Art a Part of Culture
2025
Joshua Chee Sanford, “Ordinary Permanance,” Brooklyn Rail
Ho Won Kim, “How Can Queer Artists Escape the Trap of Tokenization?” Hyperallergic
2024
Lauren Harris, “Emerging Artists Challenge Perceptions at Open Studios Exhibition,” Columbia University School of the Arts
2023
Boston Art Review editors, “Take the Day: Fourteen Exhibitions That Warrant Art-Filled Trips Across New England,” Boston Art Review
PUBLICATIONS
2021
Expert Contributor: Beyond Diversity by Jennifer Brown and Rohit Bhargava
2019
Contributing Editor: How to Be an Inclusive Leader by Jennifer Brown