Rhea Anastas

Rhea Anastas is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, University of California, Irvine. She specializes in 20th-century experimental visual arts, critical theory, and cultural theory. Her roles include curatorial work, academic teaching, and scholarly writing. She holds a PhD from the Graduate Center, CUNY, and MA/BA degrees from Columbia University.

Education:

• PhD, Graduate Center, The City University of New York
• MA, Columbia University
• BA, Columbia University

Research Interests: Rhea focuses on avant-garde art practices, feminist theory, and the intersection of art with sociopolitical contexts. Her work interrogates institutional frameworks, market dynamics, and the ethics of artist-run spaces like Orchard, an experimental gallery she co-founded in New York (2005–2008). She explores how art critiques cultural norms through curatorial projects and dialogic writing.

Notable Projects: Curated New Cuts, K8 Hardy (2015) at UCI; co-organized Orchard, a Lower East Side gallery challenging art-market conventions; and contributed to exhibitions like the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw (2010–2011). She has lectured globally, including at the Hammer Museum (UCLA) and MoMA PS1.

Awards:

• Otis Visiting Fine Arts Critic in Residence Fellowship (2011/12)

Advising & Grants: No specific student advisement listed. Her work emphasizes collaborative curatorial practices over traditional grant-funded research. She co-founded Orchard as a collective initiative, reflecting her commitment to alternative art models.

Labs/Teams: Co-founder of Orchard (2005–2008), which hosted over 27 exhibitions and events critiquing global art-market dynamics during the 2000s. The project is documented in Orchard Dossier (2009) and her upcoming edited volume Being the Opposite.