Tucker Neel

Tucker Neel serves as Associate Professor in the Liberal Arts and Sciences and Illustration departments at Otis College of Art and Design, where he is an active artist, writer, curator, and educator based in Los Angeles.

His academic credentials include:

• MFA, Otis College of Art and Design
• BA in Art History and Visual Arts, Occidental College

Neel's research interrogates ideological apparatuses through unconventional lenses, examining how objects, texts, and rituals mediate collective memory and presence. His heterogeneous practice spans voicemail systems, political ephemera, YouTube documentation, internet conspiracies, gentrification narratives, monuments, and digital intimacy platforms. Pedagogically, he specializes in Graphic Design/ Illustration history, Rome-based travel studies, and senior studio critique frameworks, emphasizing critical engagement with visual culture.

His institutional recognition includes:

• Teaching Excellence Award (2020)
• Multiple Faculty Development Grants (2019, 2016, 2013)
• Assessment Research Grant (2016)
• Curricular Innovation Grant (2013)

Neel directs 323 Projects—a pioneering voicemail gallery enabling participatory sound art—while contributing as Artillery Magazine editor. His scholarly output manifests through catalog essays for artists like Nancy Baker Cahill and Lorenzo Hurtado Segovia, alongside critical reviews in Artforum and X-TRA, reflecting his commitment to bridging academic inquiry with contemporary art discourse.