Ariel Plotek
Professional Experience
Museum of Sex, New York, NY & Miami, FL
Chief Curator | June 2023 – August 2025
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM
Curator of Fine Art | 2018 – 2023
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA
Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art | 2009 – 2018
University of San Diego, San Diego, CA
Lecturer | 2010 – 2017
Clemson University, Clemson, SC
Lecturer | 2008 – 2009
New York University, New York, NY
Teaching Assistant | 2003 – 2004
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Research Assistant, Department of European Paintings | 2002 – 2003
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, QC
Assistant to the Deputy Chief Curator | 2000
Education
Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, New York, NY Ph.D. | 2008
Doctoral thesis supervised by Linda Nochlin
Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, New York, NY M.A. | 2003
Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK
B.A. (Honours) | 2001
Selected Curatorial Projects
Co‑Curator, Higher Love: The Psychedelic Roots of Modern Sexuality. Museum of Sex, New York, May 2025.
Curator, Long Island Girl: The Superrealism of Carol Feuerman. Museum of Sex, New York, January 2025.
Co‑Curator, Looking at Andy Looking (with The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh). Museum of Sex, New York, September 2024.
Curator, I Licked It, It’s Mine. Museum of Sex, New York, April 2024.
Curator, Georgia O’Keeffe: Making a Life. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 2023.
Co‑Curator, Georgia O’Keeffe, A Life Well Lived: Photographs by Malcolm Varon. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 2022.
Curator, Contemporary Voices: Josephine Halvorson. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 2022.
Organizer, Inaugural Artist‑in‑Residence Program, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum: Josephine Halvorson, 2019.
Curator, Contemporary Voices: Ken Price. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 2019.
Curator, The Candid Camera. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, 2018.
Curator, Nancy Lorenz: Moon Gold. San Diego Museum of Art, 2018.
Curator, Brenda Biondo: Play. San Diego Museum of Art, 2017.
Co‑Curator, Richard Deacon: What You See Is What You Get. San Diego Museum of Art, 2017.
Co‑Curator, The Art of Music. San Diego Museum of Art, 2015.
Curator, Ron Nagle: Peripheral Cognition. San Diego Museum of Art, 2014.
Publications
Exhibition Catalogues
‘Finding the Form,’ in O’Keeffe and Moore. San Diego: San Diego Museum of Art, 2023.
‘A Unity of Expression,’ in Georgia O’Keeffe: Photographer. Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2021.
‘L’objectif du peintre,’ in Georgia O’Keeffe. Paris: Centre Pompidou, 2021.
Nancy Lorenz: Moon Gold (editor). San Diego: San Diego Museum of Art, 2018.
Richard Deacon: What You See Is What You Get (editor). San Diego: San Diego Museum of Art, 2017.
‘From Parsifal to Parade: The Attributes of Music in the Modern Era,’ in The Art of Music. San Diego: San Diego Museum of Art, 2015.
Ron Nagle: Peripheral Cognition (editor). San Diego: San Diego Museum of Art, 2014.
Charles Reiffel: An American Post‑Impressionist (editor). San Diego: San Diego Museum of Art, 2012.
Articles & Reviews
Review of Oscillating Spaces at the Canadian Center for Architecture. ArtForum, forthcoming in March 2026.
‘A Source for Diego Rivera’s Hands of Doctor Moore at the San Diego Museum of Art.’ Source Notes in the History of Art, Summer 2013.
Review of French Sculpture Following the Franco‑Prussian War, 1870–80: Realist Allegories and the Commemoration of Defeat by Michael Dorsch. caa.reviews, February 2012.
‘The New Barnes Foundation.’ Tabula Quarterly, Spring 2013.
Review of Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955–1972. Tabula Quarterly, Winter 2012.
Review of Art Theft and the Case of the Stolen Turners by Sandy Nairne. Tabula Quarterly, Fall 2011.
‘The Spectacular Art of Jean‑Léon Gérôme.’ The Burlington Magazine, September 2010.
Awards & Fellowships
Centre André Chastel, Paris IV‑Sorbonne — Visiting Scholar, 2005–2008.
FCAR (Government of Québec) — Doctoral Fellowship, 2002–2005.
Languages
English (native), French (native fluency), Italian (conversational fluency)