Tim Rollins (b. 1955, Pittsfield, ME; d. 2017, New York, NY) began his career teaching art for special education middle school students in a South Bronx public school. In 1984, he launched the Art and Knowledge Workshop, an afterschool program for his most dedicated students, who named themselves Kids of Survival (K.O.S.). While many of the original K.O.S. members are actively involved in the collaboration today, Rollins intended for flexibility within the group to allow for new generations of members. Rollins’ pedagogical technique of reading and discussing literary texts as the inspiration for his students’ artwork continues to be the basis on which the group makes their collaborative work. Rollins and K.O.S. often paint and draw directly on the pages of books or sheet music that they adhere in a grid to the surface of the canvas. They have used numerous works as source materials, including literary classics by William Shakespeare, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mark Twain, and musical compositions by Felix Mendelssohn and Richard Strauss. For their 2013 show with Lehmann Maupin, the group exhibited Darkwater, using the pages of a 1920 first-edition copy of W.E.B. Dubois’ eponymous autobiographical collection of essays and short stories that confronted issues of race, class, and gender. Rollins and K.O.S. dipped 24 pages from the book in a solution of black watercolor paint, rendering the bottom half of every page illegible. The Darkwater series was made in collaboration with junior high school students in Savannah, Georgia, during a week-long workshop. Just as he had done with the original Kids of Survival, Rollins encouraged the students to engage with some of the very complex issues discussed in Dubois’ book through the process of art making, demonstrating the collective’s continued dedication to collaboration, social engagement, and education.
提姆·羅琳斯(1955年生於美國皮次菲爾德)從紐約大學的藝術教育和哲學研究生課程畢業後,羅琳斯開始在南布朗克斯的一所特殊公立學校教學藝術。在1984年,他連同一群自稱K.O.S(Kids of Survival)的問題學生推出了藝術與知識工作坊。在1997年,其制作的紀錄片在倫敦電影節、法國真實電影節和漢普頓國際電影節上均大獲好評。於2006年,提姆·羅琳斯與K.O.S於惠特尼雙年展展出。於2009年,美國薩拉托加泉斯基德莫爾學院唐教學博物館和藝術畫廊舉行提姆·羅琳斯與K.O.S的二十年回顧展,展覽後來移至西雅圖弗萊博物館和費城當代藝術學院。提姆·羅琳斯與K.O.S目前於美國紐約定居及從事藝術創作。