Kyle Hackett

Kyle Hackett is an Artist, Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the MFA Studio Art Program at American University in Washington, DC. His paintings explore race, class, and social standing through approaches to self-representation and the constructed image. 

Hackett earned his MFA from the LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and his BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Delaware. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship, the Civil Society Institute Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center Residency, the Ruth Katzman Scholarship at The League Residency in New York, and Best in Show at the 2014 Bethesda Painting Awards Exhibition. His work has been featured in New American Paintings, The Washington Post, HuffPost, and Aesthetica Magazine (UK), and the National Portrait Gallery’s Portrait Award publication in the British Library collection. Hackett received a Mayoral Salute from the City of Baltimore for his solo exhibition Rate of Contingency. 

Recent exhibitions include Unfinished Republic: America at 250 at Goya Contemporary Gallery (Baltimore, MD); the Ruth Borchard 2025 Self-Portrait Prize (UK); the Herbert Smith Freehills 2024 Portrait Award Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery (London); Circular Narratives at Vinegar Projects (Birmingham, AL). Hackett’s work is represented by Goya Contemporary Gallery (Baltimore, MD) and is included in collections such as Ethan Cohen Gallery (New York), the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank, the Capital One Lounge at Washington Dulles International Airport, and the Soho House Art Collection, among others.