Es catedrático de Historia del arte contemporáneo en la Universidad de California. Ha colaborado en diversas exposiciones en la Tate Modern, Musée du Louvre, Reina Sofía, LA County Museum of Art, Stedelijk, MOCA, LA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Albertina o el Festival de Edimburgo. Autor de numerosos artículos para, entre otros, 'Artforum', 'Frieze', 'Art Bulletin', 'Screen', 'New York Times', 'International Herald Tribune' y 'The Economist'.

Entre sus libros cabe mencionar 'Paul McCarthy: Caribbean Pirates' (2014), 'Vasco Araújo' (2006), 'Art After Appropriation: Essays on Art in the 1990s' (2001), 'Mike Kelley' (1999), 'Invisible Colours: A Visual History of Titles' (1997), 'Modernism Relocated: Towards a Cultural Studies of Visual Modernity' (1995) y 'The Dada and Surrealist Word Image' (1987), a los que cabría añadir como editor 'Sculpture and the Vitrine2 (2013), 'Black Sphinx: On the Comedic in Modern Art' (2010), 'The Aesthetics of Risk' (2008), 'Institutional Critique and After' (2006), 'Recent Pasts: Art in Southern California from the 90s to Now' (2005), 'Rethinking Borders' (1996), y los escritos de Mike Kelley 'Foul Perfection' (2003), 'Minor Histories' (2004) e 'Interviews, Conversations, and Chit-Chat' (2005).