Kristopher Benedict

Kristopher Benedict's work has been exhibited in solo shows at Sue Scott Gallery in New York, Gallery Diet (now Nina Johnson) in Miami, Paris London Hong Kong in Chicago, Volta NY, and the Goodyear Gallery at Dickinson College among other venues. Group exhibitions include those at the David Petersen Gallery in Minneapolis, CTRL gallery in Houston, the University of Florida, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, and the Orlando Museum of Art. His work is in the public collections of the RISD Museum, Flint Institute of Arts, and The Orlando Museum of Art.  He holds a BFA from The Cooper Union, and an MFA from Columbia University.  His studio is in Philadelphia, he lives in the suburbs, and teaches painting at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania. 

More often than not, my paintings take on the domestic scale of easel painting and I value the way the form seems to allow for a bit of searching and contemplative vision rather than over-confident public address.  (Even my largest paintings don’t approach the cinema-screen sizes of last century’s modernists or today’s big crowd pleasers.)  Somewhere along the way I adopted the belief that art making was about discovery.  In line with this, my paintings always suppose a subject that is being transformed.  A single painting may connect to the idea of transformation by literally moving from one image to the next during the painting process, as I shift through a range of ideas about painting, a variety of source images, and layers of looking and reinvention.  Similarly, a given body of work may cross a number of painting styles and genres (landscape most frequently) as thematic interests are arrived at, knocked around a bit, picked apart, and reassembled.  Overall, I work to keep the question of how painting creates meaning as open for myself as I can, and I want to leave space for the viewer to engage with these possibilities as well.   

SOLO AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2016                            Two Person Show with Debra Bermingham, Argazzi Art, Lakeville, CT

2015                            “Green Piano”, Paris London Hong Kong, Chicago, IL

                                    Two Person Show with Halsey Rodman, Reade Street Project Space, New York, NY, curated by Steven Stewart

2014                            “Happy Ghost”, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia, PA

2012                            “City of Seals”, David Petersen Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (two person show with Fabienne Lasserre)

                                    “The Phenomenal Ocean”, The Goodyear Gallery at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

2011                            “Remake”, Sue Scott Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue)

                                   “The Cat in The Clouds”, Gallery Diet at the Volta NY Art Fair

2010                            “Into the Mountains”, Gallery Diet, Miami, FL

2009                            “Fake Your Death”, Sue Scott Gallery, New York, NY

                                   “The Rat Retires from the World”, Goodyear Gallery at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

                                   “Citygarden and Microscope”, Gallery Diet, Miami, FL (two person show with Peter LaBier)

2008                            “Retreat”, A.M. Richard Fine Arts, Brooklyn, NY  

2005                            Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY                        

2003                            “Park Paintings”, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY

           

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2016                            “SHOUT, Tree”, Fjord, Philadelphia, PA

2014                            “Bloom”, Usable Space, Milwaukee, WI, curated by Tom Berenz

                                   “Some Nights When Nothing Happens”, Usable Space, Milwaukee, WI, curated by Kristopher Benedict

2012                            “Take Shelter in the World”, Boston University Art Gallery Annex, curated by Dushko Petrovich, Boston, MA

2011                            “Paper A-Z”, Sue Scott Gallery, New York, NY

2010                            “Precarity and the Butter Tower”, CTRL Gallery, curated by Jackie Gendel and Tom McGrath, Houston TX    

                                    “A Reluctant Apparition”, Sue Scott Gallery, New York, NY

2009                             “Subverted Genres”, Sue Scott Gallery, New York, NY, curated by Gabriela Galati and Rebecca Mirsky

                                     “Landscape”, Ruffin Gallery at University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

2007                            “Audacity in Art, collector’s choice III”, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL

2006                            “The Sanctuary and the Scrum”, Black and White Gallery Chelsea, New York, NY, curated by David Hunt

                                     “Pick a Durable Motor”, Goodyear Gallery at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, curated by Todd Arsenault

2004                           “Autumn”, Sixty Seven Gallery, New York, NY  

                                    “My Land: Public Privacy”, Long Shot Gallery, Asheville, NC

2003                            “Pantone”, Massimo Audiello Gallery, New York, NY curated by David Hunt  

                                    “Anywhere But Here”, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, NY

                                    “After Matisse / Picasso: Special Project”, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens, New York

2002                            “Columbia University Visual Arts MFA Thesis Exhibition”, New York, NY

 

 

Summer 2009             Fountainhead Residency, Miami, Florida

Fall 2008                     Dickinson College Artist in Residence Program

                        Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

Summer 2002             Terra Summer Residency

                                    Musee d’Art Americain, Giverny, France

Summer 1999             Doris Rothenberg Travel Fellowship

                                    Venice, Italy

 

Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL

Flint Institute of Art, Flint, MI

RISD Museum of Art, Providence, RI

 

PRESS

2014                            Kristopher Benedict summons spirits at Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Knight Arts, December 2014, Chip Schwartz

Gallery Night and Day April 2014: Top Picks, JSOnline, April 2014, Mary-Louise Schumacher

2012                            At a Coffee Shop in “City of Seals”, mnartists.org, December 2012, Jay Orff

 

2011                            Personality Order, ARTslant, September 2011, Charlie Schultz

 

Volta Fair Offers A Catalog, An iPhone App and Three Strong Booths, Art Fag City, March 2011, Paddy Johnson

 

2010                            Check two exhibits before they’re gone, The Houston Chronicle, June 2010, Douglas Britt

 

Bright Young Things: Fresh From Chelsea, Orlandoweekly.com, January 2010, Jessica Bryce Young

 

2009                            Artist’s Space, Orlando Arts Magazine, November 2009, Photography by Phelan M. Ebenhack

           

                                    Kristopher Benedict, ARTnews, September 2009, Anne Landi

 

Kristopher Benedict’s Fake Your Death, TheYoungandHungry.com, February 2009, Madeline Warren

 

Fake Your Death, Garden of Earthly Delights and Golden Festival, blogs.wnyc.org, January 2009, WNYC Culture

 

2005                            Calendar, The New York Sun, June 2005

           

                                    Higher Learning, W, P.312-316, March 2005, Jenny Cornita

 

2000 - 2002                 Masters Degree in Fine Art

                                    Columbia University

                                    New York, NY

 

1996 - 2000                 Bachelors Degree in Fine Art

                                    The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

                                    New York, NY

 

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

 

Fall 2014 -                   Assistant Professor of Painting

Present                        West Chester University, West Chester, PA

 

Fall 2012 -                     Assistant Professor of Painting

Spring 2014                Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, WI

 

Fall 2011 –                  Visiting Assistant Professor of Studio Art

Spring 2012                Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

                                   

Spring 2010                Adjunct Professor

                                    Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

 

Various times                         Adjunct Professor

2003 – 2008                The Cooper Union, New York, NY

Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY

Columbia University School of Art, New York, NY