Erik Benjamins

is an artist that champions the symptoms and possibilities of embodied knowledge. Adopting textures and languages from visual art, performance, design, and writing, Erik’s practice is disciplinarily meandering, place-sensitive, and unapologetically optimistic. Recent projects have mined modernist design histories, taken inspiration from public spaces of wellness, and centered unconventional uses of text both on and off the page.

Based in Los Angeles, Erik acknowledges his presence on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Chumash, Kizh, and Tongva peoples.

Portrait by Kovi Konowiecki

Contact, Mailing List, CV, IG

Education

2012

MFA Studio Art, School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University, Boston, MA

2008

BA Comm. Studies & Studio Arts, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA

2006

Fall Semester, Florence, Italy, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

Summer Semester, Florence, Italy, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA

Residencies

2022

EKWC (European Ceramic Work Center), Oisterwijk, NL

2018

Critical Art Writing Ensemble III, Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, Alberta, CAN

2017

Spring Workshop, Hong Kong
Institute for Art & Olfaction, Los Angeles

2016

The Drive of Walking Master Class, Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, NL

2015

Food & Justice Residency, Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM

2010

Mildred’s Lane, Beach Lake, PA

Collections

Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain (FRAC) Poitou-Charentes

Franklin Furnace Artists’ Books Collection

Paul D. Fleck Library & Archives, Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity

Private Collection of Ed Ruscha

SFMOMA Special Collections Research Library

Recent Exhibitions

2024

For Dear Life, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Smoke & Mirrors, Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Rites of Spring, Marta, Los Angeles, CA

2023

100 Hooks, Blunk Space, Point Reyes Station, CA
Resistance & Respiration, Contemporary Calgary, CAN

2022

MICROLOGIES, Irenic Projects, Pasadena, CA
Schindler House: 100 Years in the Making, MAK Center Schindler House, Los Angeles, CA

2021

Built In, Neutra VDL Studio & Residences, Los Angeles, CA For Modern Resting, Marta, Los Angeles, CA

Talks

2023

·L·e·a·k·y··W·a·l·k·s· Book Launch, Maastricht, NL

2022

De Fabriek, Eindhoven, NL

2021

Multiple Formats Contemporary Art Book Symposium, Boston University, MA

Tour as Format, MAK Center for Arts & Architecture, Los Angeles, CA

2020

Professional Practices Course, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA

A man wearing clogs sits in his studio and holds a rectangular piece of cast plaster in front of his face.

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