Benjamin Edwards
Benjamin Edwards was born in 1970 in Iowa City, Iowa. He lives and works in Washington D.C.
Ben Edwards’ research is a continuous investigation of the dynamic relationship between progress and nature, attempting to understand their balance and laws. From this philosophy originates the shape of his imaginary cities, where the human figure has a marginal role and is only limited to a theory of portraits not easily identifiable.
In his artworks he portrays the balance and the laws that regulate the dystopia of the city of the future. Edwards’ pictorial production originates from his study of Thomas More’s Utopia, which leads the artist towards the theme of the imaginary city. Therefore, Edwards began to produce views of fragmented cities according to a chaotic and non-linear aesthetic. And it is namely from this background that his cities are formed: imaginary places of a technological future located in an interstice between physical and digital, reality and possibility, between mortality and immorality.
Edwards has employed many techniques over the years to further embrace the unexpected and allow it to harmoniously exist alongside that which might be different. At first he used a slide projector, shifting or layering images, to achieve unforeseen combinations of imagery, to then paint. In 2005, he took this process a step further and began using a JavaScript embedded HTML code in combination with a digital projector.
He exhibited in the USA, in Europe and in Asia. His works are in prestigious museum collections such as the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pa and the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY. Benjamin Edwards is part of the Aftermodernism artistic movement founded by the collector Hubert Neumann. In October 2020, he exhibited at Mucciaccia Contemporary in Rome in the Aftermodernism Chapter 2 Benjamin Edwards Tom Sanford show, curated by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2013
System, Kravets Wehby Gallery, New York, NY
2008
Democracity, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2007
Ether Studies, Galerie Jean-Luc & Takako Richard, Paris, France
2006
We, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, NY
2004
Automatic City, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, NY
2001
Convergence, Artemis Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2020
Aftermoderism Chapter 2, Benjamin Edwards and Tom Sanford, curated by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi. Mucciaccia Contemporary, Rome, Italy.
2017
Hypnagogic (two-person show with Michael Bevilacqua), Neumann Wolfson Art, New York, NY
Inaugural Group Show, Neumann Wolfson Art, New York, NY
2016
AftermodernisM, Neumann Wolfson Art/ Nicole Ripka Gallery, Watermill, NY
Sensorium, The Kravets Wehby Gallery, New York, NY
2013
System, Kravets Wehby Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
2012
Disorder, The Kravets Wehby Gallery, New York, NY
2010
World und System, Städtische Galerie Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Skeptical Landscapes, Herter Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA (catalogue)
Currents, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY
2009
Futurescape, Contemporary Art Galleries, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT (solo)
Summer Exhibition, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, NY
Idylls, The World Bank, in collaboration with Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC (illustrated brochure)
2008–2009
Excerpt: Selections from the Collection of Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY (catalogue)
Worlds Away: New Suburban Landscapes, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; traveled to Heinz Architectural Center, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
2008
To Infinity and Beyond: Mathematics in Contemporary Art, The Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY
Democracity, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
The Triumph of Democracy: Inside the Studio: Benjamin Edwards, The Print Center, Philadelphia (solo)
2007
Ether Studies, Galerie Jean-Luc & Takako Richard, Paris, France (solo)
The Incomplete, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY
The Incomplete Incomplete, Kravets/Wehby Gallery, New York, NY
Microwave Five, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York, NY
2006
Cul-de-Sac: Art from a Suburban Nation, Martin Gallery, Radford University, Radford, VA
Public Image: Painting in the City, Tilburg, Netherlands
We, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, NY (solo)
New Prints 2006/Spring: Selected by Richard Tuttle, New York, NY
City-M, Kunsthaus Graz, Austria
2005
New Art New York: Reflections on the Human Condition, Trierenberg Holding, Inc., Traun, Austria
The ArtReview 25: An exhibition of Emerging US Artists, Phillips de Pury & Company East Gallery, New York
The City: Contemporary Views of the Built Environment, Lehman College Art Gallery, The City University of New York, Bronx, NY
First Skin, Gallery Gebr. Lehmann, Dresden, Germany
2004
Black & White, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, NY
Surface Tension, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY
Open Range, Artemis Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, NY
Future Noir, Gorney Bravin Lee Gallery, New York
Automatic City, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
2003
Split, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, NY
MetaScape, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Painting Pictures: Painting and Media in the Digital Age, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany
2002
Post-Digital Painting, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Snapshot, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
Painting as Paradox, Artists Space, New York
Plotting, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
Panorama, curated by Carmen Zita / TRACE, Room, NY
The Norman Dubrow Biennial, Kagan Martos Gallery, New York, NY
On Perspective, Gallerie Faurschou, Copenhagen, Denmark
Busan Bienale, Busan, Korea
Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, The American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
2001
Convergence, Artemis Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Casino 2001, Stedelijk Museum Voor Actuel Kunst Gent (SMAK), Belgium
WORKS
Ben Edwards, Season Two Teaser, 2017, Oil and inkjet on canvas, 76 x 76 cm
