Brian Bress was born 1975 in Norfolk, VA, USA
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, USA
Education
2007
Skowhegan School of Painting and Drawing, Skowhegan, MA, USA
2006
MFA, Painting & Drawing, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1998
BFA, Film/Animation/Video, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, USA
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Message from Our Planet, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH
Rain Relics, Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018
Brian Bress. Josh Lilley Gallery, London, UK
2017
In the Box: Brian Press. Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA.USA
Brian Bress: In lieu of Flowers Send Memes. Cherry and Martin. Los Angeles, CA, USA
2016
Solo exhibition, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2013
Brian Bress, MACRO, Rome, Italy
Brian Bress. Galería Marta Cervera, Madrid, Spain
2012
Interventions: Brian Bress. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara,CA, USA
Status Report. New Museum, New York, NY, USA
Under Performing. Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2011
Creative Ideas for Every Season. Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Creative Ideas for Every Season. Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA
2009
The Royal Box. Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2007
Project Room. Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Pardon Me. Angstrom Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2006
Sometimes You Are Just A Hat. RC Art Gallery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
2003
Brian Bress: New Drawings. Open-End Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Group Exhibitions
2024
Digital Witness: Revolutions in Design, Photography, and Film, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Message from Our Planet, Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
2023
Pocket Universe, Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Message from Our Planet, Pensacola Museum of Art, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL Message from Our Planet, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI
Message from Our Planet, Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
2022
Message from Our Planet, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA
2019
IN PRODUCTION, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China
2018
Paradox: The Body in the Age of AI, The Miller Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Do Something To It. Do Something Else To It., Cherry and Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Shoulder to Shoulder: Depicting the Figure, Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Desert, CA
2017
Mark Leckey: Containers and Their Drivers. MoMa PS1. NY, USA
Comercial Break. Public Art Fund 40th Anniversary Exhibition. Times Square. NY, USA
Screens: Virtual Material. deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Boston, MA, USA
2016
Biennale of Moving Images 2016. Centre D'Art Contemporain Geneve, Switzerland.
2012
Raze; Revert; Repeat, Pepin Moore, Los Angeles, CA, USA
This Was Funny Yesterday. College of Creative Studies at UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Photography is Magic. Daegu Photo Biennial 2012, Daegu, Korea
Four by Four: Collector Series. University of Denver, Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, Denver, CO, USA
2011
Future Present: Five Artists, Five Weeks. Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin, TX, USA
Stagecraft, curated by David Norr. University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, FL, USA
Object Orientation: Bodies and/as Things. Cerritos College Art Gallery, Norwalk, CA, USA
Staff Curated Video Show. LAX Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2010
Underground Pop. Parrish Art Museum, South Hampton, NY (catalog), USA
cut/PASTE: Collage as Methodology in Contemporary Video. POST, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Portugal Arte. Lisbon, Portugal
do I know you. Inman Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
The Mystic’s Circle. Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA, USA
In The Eyes of Lions. 533 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Video Art: Replay, Part III: Ludicrous! Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2009
“Now that I’m by myself,” she says, “I’m not by myself, which is good”. DiverseWorks, Houston, TX, USA
COMMUNE. Black and White Gallery, New York, NY, USA
FIRST SHOW. Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA, USA
LA Woman. Hanes Art Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC, USA
2008
Young Curators, New Ideas. Bond Street Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Free Love Gods. Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery, Portland, OR, USA
Party Favors. Bonelli Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Against The Grain. Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA, USA
California Video: Artists and Histories. Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA(catalog)
Living Room Paintings. Bucket Rider Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
2007
Rear/View, Freight + Volume. New York, NY, USA
Stalemate. LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University School of Arts, New York, NY, USA
Brian Bress & Ruby Stiler. Sunday L.E.S. Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Trudi, Rental Gallery. New York, NY, USA
Machine Imaginaire. Lisa Boyle Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Distinctive Messengers. House of Campari, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Big Secret Cache. Angstrom Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Beyond Image. Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA, USA
Kairos!, Kantor. Feuer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2006
Landslide: Works by Emerging California Artists. Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Washington, DC, USA
Naïve Set Theory. Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA,USA
I know you, but you don’t know me. Fette’s Gallery, Culver City, CA, USA
Greater LA MFA Exhibition and Screening. California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA
One Shot 100x100. LA, USA
Chain Letter, High Energy Constructs. Los Angeles, CA, USA
Supersonic 2006. L.A. Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Ecolux: Art in the Light of Ecology. Lightbox, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Just My Funny Way of Laughing. South La Brea Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Soft-Boiled Wonderland. I-5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Boat Show. High Energy Constructs, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Rough Trade. Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
The Latest Fiction. Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
State of Emergence. LA Weekly Biennial, Track 16, Santa Monica, CA, USA
2005
Untitled Play About Gravity by Krysten Cunningham, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, offsite performance, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Character Traits, I-5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Exhibition #9 - Some Romantic Landscape, Champion Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2003
Anti-Spacesuit: The Dirty Future. G1 Gallery, Chicago, IL
2001
Fellows’ Invitational. Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA
1999
Young Guns NYC Biennial, The Art Directors Club of New York, New York, NY
Selected Screenings
2011
Optic Nerve XIII, It’s Been a Long Day and Alone. Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
FAST-FORWARD II: A Screening of Contemporary Video Art, It’s Been a Long Day. Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA
The View from Out There: Southern California Video Art, Creative Ideas for Every Season, The Outhouse Artist Resource, Ridgewood, NY
2009
The Young Pretenders. Kate Werble Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2007
Mini Mini Max, Under Cover. Appetite Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Vertical Hold, The Portrait Room, Ellensburg Film Festival, Ellensburg, WA, USA
The Imminent Failure Show, Over and Over, Hard Job, UND#2 Art Fair, Karlsruhe, Germany
Video Day SXSW, Portrait Room, Over and Over, World Report, Hard Job, Brainquest, Okay. Mountain Gallery, Austin, TX, USA
The Imminent Failure Show, Over and Over, Hard Job, The Ice Factory, Chicago, IL, USA
DigitalForum, Portrait Room, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA, USA
Neurotic Naturalism, Rock Cowboy, Monkeytown, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2003
Prime Shorts -- The Best of 2003, The Hideout and the Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL, USA
1998
Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation, Karate Dick Boys, La Jolla, CA, USA
Exhibitions curated
2008
From Panic to Power!, Angstrom, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2004
Magic Show, Hayworth Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2005
Dark Side of The Sun, Wight Gallery, UCLA, USA
Bibliography
2020
Lehrer-Graiwer, Sarah. “That Distancing Feeling,” GalleryPlatform.LA, May 27, 2020.
2018
Turner, Anderson. “Review: ‘Brian Bress’ blurs lines between art and video,” Akron Beacon Journal,
October 20, 2018.
Waltz, Amanda. “Miller Institute for Contemporary Art explores bounds of tech and humanity with
Paradox: The Body in the Age of AI,” Pittsburgh City Paper, October 10, 2018.
“Empathetic & Uncanny: Brian Bress at Josh Lilley Gallery, London,” Bloun Art Info, June 10, 2018.
2017
Bloom, Rebecca. “Star Tech! Meet Five L.A. Artists Who are Sparking an Avant-Digital Revolution,”
Los Angeles Confidential, Summer 2017, Issue 3, p 46.
Berardini, Andrew. “Brian Bress’s “In Lieu of Flowers Send Memes,”” ArtAgenda, June 9, 2017.
Zellen, Jody. “Brian Bress: “In Lieu of Flowers Send Memes” at Cherry and Martin,” Art and Cake,
May 25, 2017.
Martin, Olivia. “New order: sex, Trump and rock ‘n’ roll at Frieze New York 2017,” Wallpaper*
(online), May 15, 2017.
2016
Barton, Dave. “The Human Condition is Explained in OCMA’s ‘Make Your Own Friends’,” OC
Weekly, October 26, 2016.
Goldner, Liz. “OCMA: Brian Bress,” Artillery, October 12, 2016.
Watson, Denise. “Norfolk native Brian Bress brings his video-based work back home to the Chrysler
Museum of Art,” The Virginian Pilot, September 13, 2016.
Smith, Hillary.
“Norfolk native will showcase video art in Chrysler Museum.” Southside Daily, August 16, 2016 (online).
Perry, Dave. “WATCH THIS: A long last look through the neighbors’ windows and a longer
look at your new best friends at the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art,” Aurora Sentinel, May 24, 2016.
Abrams, Nora Burnett and Whitney Tassie. Brian Bress: Make Your Own Friends, Denver, CO:
Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, 2016.
2015
Cotton, Charlotte. Photography is Magic, New York: Aperture Foundation, Inc., 2015. Print.
Michno, Christopher. “How 1980s Aesthetics Influence Contemporary Artists Today,” KCET, December 15, 2015.
Ed., “salt 12: Brian Bress: Make Your Own Friends,” Salt Lake City Weekly, October 15, 2015.
Hegert, Natalie. “Brian Bress and Friends: On Video and Objects, Illusion and Empathy,” MutualArt, October 7, 2015.
Rossiter, Shawn. “Hide and Seek: Brian Bress’ Make Your Own Friends at UMFA,” 15 Bytes, October 2015, p. 5.
Hill, Scotti. “New Brian Bress Exhibit at UMFA Escapes Classification To Create Unique Experience,” Deseret News, September 26, 2015.
Warchol, Glen. “Staff Picks: Art Collides at UMFA,” Salt Lake Magazine, September 25, 2015.
Zhou, Kathy. “Go, Find And Make Your Own Friends: Brian Bress @ UMFA,” Slug Magazine,
September 21, 2015.
Means, Sean P. “Mixing New Art of Brian Bress with Classics at UMFA,” The Salt Lake Tribune,
September 17, 2015.
Cheh, Carol. “Profile: Brian Bress,” Art Ltd., September 2015.
Berardini, Andrew. “Brian Bress: You Can’t Sleep On A Door,” ArtReview, January/February 2015, p.
139.
2014
Kurchanova, Natasha. “Brian Bress: ‘I Come To Video With The Agenda of a Painter,’” Studio
International, December, 19, 2014.
Pagel, David. “Around the Galleries: A Gentle, Subtle Allure,” Los Angeles Times, Friday, December
19, 2014, p. D15.
Diehl, Travis. Sniff The Space Flat On Your Face, Orange, CA: Chapman University / Guggenheim
Gallery, 2014.
Editor, “Top 100 Fall Shows 2014,” Modern Painters, September 2014.
Albertini, Rosanna. “Leaden With Sleep,” albertini2014.wordpress.com, August 31, 2014.
Vankin, Deborah. “Another Cats Show at 356 Mission is all about fun with felines,” Los Angeles Times,
August 20, 2014, p. D3.
Martinez, Alanna. “5 Artists to Watch at Paris Photo LA’s Solo Booths, Brian Bress (excerpt)”,
BlouinArtInfo, April 25, 2014, (online).
Nys Dambrot, Shana. “SoCal Represents at Paris Photo L.A. 2014: Brian Bress” (excerpt), KCET Artbound, April 24, 2014.
Frank, Priscilla. “10 Contemporary Photographers Who Are Pushing The Boundaries Of Their
Medium.” The Huffington Post, April 11, 2014.
2013
Gonzalez, Rita and Erin Wright. “On View at the Stark Bar: Brian Bress’s Idiom (Brian, Raffi, Britt),”
Unframed The LACMA Blog, December 24, 2013.
Ed. “Top 10 L.A. Artists Coveted by Hollywood,” The Hollywood Reporter, November 4, 2013,
(online).
Zellen, Jodie, “Exhibitions Reviewed and Previewed,” ArtScene, September 2013, pp. 26-27.
Wullschlager, Jackie. “Critics Choice: The Scandalized Mask,” Financial Times, June 15, 2013.
2012
The Art That Was, and Continues to Be. Joseph Woodard. Scene Magazine, December 28, 2012 - January 3. 2013, pp. 46-47.
Photography is Magic! Exhibition catalog, Charlotte Cotton. Daegu Photo Biennale 2012, pp. 48-51.
Brian Bress: Children’s TV shows and trompe l’oeil. Sarah-Neel Smith. Frieze. June-August 2012, no 148, p. 170- 171.
Brian Bress. Travis Diehl. Artforum, April 2012, vol. 50, no. 8, p. 220.
Meet Los Angeles- Based Artist and Filmmaker Brian Bress. Marta Jecu. Kaleidoscope.
Spring 2012, Issue 14. p. 42.
Brian Bress. Jody Zellen. Artillery, March 2012.
Brian Bress. Andrew Berardini .Art Review, March 2012, Issue 57, pp. 126-127.
Brian Bress. Doug Harvey. Art in America. March 2012.
Glimpses: Octopi and Other Loves, an Interview with Brian Bress. Stephanie Washburn. Zócalo Public
Square, February 24, 2012. 2012.
Continuing and Recommended. Michael Shaw. ArtScene, February 20, 2012.
Brian Bress. Genevieve Yue. Artforum.com CRITICS PICKS, January 30, 2012.
The Edge of a New Frontier. Peter Plagens. The Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2012.
Brian Bress. Wacky Videos Starring Scary Puppets and Gene Kelly. Catherine Wagley. LA Weekly,
January 19, 2012.
The Piercing Eye of the Camera. David Pagel. Los Angeles Times, January 12, 2012.
2011
Eight Reasons Why L.A. Art Is the Way it Is. Catherine Wagley. LA Weekly, September 22, 2011.
Videos intrigue, inform in Stagecraft at the USF Contemporary Art Museum. Lennie Bennett. St. Petersberg. Times, tampabay.com, August 28, 2011.
Memoirs of Ourselves Watching TV: The Disconcertingly Real Work of Brian Bress. Andrew Berardini. Mousse, February 2011, pp. 78-85.
2010
Fraulein Wurst unter Palmen. Silke Hohmann. MONOPOL, December 2, 2010.
Los Angeles Takes the Show. Phil Tarley. Fabrik.com, December 2010.
Playing at Work: Interview with Brian Bress. Andrew Berardini. ARTslant, November 2010.
Pop Goes the Underground. Jennifer Landes. The East Hampton Star, September 23, 2010.
The Allure of the Homespun in the Maw of the Digital Age. Ken Johnson. New York Times, September 2, 2010.
No soup cans in this Pop Art. Steve Parks. Long Island Newsday, August 11, 2010.
’Underground Pop’ exhibition opens at Parrish Art Museum. The East Hampton Press and The Southampton Press, August 10, 2010.
’Underground Pop’ New Exhibition at Parrish Art Museum. Hamptons.com, August 2, 2010.
2009
Brian Bress. Sonia Campagnola. Flash Art, online, December 10, 2009.
Endless Summer. Lara Taubman. artnet, October 15, 2009.
PICKS: Brian Bress. Andrew Berardini. Artforum, online, October 1, 2009.
Brian Bress tells a story slowly and well. David Pagel. Los Angeles Times, September 25, 2009, p. D23.
Snips and Snails: Let The Fall Art Season Begin!. Doug Harvey. LA Weekly, September 10-16, 2009.
Studio Visit: Behind the Scenes With Brian Bress. Jennifer Krasinski. Art in America, online, September 9, 2009.
Young L.A. Performers. Andrew Berardini. Style and the Family Tunes, Issue 123,
March 2009, pp. 122-127.
2008
Against the Grain. Christopher Bedford. Frieze, issue 119, Nov-Dec 2008.
A Show’s Artists in a State of Unrest. Leah Ollman. Los Angeles Times, August 8, 2008.
Brian Bress. Maude Standish. Glitterati Magazine, No. 3, Summer 2008, p.30.
2007
Brian Bress. Tim Ivison. UBER / Ten by Ten, May 5, 2007.
Ambiguity is essence of ‘Beyond Image. Leah Ollman. Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2007, p. E8.
Ned. Reviews: Los Angeles, Brian Bress. Michael Holte. Artforum, March 2007, pp.325-326.
Naïve Set Theory: Brian Bress, Julie Lequin, Jennifer Sullivan and Ami Tallman’ at
CirrusGallery. Charlene Roth. Artweek January-February 2007.
2006
A California ‘Landslide’ Cascades Into Addison/Ripley. Jessica Dawson. Washington Post,
December 23, 2006.
Cherry and Martin.
Television could be much better: Brian Bress. Brian Kennon. NY Arts Magazine,
November–December 2006.
Kennon’s Cannons, Labor of Love Begets Publishing House. Christopher Russel. Artillery,
Nov. 2006, p. 22.
Sometimes You Are Just A Hat. Craig Register. RC News, Fall 2006, p.13.
The master and his followers. Holly Myers. Los Angeles Times, March 31, 2006, p. E25.
Critics’ Picks: Rough Trade. Catherine Taft. Artforum.com, May 2006.
2005
State of Emergence, Undiscovered cracks in the art-world infrastructure: a catalog. Doug Harvey. LA Weekly, October 28, 2005, pp. 46-47.
Magic Show: curated by Brian Bress. Peter Frank. Artcircles.org, AC #3, Winter 2004-2005.
2003
Anti-Spacesuit: The Dirty Future. Fred Camper. Chicago Reader, September 5, 2003, p. 33.
Two Scenes From a Party. Cover image, Chicago Review, Volume 49, Number 1, Spring 2003.
1999
Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. Gary Susman. Village Voice,
January 27, 1999.