Biography

Scott Benzel was born in Scottsdale, AZ and lives and works in Los Angeles. His work has been shown or performed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum Of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, LA><ART, Los Angeles,  The MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles, The Palm Springs Art Museum, and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and was featured in Made in LA 2012, the first Los Angeles Biennial, at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Benzel has curated shows at the Los Angeles Contemporary Archive, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture (Schindler House), Los Angeles and the Welcome Inn, Eagle Rock, CA, as part of Pacific Standard Time organized by the Getty Museum, among others.

 

SCOTT BENZEL

Born Scottsdale, Az. Lives and works in Los Angeles.

 

EDUCATION

2001    MFA, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA

1995    BA, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

1988    California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES

2017      Unauthorized Live Score, The Getty Museum, Los Angeles (upcoming)

2017      Mathesis and Mathematikoi , Mt. Wilson Observatory, CA, Knowledges 2017, curated by Christina Ondrus

2016      ISBN 978-0-9913772-0-6, Blank Verse, reading, The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, organized by Keith J. Varadi

2016     (Mayakovsky) for Instrumental Transcommunication, Voice, and Autotune, Rainbow in Spanish, Los Angeles

2015      Op. 21: Inner Experience Fellowship/Friends of Crime, MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles

2015      Desert Center (Composition I10 Mvmt IV (Dusk)), Palm Springs Art Museum, Desert Center, CA

2014     Various Small Fires, Los Angeles

2014     Los Angeles Contemporary Archive, Los Angeles

2014     Maccarone, New York

2013     LAAIR / The Traveller’s Companion Addenda, Shanaynay, Paris

2013     “Scott Benzel” and What does Possession Mean to You?, Human Resources, Los Angeles

2013      A Regress, part of The Stand-In, Public Fiction, Los Angeles

2013    …plays selections from the Billboard Hot 100 for the Week of Feb. 28, 2013, Dem Passwords, Los Angeles

2013     W.W.A.R./ Die Dritte Generation, Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Los Angeles

2012     The Academy / The Chthonic at Eleusis, Public Fiction, Los Angeles

2012     (Threnody) A beginner’s guide to Mao Tse-Tung, Made in LA, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

2012     Funhouse after the Penultimate Sequence of The Lady from Shanghai, Ball of Artists, LAXART/Hammer

2012     Recombinant Folk History and Non-genre I, curated by Liz Glynn, Pacific Standard Time, Los Angeles

2011     Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Front Room

2011     Maldistribution, Human Resources at Cottage Home, Los Angeles

2011      Variations for Commercial Arcade, Trespass/Parade, West of Rome, Los Angeles

2011      Mulching the 20th C, Human Resources at Cottage Home, Los Angeles

2011      Concentric Circles (before and after David Smith), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles

2010     sound. series concert at King’s Road Park, commission by SASSAS, Los Angeles

2010     Inversions I-IV, Apartment 2, Los Angeles

2009     Mandrake, Los Angeles

 

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2017       “Ours is a City of Writers”, Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, selected by John Tain

2016       “Nostalgia for the Present: Two Years of LACA” Los Angeles Contemporary Archive, curated by Eli Diner

2015       “See Through” Elsie’s Watch and Jewelry Repair, Hollywood, CA curated by Paul W. Evans and Kim Tucker

2014       “Golden State” Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson, curated by Drew Heitzler, Tucson, AZ

2014       “And yes, I even remember you.” Aran Cravey, Los Angeles, curated by Eric Kim

2013      “Would you ever Write a Tract?” Autocenter, Berlin, curated by Marcel Dickhage and Daniel Horn

2013     “The Stand In” Public Fiction, Los Angeles, curated by Alexandra Gaty and Lauren Mackler

2013     “In the Good Name of the Company”  For Your Art, curated by Jan Tumlir, Brian Roettinger, Christopher Michlig

2012     “An Homage to Mike Kelley” presented by Gagosian Gallery, MOMA PS1, New York

2012     “Venice Beach Biennial” w Mark Hagen, curated by Ali Subotnick, Venice, CA

2012     “Made in LA: 1st Los Angeles Biennial” Hammer Museum, Los Angeles

2012     “Print Imprint” Actual Size and Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles

2012     “Artists’ Tower of Protest” Mark di Suvero, organized by LAXART, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles

2011     “Trespass/Parade” West of Rome, Los Angeles, organized by Emi Fontana, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Arto Lindsay

2010    “Endless Bummer/Surf Elsewhere” Blum and Poe, Los Angeles, curated by Drew Heitzler

2010    “Animal Style: New Warrior Training” Pepin Moore, Los Angeles, curated by Drew Heitzler

2007    “In Abstraction” Fellows of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, curated by Karl Erikson

2006    “Incognito” Santa Monica Museum of Art, Los Angeles

2003    “Drive into the Sunset” The Western Front, Vancouver, BC

2001     “Art/ Tech” Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL

2001     “Have a Cool Summer, Keep in Touch” Track 16 Gallery, Los Angeles

2000    “Hotel Power Emergency” Stevenson Blanche Deveroux Gallery, Valencia, CA

 

SELECTED COLLABORATIVE WORK

2014     Split Chorale for Viljo Revell, with Kathryn Andrews, Nuit Blanche, Toronto, CN

2013     Part-Objects with Anita Pace, Perform Chinatown, Los Angeles

2012    A|D with Liz Glynn, also with Corey Fogel, Giles Miller, Public Fiction, Los Angeles

2012     “Venice Beach Biennial”, with Mark Hagen, curated by Ali Subotnick, Venice, CA

2012    ”Opus I…” with Kathryn Andrews, Hip-O Ranch, for Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, TX

2012    “Bass elegy/Devil’s Night for MK”, with Mark Hagen, Part of Made in LA, LAXART, Los Angeles

2012     Variations IV, John Cage, realized by Scott Benzel/Dave Muller, Welcome Inn Time Machine, PST, Los Angeles

2010    ‘Mostly Sculpture Show” with Kathryn Andrews, Sea and Space, Los Angeles

2009    ”Judson Church Horse Dances″ Co-composer, Producer, with Mike Kelley, Performa 09, New York

2009     Destroy All Monsters at  A Fantastic World Superimposed on Reality, Gramercy Theatre, Performa 09, New York

2009    ’A Voyage of Growth and Discovery’ Original Score Co-composer with Mike Kelley, Sculpture Center, New York

2006   ‘Profondeurs Vertes’ Original Score Co-Composer with Mike Kelley, Musee Louvre, Paris

2005   “Day is Done”, Original Score Co-Composer with Mike Kelley, Gagosian, New York

2004   Destroy All Monsters, ”All Tommorrow’s Parties” curated by Jake and Dinos Chapman, Camber Sands, UK

2004   ”Into the Sun” Live Performance w/Sam Durant and Tom Recchion, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

2002   “Arena”, Original Score Composer for Andrea Bowers’ exhibition, Sara Meltzer, New York, Chouakri Brahms. Berlin

2001   “Democracy’s Body”, Original Score Composer for Andrea Bowers, Art Basel Statements, Basel, Switzerland

 

SELECTED RECORDINGS

2012   PROFONDEURS VERTES with Mike Kelley, Compound Annex

2011   MUSIC FROM THE TRIP IN THE STYLE OF A SCHOENBERG / GERSHWIN TENNIS MATCH OBSERVED IN PASSING BY DR. OSCAR JANIGER, Oodpress / Numero Deux

2010   INVERSIONS I-IV FOR STRING QUARTET, Numero Deux

2009   BLAK BLOC FOR STRING QUARTET AND FEEDBACK, Numero Deux

2009   DANCE BEATS FOR BABY, with Mike Kelley, feat. Mike Smith as Baby Ikki, Compound Annex

2006   DAY IS DONE Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, with Mike Kelley, Compound Annex

 

 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Tarasoff, Sabrina, ‘Sylvia’, C Magazine, Summer 2016

ISBN 978-0-9913772-0-6, Blank Verse 2009-2015, Scott Benzel, Los Angeles Contemporary Archive, 2016

Sutter-Shudo, Naoki, ‘Propos 5: s’entretient avec Scott Benzel‘, Octopusnotes, 2015

Nelson, Steffie, ‘On a Dark Desert Highway: The Manifest Destiny Billboard Project’, East of Borneo, July 2015

Slenske, Michael, ‘Sonic Highways: Scott Benzel’s mythical, musical journey into the heart of the American West’, Modern Painters, March 2015

Sonatine Bureaucratique, Scott-Benzel, ed. Carlye Packer, Los Angeles Contemporary Archive, 2015

Boucher, Brian, ‘Scott Benzel at Maccarone’, Art in America, November 2014

Bogart, Aaron, ‘Scott Benzel at Maccarone’, FlashArt OnWeb, November 2014

Yerebakan, O.C., ‘New York- Scott Benzel at Maccarone’, ArtObserved, August 2014

Scott Benzel: Part-Objects, ed. Eric Kim and Catherine Taft, Human Resources Press/Lockitch Press, 2014

In the Good Name of the Company, exhibition catalog, ed. Jan Tumlir, Christopher Michlig, Brian Roettinger, Picturebox/For Your Art, 2013

Mueller, Kurt, ‘In the Good Name of the Company’, Artforum.com, March 2013

The Lost Issue/Lost in L.A. exhibition catalog, ed. Lauren Mackler, Andrew Berardini, Public Fiction

Holte, Michael Ned, ‘Made in LA 2012′, Artforum, October 2012

Ellegood, Anne, ‘Material Urges‘, Made in LA: 1st Los Angeles Biennial, Hammer Museum/Delmonica Prestel

Mueller, Kurt, ‘Scott Benzel’, Made in LA: 1st Los Angeles Biennial, Hammer Museum/Delmonica Prestel

Swed, Mark, ‘Music review: John Cage in a motel room as part of PST‘, Los Angeles Times, January 30, 2012

Griffin, Jonathan, ‘Frieze: Best of 2011: Scott Benzel at Human Resources’, Frieze,  Jan. 2012

Holte, Michael Ned, ‘Artforum Best of 2011: Scott Benzel at Human Resources at Cottage Home‘, , Dec. 2011

Berardini, Andrew, ‘The Year in L.A. Art’ , L.A. Weekly, Dec. 2011

Taft, Catherine, ‘Scott Benzel at Human Resources’, Artforum, Oct. 2011

Berardini, Andrew, ‘Scott Benzel at Human Resources’, ArtReview, Oct. 2011

Maldistribution, Scott Benzel, Numero Deux, 2011

Prina, Stephen, ‘Artforum: Best of 2009: Music: Scott Benzel Blak Bloc’, Artforum, Dec. 2009

Smith, Roberta, ‘Performa 09: Mike Kelley’s Extracurricular Activity’, The New York Times, 2009

Kimmelman, Michael, “Scary Games for Adults- Mike Kelley’s Day is Done“, The New York Times, 2006

Waters, John “You’ve Made an Epic- Mike Kelley’s Day is Done”, Flash Art,  Nov/Dec. 2005

“Technoscience and the Avant-Garde” The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, ed. Mark Herbst and Robbie Herbst, April 2002