Biography

Scott Benzel, born 1968 in Scottsdale, AZ, lives and works in Los Angeles. Benzel’s work has been shown or performed at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 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 1968 in 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

2019       Bel Ami, Los Angeles (upcoming)

                Inversion V / Invocation of my Demon Brother, / , San Francisco, CA (upcoming)

               V.I.T.R.I.O.L. pt. III, L. Frank Baum’s The Uplift of Lucifer, Treigniac Projet, Treigniac, France (upcoming)

2018       V.I.T.R.I.O.L., Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles (upcoming)

2018       Torcat Tiqaucrat Mytics Ahtrae, Acid Free, Blum and Poe, Los Angeles

2017      Unauthorized Live Score, The Kouroi / The Dilettanti, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

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

2016      ISBN 978-0-9913772-0-6, reading, J. Paul 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, Black Box, 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

2019          Garland, Treigniac Projet, Treigniac, France, organized by Sabrina Tarasoff

2018         #followme, Desert Center Los Angeles

                  Homebodies, Away Teams, UMOCA, Salt Lake City, UT, organized by Emma Kemp, Daniel Wroe

                  Futures Reverse Order, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, organized by Tom Leeser

2017         Imagining Tellus 28, Harvestworks, New York, curated by Tom Leeser

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

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, with 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,  and 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, organized by Rodney Mcmillian

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

2019     Circus Empire, with Kathryn Andrews, Original Score Composer for Kathryn Andrews’ exhibition, Nave Koenig, Berlin

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 for Crude Instruments, with Kathryn Andrews, Hip-O Ranch, Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, TX

2012      Bass elegy/Devil’s Night for MK, with Mark Hagen, Part of Made in LA 2o12, 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 exhibition, Art Basel Statements, Basel, Switzerland

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND RECORDINGS

2018      Sonatine Bureaucratique, book, ed. Ryan Jeffery, Los Angeles Contemporary Archive

               Torch of the Mystics, book, ed. Andrew Freire, Los Angeles Contemporary Archive

               Home Bodies Away Teams, eds. Emma Kemp and Daniel Wroe, UMOCA, Salt Lake, UT

2017      Double Issue, Pacific Standard Time Music and Performance festival, 2012, ed. Irene Tsatsos, Armory Editions

2016      ISBN 978-0-9913772-0-6, artist’s book, Los Angeles Contemporary Archive

2015      Sonatine Bureaucratique, essay, ed. Carlye Packer, Los Angeles Contemporary Archive

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

2012      Profondeurs Vertes, cd, with Mike Kelley, Compound Annex

2011      Maldistribution, artist’s book, Numero Deux

2011      Music from The Trip in the style of a  Schoenberg / Gershwin Tennis Match Observe in passing by Dr. Oscar Janiger, Oodpress / Numero Deux

2010     Inversions I-IV for String Quartet, cd, Numero Deux

2009    Blak Bloc for String Quartet and Feedback, cd/digital stream, Numero Deux

2009    Dance Beats for Baby, with Mike Kelley, feat. Mike Smith, Compound Annex

2006    Day is Done Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, with Mike Kelley, Compound Annex

 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Curry, Colleen, The Culture of Cults, Galerie, 2018

El Kholti, Hedi,  Bad and Good Times in L.A., A year of protest and performance in Los Angeles, Frieze, 2018

Kretowicz, Steph, Kenyatta AC Hinkle and Scott Benzel, Getty Museum, The Wire, October 2017

Diel, Travis, Cosmic Thing, Artforum.com, August 2017

Tarasoff, Sabrina, ‘Sylvia’, C Magazine, Summer 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…, Modern Painters, March 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

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

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