Artist working across video, sculpture, and performance-based installation
Born 1975 in Norfolk, VA
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
EDUCATION
2007
Skowhegan School of Painting and Drawing, Skowhegan, ME
2006
MFA, Painting & Drawing, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
1998
BFA, Film/Animation/Video, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
SELECTED PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONS
2025
Fruitsalad, Sunset Boulevard 3D Billboard Project, City of West Hollywood, West Hollywood, CA
2024
Mangroves, Jackson West Hospital Lobby Installation, Miami, FL
2017
Consonance, Commercial Break, Public Art Fund, Times Square, New York, NY
2017
The Imperfect Tense for Josef Albers, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (Public Commission)
2013
Idiom (Brian, Raffi, Britt), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Rain Relics, Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2023
S’kill or be Skilled, Art Basel Miami Beach: Meridians (presented by Josh Lilley Gallery)
2018
Brian Bress: Pictures Become You, Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Gallery, Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH
Another Fine Mess, Josh Lilley Gallery, London, UK
2017
In Lieu of Flowers Send Memes, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA
2016
The Desmond Six, Time Equities, Inc. Art-in-Buildings, New York, NY
In the Box: Brian Bress, Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA
Brian Bress: Make Your Own Friends
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT
Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, CO
Orange County Museum of Art, Orange County, CA
Brian Bress: Make Your Own Friends, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO (catalogue) Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA
2015
A Toyota’s a Toyota, Los Angeles Nomadic Division, Los Angeles, CA
2014
You Can’t Sleep on a Door, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA
Brian Bress Museo d’arte contemporanea Roma, Rome, Italy Galería Marta Cevera, Madrid, Spain
2012
Status Report: Brian Bress, New Museum, New York, NY
Brian Bress, Museo d’arte contemporanea Roma, Rome, Italy
Brian Bress, Galeria Marta Cevera, Madrid, Spain
2011
Creative Ideas for Every Season, Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Creative Ideas for Every Season, Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
2009
The Royal Box, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA
2007
Project Room, Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, NY
Pardon Me, Angstrom Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Sometimes You Are Just A Hat, RC Art Gallery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
2003
Brian Bress: New Drawings, Open-End Gallery, Chicago, IL
SELECTED 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
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
Sidewalk Cinema Art Blocks presented by Aurora Picture Show, Main Street Square 1111 Main Street, Houston, TX
Brian Bress and Nathan Mabry: Totems, Cherry and Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Multiple Modernisms, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
Screens: Virtual Material, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Boston, MA
Biennale of Moving Images 2016, FAENA ART, Miami, FL; traveled to Faena Art Center Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina; originated Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
Commercial Break, Public Art Fund, 40th Anniversary exhibition, Times Square, New York, NY
2016
Mark Leckey: Containers and Their Drivers, MOMA PS1, Long Island City, NY
INDECISIVE MOMENT, Suwon Photography Festival, Suwon, South Korea
Painting2, Espacio 1414, Puerto Rico
Hydroponic Forms, Galerie Ampersand, Cologne, Germany
Moving Image Biennial, Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
2015
Dopplegänging, Work|Release, Norfolk, VA
SECOND WAVE: Aesthetics of 80s in Today’s Contemporary Art, Culver Center of the Arts/Sweeney Art
Gallery, Riverside, CA
San Diego Collects, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
PLAY: Process, Activism, Subversion, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
Mark Leckey: UniAddDumThis, Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
Personalities: Fantasy and Identity in Photography and New Media, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Desert, CA
2014
Mark Leckey: Lending Enchantment to Vulgar Materials, WIELS Centre d’Art Contemporain, Brussels,Belgium
Sniff the Space Flat on Your Face, Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Orange, CA
Another Cats Show, 356 Mission, Los Angeles, CA
OK Great THANKS this is SO RIDICULOUS, ACME., Los Angeles, CA
UniAddDumThs, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, NY
Left Coast: Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
2013
Pop Culture: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ
Brian Bress, Matt Connors, Mari Eastman, Nathan Mabry, T. Kelly Mason, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA
The Scandalized Mask, Josh Lilley Gallery, London, UK
The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things, curated by Mark Leckey, Nottingham Contemporary,
Nottingham, United Kingdom. Traveled to De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-sea, East Sussex, United Kingdom
2012
Raze; Revert; Repeat, Pepin Moore, Los Angeles, CA
This Was Funny Yesterday, College of Creative Studies at UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA
Photography is Magic!, Daegu Photo Biennial 2012, Daegu, Korea
Four by Four: Collector Series, University of Denver, Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, Denver, CO
2011
Future Present: Five Artists, Five Weeks, Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin, TX
Stagecraft, curated by David Norr, University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, FL
Object Orientation: Bodies and/as Things, Cerritos College Art Gallery, Norwalk, CA
Staff Curated Video Show, LA><Art, Los Angeles, CA
2010
Underground Pop, Parrish Art Museum, South Hampton, NY (catalog)
cut/PASTE: Collage as Methodology in Contemporary Video, POST, Los Angeles, CA
do I know you, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX
The Mystic’s Circle, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA
Portugal Arte, Lisbon, Portugal
In The Eyes of Lions, 533 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Video Art: Replay, Part 3: Ludicrous, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
2009
“Now that I’m by myself,” she says, “I’m not by myself, which is good,” DiverseWorks, Houston, TX
COMMUNE, Black and White Gallery, New York, NY
FIRST SHOW, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA
LA Woman, Hanes Art Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC
2008
Young Curators, New Ideas, Bond Street Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Free Love Gods, Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery, Portland, OR
Party Favors, Bonelli Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
Against The Grain, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA
California Video: Artists and Histories, Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (catalog)
Living Room Paintings, Bucket Rider Gallery, Chicago, IL
2007
Rear/View, Freight + Volume, New York, NY
Stalemate, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University School of Arts, New York, NY
Brian Bress & Ruby Stiler, Sunday L.E.S. Gallery, New York, NY
Trudi, Rental Gallery, New York, NY
Machine Imaginaire, Lisa Boyle Gallery, Chicago, IL
Distinctive Messengers, House of Campari, Los Angeles, CA
Big Secret Cache, Angstrom Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Beyond Image, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA
Kairos!, Kantor / Feuer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Landslide: Works by Emerging California Artists, Addison/Ripley Fine Art, Washington, DC
Naïve Set Theory, Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
i know you, but you don’t know me, Fette’s Gallery, Culver City, CA
Greater LA MFA Exhibition and Screening, California State University, Long Beach, CA
One Shot 100×100, LA><ART, Culver City, CA
Chain Letter, High Energy Constructs, Los Angeles, CA
Supersonic 2006, L.A. Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Ecolux: Art in the Light of Ecology, Lightbox, Los Angeles, CA
Just My Funny Way of Laughing, South La Brea Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Soft-Boiled Wonderland, I-5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Boat Show, High Energy Constructs, Los Angeles, CA
Rough Trade, Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Latest Fiction, Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
State of Emergence, LA Weekly Biennial, Track 16, Santa Monica, CA
Untitled Play About Gravity by Krysten Cunningham, Los Angeles Contemporary
Exhibitions, offsite performance, Los Angeles, CA
Character Traits, I-5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Exhibition #9 – Some Romantic Landscape, Champion Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA
Anti-Spacesuit: The Dirty Future, G1 Gallery, Chicago, IL
Fellows’ Invitational, Hudson D. Walker Gallery, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA
Young Guns NYC Biennial, The Art Directors Club of New York, New York, NY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lehrer-Graiwer, Sarah. “That Distancing Feeling,” GalleryPlatform.LA, May 27, 2020.
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.
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.
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,” AuroraSentinel, May 24, 2016.
Abrams, Nora Burnett and Whitney Tassie. Brian Bress: Make Your Own Friends, Denver, CO:
Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, 2016.
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.
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.
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.
Woodard, Josef. “The Art That Was, and Continues to Be,” Scene Magazine, December 28, 2012-January 3, 2013, pp. 46- 47.
Smith, Sarah-Neel. “Brian Bress: Childrenʼs TV shows and trompe lʼoeil,” Frieze. June-August 2012, no 148, p. 170- 171.
Diehl, Travis. “Brian Bress,” Artforum, April 2012, vol. 50, no. 8, p. 220.
Jecu, Marta. “Meet Los Angeles- Based Artist and Filmmaker Brian Bress,” Kaleidoscope. Spring 2012, Issue 14. p. 42.
Zellen, Jody. “Brian Bress,” Artillery, March 2012.
Berardini, Andrew. “Brian Bress,” Art Review, March 2012, Issue 57, pp. 126-127.
Harvey, Doug. “Brian Bress,” Art in America. March 2012.
Washburn, Stephanie. “Glimpses: Octopi and Other Loves, an Interview with Brian Bress,” Zócalo Public Square, February 24, 2012.
Shaw, Michael. “Continuing and Recommended,” ArtScene, February 20, 2012.
Yue, Genevieve. “Brian Bress,” Artforum.com CRITIC’S PICKS, January 30, 2012.
Plagens, Peter. “The Edge of a New Frontier,” The Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2012.
Wagley, Catherine. “Brian Bress’ Wacky Videos Starring Scary Puppets and Gene Kelly,” LA Weekly, January 19, 2012.
Pagel. David. “The Piercing Eye of the Camera,” Los Angeles Times, January 12, 2012.
Wagley, Catherine. “Eight Reasons Why L.A. Art Is the Way it Is,” LA Weekly, September 22, 2011.
Bennett, Lennie. “Videos intrigue, inform in ‘Stagecraft’ at the USF Contemporary Art Museum,” St. Petersberg Times, tampabay.com, August 28, 2011.
Berardini, Andrew. “Memoirs of Ourselves Watching TV: The Disconcertingly Real Work of Brian Bress,” Mousse, February 2011, pp. 78-85.
Hohmann, Silke. “Fraulein Wurst unter Palmen,” MONOPOL, December 2, 2010.
Tarley, Phil. “Los Angeles Takes the Show,” Fabrik.com, December 2010.
Berardini, Andrew. “Playing at Work: Interview with Brian Bress,” ARTslant, November 2010.
Landes, Jennifer. “Pop Goes the Underground,” The East Hampton Star, September 23, 2010.
Johnson, Ken. “The Allure of the Homespun in the Maw of the Digital Age,” New York Times, September 2, 2010.
Parks, Steve. “No soup cans in this Pop Art,” 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.
Campagnola, Sonia. “Brian Bress,” Flash Art, online, December 10, 2009.
Taubman, Lara. “Endless Summer,” artnet, October 15, 2009.
Berardini, Andrew. “PICKS: Brian Bress,” Artforum, online, October 1, 2009.
Pagel, David. “Brian Bress tells a story slowly and well,” Los Angeles Times, September 25, 2009, p.D23.
Harvey, Doug. “Snips and Snails: Let The Fall Art Season Begin!,” LA Weekly, September 10-16, 2009.
Krasinski, Jennifer. “Studio Visit: Behind the Scenes With Brian Bress,” Art in America, online, September 9, 2009.
Berardini, Andrew. “Young L.A. Performers,” Style and the Family Tunes, Issue 123, March 2009, pp. 122-127.
Bedford, Christopher. “Against the Grain,” Frieze, issue 119, Nov-Dec 2008.
Ollman, Leah. “A Show’s Artists in a State of Unrest,” Los Angeles Times, August 8, 2008.
Standish, Maude. “Brian Bress,” Glitterati Magazine, No. 3, Summer 2008, p.30.
Taft, Catherine. California Video: Artists and Histories, Getty Publications, May 2008, pp. 54-57.
Ivison, Tim. “Brian Bress,” UBER / Ten by Ten, May 5, 2007.
Ollman, Leah. “Ambiguity is essence of ‘Beyond Image,” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2007, p. E8.
Holte, Michael Ned. “Reviews: Los Angeles, Brian Bress,” Artforum, March 2007, pp.325-326.
Roth, Charlene. “Naïve Set Theory: Brian Bress, Julie Lequin, Jennifer Sullivan and Ami Tallman’ at Cirrus Gallery,” Artweek January-February 2007.
Dawson, Jessica. “A California ‘Landslide’ Cascades Into Addison/Ripley” Washington Post, December 23, 2006.
Kennon, Brian. “Television could be much better: Brian Bress,” NY Arts Magazine, November–December 2006.
Russel, Christopher. “Kennon’s Cannons, Labor of Love Begets Publishing House,” Artillery, Nov.2006, p. 22.
Register, Craig. “Sometimes You Are Just A Hat,” RC News, Fall 2006, p.13.
Myers, Holly. “The master and his followers,” Los Angeles Times, March 31, 2006, p. E25.
Taft, Catherine. “Critics’ Picks: Rough Trade,” Artforum.com, May 2006.
Harvey, Doug. “State of Emergence, Undiscovered cracks in the art-world infrastructure: a catalog,”LA Weekly, October 28, 2005, pp. 46-47.
Frank, Peter. “Magic Show: curated by Brian Bress,” Artcircles.org, AC #3, Winter 2004-2005.
Camper, Fred. “Anti-Spacesuit: The Dirty Future,” Chicago Reader, September 5, 2003, p. 33.
“Two Scenes From a Party”, Cover image, Chicago Review, Volume 49, Number 1, Spring 2003.
Susman, Gary. “Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation,” Village Voice, January 27,
SELECTED PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Akron Museum of Art, Akron, OH
Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, Dallas, TX
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Hanes Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, IL
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
Oklahoma State University Museum, Stillwater, OK
OZ Art NWA, Bentonville, AR
Palm Springs Museum of Art, Palm Springs, CA
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, OR
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, IL
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT
Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
