The material process of my work has evolved gradually but significantly over the past seven years as I have refined my handmade graphite paint and my methods of painting through continual experimentation. The current body of paintings’ surfaces are slowly built up on canvas with up to thirty carefully made, thin coats of paint, and my compositions are arrived at by means of many small-scale studies on similarly prepared paper. The monochromatic, matte black surfaces are then selectively hand-polished to reveal fields of lustrous, reflective silver tones that emerge from the paint film, creating light from the darkness. In the end, the complexity of my process gives way to a simple pursuit of subtle, quiet beauty.
This pursuit materializes in both formal and conceptual terms, insofar as my compositional focus on balanced asymmetry is analogous to the essential unity of presumed dichotomies. Graphite, a crystalline form of elemental carbon, has the ability to both absorb and reflect light, essentially containing both lightness and darkness. I have a conceptual and poetic interest in this metaphor, namely that a single material can embody both the void and the hope of escaping it.
M. Benjamin Herndon studied science, mathematics and philosophy before transitioning to the visual arts. Of his chosen focus he has said that he can explore concepts from his earlier education intensely and in a way that is inventive, meditative and poetic.
M. Benjamin Herndon (born 1985) grew up in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Northern California, and now lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where he makes work in his studio in an historic textile mill. Herndon received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2016 and his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 2012. He has been an artist in residence at the Tamarind Institute for Fine Art Lithography, the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, and Marble House Project, among others. His work has been exhibited in galleries across the United States, China, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates, and is enjoyed in many private collections. Herndon is represented by Emerson Dorsch Gallery.
EDUCATION
2016 MFA, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2012 BFA, School of Visual Arts, with Honors, New York, NY
2004-07, Studied philosophy at Reed College and Portland State University; mathematics at the University of Nevada, Reno
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
Graphite Paintings, A R E A, Boston, MA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
Transitions, A.M. Bjiere Gallery, New York, NY
2021
Splitting the Rent, Jay Taylor Gallery, Providence, RI
Shape in All its Forms, Site: Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
2020
Materia, Bermel von Luxburg Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Currency, BAIT15, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
2019
Holiday, LABspace, Hillsdale, NY
Grounded, Rule Gallery, Denver, CO
FIELDS: Color, Tone, Vision, Inde/Jacobs Gallery, Marfa, TX
In the Stillness, Freud Monk Gallery, online exhibition
2018
Selections for Chinati Weekend, Inde/Jacobs Gallery, Marfa, TX
Forms of Expression: Geometric Abstraction, organized by A R E A at the Yard, Boston, MA
Collage II, A R E A, Boston, MA
RISD Faculty Exhibition, RISD Museum, Providence, RI
The Nature Lab, curated by Eric Wolf, LABSpace, Hillsdale, NY
RISD Printmaking Department Triennial, Woods-Gerry Gallery Providence, RI
2017
Collage, A R E A, Boston, MA
Art Shenzhen 2017, Art Fair, Showing with Tang Contemporary Art, Shenzhen, China
Implicit, Miranda Kuo Gallery, New York, NY
Everlasting, curated by Ting Liu, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Awagami Print Expression, Bumpodo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016
Stand Out Prints, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis, MN
11th Annual Juried Exhibition, curated by Gregory Volk, Axis Gallery Sacramento, CA
New Contemporaries, Gelman Gallery, RISD Museum, Providence, RI
The Glare, curated by Leah Wolff, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, NY
RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition, Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, RI
Vanishing Point, Former Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ
Sprung, Rabbithole Projects, Brooklyn, NY
New Prints: Winter, International Print Center of New York, New York, NY
Lasting Impressions, 505 Fletcher, Providence, RI
2015
Sanctus, Curious Matter Gallery, Jersey City, NJ
Language vs. Language, curated by Maya Krinsky, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI
Making Meaning, Drift Contemporary Art Gallery, Portsmouth, NH
Open15 Online Exhibition, Front Art Space, New York, NY
Spring, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI
2014
Printmaking Department Triennial, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
2012
Urban Legends, curated by Mollie Thonneson, Seton Hall University School of Law, Newark, NJ
Natural, curated by Richard Brooks, SVA Chelsea Gallery, New York, NY
Material Magic / Print Settings, BFA Fine Arts Department show, SVA Chelsea Gallery, New York, NY
It’s A Small Small World, curated by Hennessy Youngman, Family Business Gallery, New York, NY
Affordable Art Fair, School of Visual Arts’ booth, curated by Dan Halm, New York, NY
BFA Fine Arts Open Studios, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2011
Topophilia, curated by Eric Lendl, SVA Gallery, New York, NY
BFA Fine Arts Open Studios, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2010
Main Street Artists Gallery, Quincy, CA
2009
The Studio Gallery, Quincy, CA
HONORS AND AWARDS
2022
Fellowship in Painting, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
2020
Tamarind Institute, Artist Residency, Albuquerque, NM
2019
Rose Museum Emerging Artist Purchase Award Finalist, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
2018
Tamarind Institute, Summer Workshop, Albuquerque, NM
2017
Marble House Projects Residency, Dorset, VT
Josef & Anni Albers Foundation Residency, Bethany, CT
2016
Vermont Studio Center Residency & Grant
RISD Graduate Studies Grant
2014-16
RISD Graduate Division Fellowship
2012
School of Visual Arts Alumni Grant
School of Visual Arts Undergraduate Fine Arts Thesis Award
2010-12
Silas H. Rhodes Scholarship
Dean’s List, School of Visual Arts
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2019
freudmonkgallery.com, interview with curator Adam Reid Fox
New England Home, feature by William Morgan, Boston, MA
2018
Boston Globe, Critic’s Pick, Graphite Paintings at A R E A, by Cate McQuaid
New American Paintings, Issue 135, MFA Annual, Boston, MA
SVA Journal, Alumni Feature, School of Visual Arts Press, New York, NY
SVA Lookbook (for prospective students), School of Visual Arts Press, New York, NY
ArtMaze Mag, Winter Issue 6, London, England
The Nature Lab (exhibition catalog), LABSpace, Hillsdale, NY
2017
yngspc.com, interview with curator Kate Mothes
Eternity (exhibition catalog), Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Studio Visit Magazine, Volume 38, Summer 2017, Boston, MA
Awagami Print Expression (exhibition catalog), Bumpodo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2016
11th Annual Juried Exhibition (catalog), essay by Gregory Volk, Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Vanishing Point (exhibition catalog), Art House Productions Press, Jersey City, NJ
2015
RISD XYZ, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Sanctus (exhibition catalog), Curious Matter Gallery, Jersey City, NJ
Open15 Publication, Front Art Space, New York, NY
2013
Humans of New York, photoblog feature, New York, NY
20 Twenty, curated and essay by Phong Bui, School of Visual Arts Press, New York, NY
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