Ben Durham (Lexington, KY, 1982) has his work included in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; FLAG Art Foundation, New York; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; 21c Museum, Louisville; and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA. Solo exhibitions of his work have been presented at Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York; Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles; Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago; and Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin. Durham has been included in group exhibitions at the Smithsonian Museum’s National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.; FLAG Art Foundation, New York; 21c Museums; KMAC Museum, Louisville; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; and Maison Particuliere, Brussels; among many others. He’s a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, the Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship in Visual Arts, and has received a MacDowell Fellowship in 2017 and was named a Yaddo Residency Fellow in 2019. He received his BFA from Washington University in St. Louis and lives and works in Richmond, VA.
Selected Public Collections
21c Museum, Louisville, KY
FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Solo Exhibitions
Six Stories, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX May 2021
John, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX April 2017
Doubling and Doubt, Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA March 2015
Portraits, Maps, Texts, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY April 2013
Found Graffiti, Country Club Chicago at Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, IL February 2012
Graffiti Maps, Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA November 2011
Text Portraits, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY January 2011
Text Portraits, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA January 2011
Old Friends, Half-Forgotten, Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts, St. Louis, MO 2004
Group Exhibitions
Among Friends: Three Views of a Collection, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY June 2022
Face, Lisa Sette Gallery, Phoenix, AZ June 2022
Revolve: Spotlight on the Permanent Collection, Cummer Museum of Art, Jacksonville, FL March 2022
Wear Your Love Like Heaven, Lisa Sette Gallery, Phoenix, AZ March 2022
Reading Between the Lines, Tracey Morgan Gallery, Asheville, NC January 2022
Serenity Now, Lisa Sette Gallery, Phoenix, AZ March 2020
Subversive White, Lisa Sette Gallery, Phoenix, AZ February 2019
Drawn Together Again, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY February 2019
Perversion of Form, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA March 2017
Pioneer Lust, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX July 2016
Material Issue, KMAC Musuem, Louisville, KY July 2016
Rock Candy, Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA June 2016
Off the Cuff, Reynolds Gallery Pop-Up, Washington DC, May 2016
Pair(s), Maison Particulière, Brussels, Belgium September 2015
New Dominion, Mixed Greens Gallery, New York, NY June 2015
Dis-semblance: Perceiving and Projecting Identity, 21c Museum, Bentonville, AR September 2014
Shaq Loves People, Flag Art Foundation at Expo Chicago, IL September 2014
Summer Show 2014, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX July- September 2014
Aspects of the Self: Portraits of our Times, Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA March 2014
personal, political, mysterious, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX November 2013- January 2014
Portraiture Now: Drawing on the Edge, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AK October 2013- February 2014
Dis-semblance: Perceiving and Projecting Identity, 21c Museum, Cincinnati, OH July-November 2013
Summer Show, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX July- August 2013
personal, political, mysterious, Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY June- September 2013
Regional Artists in the 21st Century Gallery, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA 2012-2013
Portraiture Now: Drawing on the Edge, Smithsonian Museum National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC 2012-2013
ADAA: Art Show, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY March 2013
Stitching Identity, 21c Museum, Louisville, KY 2013
Summer Solstice, Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA June 2012
Frieze Art Fair, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY May 2012
Pictures & Statues, Country Club Gallery, Cincinnati, OH June 2010
About Face at ADAA: Art Show, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY February 2010
Creating Identity: Portraits Today, 21c Museum, Louisville, KY 2009-2010
20 Years: Anniversary Exhibition, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY 2009
Ben Durham and Storm Tharp, Two-Artist Exhibition, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY 2008
Some Kind of Portrait, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA 2007
GeneratioNext, LAL Loudoun House Gallery, Lexington, KY 2007
Shape of Words, Transylvania University’s Morlan Gallery, Lexington, KY 2007
Selected Residencies and Awards
Yaddo Fellowship Residency, 2019
MacDowell Fellowship Residency, 2017
Washington University in St. Louis Sam Fox School of Art Recent Alumni Award, 2016
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, 2013
Pyramid Atlantic Keyholder Residency, 2013
Toyota Alumni Fund, Kentucky Center for the Arts, 2011
Artist in residence, Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France, 2010
Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship in Visual Arts, KY Arts Council, 2009
Summer Residency, Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts, Chicago, IL,
Independent Artist Project Grant, KY Arts Council, 2008
Huntsinger Memorial Prize in Painting, Washington University in St. Louis School of Art,
The Jeffrey Frank Wacks Award in Painting, Washington University in St. Louis School of Art, 2004
Born
Lexington, KY 1982
Education
Washington University, St. Louis, MO, B.F.A., 2000-2004