Jane Benson

Jane Benson is a Brooklyn-based artist whose work spans various media, including sculpture, video, and performance. Born in the U.K., Benson received her B.F.A. from Edinburgh College of Art and her M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She moved to Chicago on a Fulbright Scholarship in 1997. Benson's work is concerned with division and connection, the disruption of traditional aesthetic processes, and the fractured nature of geopolitical territoriality. Benson cobbles fertile new forms from the fractures of old. She has exhibited in national and international venues including MoMA PS1 Sculpture Center, Long Island City, New York; Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Connecticut; Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, New York; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. Solo exhibitions and performances have been held at BOCA Museum of Art, Boca Raton; Henry Street Settlement: Abrons Arts Center, New York City; Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York City; Black and White Gallery, Brooklyn; Roebling Hall Gallery, New York City; and Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York City. Benson had a survey exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, in the summer of 2017. She is currently teaching at Cornell University, in the Department of Art as part of the AAP NYC faculty.

Academic Research/Specialty Areas

  • Film/video/sound
  • Performance art
  • Sculpture

Related Pages

Classes (Selected)

  • ART 2501 Introduction to DrawingThis course provides students entering the B.F.A. program a gateway to contemporary art practice through drawing. Drawing here is conceived both as a self-sufficient medium and as a tool useful for the conceptual and practical development of ideas in other media. A wide range of technically and conceptually conceived assignments will introduce students to the breadth of contemporary practice and drawing itself.
  • ART 3103 New York City Seminar (spring 2013–15, 2017)

Awards, Grants, and Fellowships (Selected)

  • The Vaults: Swing Space Residency and Grant, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York City
  • Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, New York (2006)
  • Sculpture Center, In-Practice Grant (2005)
  • Emerging Artists Fellowship, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, Queens, New York (2003)
  • Fulbright Scholarship (1998)

Exhibitions and Presentations (Selected)

  • Half Truths, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati (2017)
  • Song for Sebald, LMAK projects, New York City (2017)
  • Finding Baghdad, BOCA Museum of Art, Boca Raton (2016)
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