Ben Jones
Ben Jones
b. 1977, Pittsburgh, PA
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Ben Jones lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. He holds a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, MA. Jones has exhibited works in a variety of solo and group exhibitions internationally at MOCA Los Angeles, Loyal Gallery in Sweden, MACRO Museum in Rome, the Bergen Kunsthall in Norway, Max Wigram Gallery and the TATE in London, Peres Projects in Berlin and Deitch Projects, Foxy Production, The Museum of Modern Art, and The Hole in New York, NY, among others. His most recent solo exhibition was at ACE Gallery in Los Angeles, his most recent museum solo at The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas. His work has been discussed in Art in America, The New York Times, i-D, Tokion, and ArtReview.
Jones is the Creative Director at Bento Box Entertainment and has also produced work for the Simpsons, WU TANG COMICS, created television shows for Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, FOX and FXX along with occasional music video production and furniture making. Jones’ work is a mash-up of all of his passions in life, with equally balanced influences from music, graphic design, technology, entertainment and art. His works seem to envision a minimalistic version of the future, pulsing with sharp color and an ambiguous narrative regarding where technology seems to be driving our culture.
Education
BFA Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
Select Solo Exhibitions
2018
Road Trip II, The Hole, New York, NY
2016
Ben Jones Comics, The Hole, New York, NY
2014
Ben Jones, Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2012-2013
Ben Jones: The Video, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2010
Concept Unification, Gallerie Loyal, Malmö, Sweden
Focus, The Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX
2009
Beehaven, Paul Johnson Trading Co. at Design Basel, Miami, FL
New Dark Age, Deitch Projects, New York, NY
2008
Celebrate the New Dark Age, Andreas Melas Presents, Athens, Greece
2005
D.I.Why?, Foxy Production, New York, NY
Select Group Exhibitions and Screenings
2019
Carry On, The Hole, Basel, CH
Post Analog Studio, The Hole, New York, NY
2018
ALAC, The Hole, Los Angeles, CA
2017
Post-Analog Painting II, The Hole, New York, NY
2012
Transmission LA: AV Club, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
2011
New York Minute, The Garage, Moscow, Russia
2009
New York Minute, MACRO Museum, Rome, Italy
eARTS BEYOND, Shanghai International Media Gallery, Shanghai, China
2008
It Aint Fair, West Of Wynwood, Miami, FL
Materialized, Bergen Kunsthall, Norway
Mail Order Monsters, Max Wigrum, London, UK
Heavy Light, Deitch Projects, New York, NY
Mail Order Monsters, Andreas Melas Presents, Athens, Greece
2007
Bitten!, Kim Light Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Mail Order Monsters, Deitch Projects, New York, NY
Macronauts, Andreas Melas Presents, Athens, Greece
New Mutants, CANADA, New York, NY
Dr. Doo, MoMA, New York, NY
Mail Order Monsters, Perez Projects, Berlin, Germany
4 Large Works, Community Outreach, London, Ontario, Canada
Select Paper Rad Exhibitions And Screenings
2007
Tha Click: Beige and Paper Rad, Event Gallery, London, UK
Playback, Musee d’ Art Moderne del la Ville de Paris/ARC, Paris, France
Maximum Approach, Artscape, Baltimore, MD
Plug Sister Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Ocularis, The Museum of Modern Art Film Exhibitions, New York, NY
Mixed Signals, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, NY
2006
The Game, Green on Red Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Armory Show, EAI presents Paper Rad, New York, NY
Panic Room, Deste Foundation Centre for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece
72 More Artists to Be Announced, New Image Art, Los Angeles, CA
Take it to the Net, Vilma Gold, London, UK
Cosmic Wonder, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Welcome To The Real World (screening), BankART Studio NYK, Yokohama, Japan
Chippendale.Hong.Lyon.Paper Rad, Gallery Agniel, Providence, RI
2005
SuperMarioMovie BEIGE/Paper Rad, Deitch Projects, New York, NY
Mixed Doubles, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Shit, Printed Matter, New York, NY
Mixtape Clubhouse, Paper Rad, Space1026 solo show, Philadelphia, PA
The Seed Market, Lizabeth Oliveria Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Breaking and Entering, Pace Wildenstein, New York, NY
WITH US AGAINST REALITY, OR AGAINST US!, Willy Wonka, Inc. Oslo, and Galleri S.E, Bergen, Norway
Rhizome ArtBase 101 “extreme animalz: the movie: part 1” with Matt Barton, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
Op…Ish, Samson Projects, Boston, MA
Tedious Limbs, Deitch Projects, New York, NY
The Art Review, 25 emerging artists, Phillips de Pury, New York, NY
Armory Show, EAI presents Paper Rad, New York, NY
Reverse Engineers, Carnegie Arts Center, North Tonowanda, NY
2004
3D, Foxy Production, New York, NY
Collage Party, Bergdorf Goodman, New York, NY (curated by Scenic in conjunction with Paul Butler)
Daydream, Nation Three Rivers Arts Festival Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
The Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK
Face Off, Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York, NY
public.exe, Exit Art, New York, NY
tuxdog.org (online project and live performance), Electronic Arts Intermix, New York, NY
Let’s Get Tested Curated by Astria Suparak for The 50th anniversary of Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen, Germany
Beaver College, SSNova, Cincinnati, OH
Shazam: Contemporary Artists and the Influence of Comics Creative Alliance Baltimore, Maryland Institute College of Art, MD
(K-RAA-K)3 Festival, KC Belgie, Hasselt, Belgium
2003
New Counter-Media-Culture Collectives, Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI
Blinky 2: The Screening Tate Britain, London, UK (curated by Foxy Production)
Radical Entertainment Institute of Contemporary Art (screening), London, UK (curated by Lauren Cornell and Lina Dzuverovic-Russell)
Another Bad Creation (screenings and live performance), Deitch Projects New York, NY (curated by Paper Rad/BEIGE)
Psyche-Out 2k3 New York Underground Film Festival 2003 (video screening and performance by Paper Rad’s Extreme Animals), Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
The Platinum Tapes Ocularis Cinema (screening), Brooklyn NY (curated by Lauren Cornell)
Blinky, Foxy Production, Brooklyn, NY
Burn In, (screening), University of Wisconsin Union Theater, Madison, WI
What Forcefield Was (screening of collaborative animation with Forcefield), School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL
Select Performances
2015
A Technicolor Happening, Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008
Problems Solvers, Detroit Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI
Education for Dead Adults, New Museum, New York, NY
Problem Solvers, Sundance Film Festival, Park City, UT
2007
Dr.Doo, The Athens Biennial, Athens, Greece
Pop Rally, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
2006
They Heart the Internet, The Kitchen, New York, NY
2005
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Extreme Animals, Doo Man Group. Buffalo, NY
Tedious Limbs Doo Man Group, Anthology Film Archive, New York, NY
Transmodern Age Doo Man Group, Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD
2004
Movies With Live Soundtracks Tour Filmmakers (traveling screening), Pittsburgh, PA
Year of the Troll Tour (traveling exhibition), Foxy Production, New York, NY
2003
Summer of HTML Tour, Team Gallery, New York, The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA and various venues (incl. collaborative performances with BEIGE Programming Ensemble)
New Tech Lo-Fi: an EAI presentation (performance and video screening), Ocularis Cinema, Brooklyn, NY
Music Video Live Showcase Dr. Doo, North Six, Brooklyn, NY (presented by New York Underground Film Festival)
TGIDIY Foxy Production, Brooklyn, NY
Another Bad Creation (screenings and live performance), Deitch Projects, New York, NY (curated by Paper Rad/BEIGE)
2002
The Totem Tour Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL and BrewHouse, Pittsburgh, PA (live music and video performances with Forcefield, Dear Raindrop, Barkley’s Barnyard Critters)
HTML-HELL, with Cory Arcangel/BEIGE, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Paper Rad vs. Beige Records Rave Battle Computer Language and Coding Symposium, Big Orbit Sound Lab, Buffalo, NY
Select Publications
2008
“New Painting and Drawing,” Ben Jones, PictureBox, New York, NY
“Mail Order Monsters,” Kathy Grayson, ed. Deitch Projects, New York, NY
“Wu-Tang Comics,” Ben Jones, PictureBox, New York, NY
2007
“The Best American Comics: 2007,” edited by Chris Ware, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA
“Panic Room,” Kathy Grayson, ed. Deitch Projects, New York, NY
2006
“Pig Tails/Cartoon Workshop,” Ben Jones and Jessica Ciocci. PictureBox, New York, NY
“Trash Talking DVD,” Paper Rad. Load Records, Providence, RI
2005
“Bad Cartridge,” “Girl” animations for Beck Hanson’s 8-Bit Remix DVD, Interscope Records
“Paper Rad, BJ and Da Dogs,” Ben Jones and Paper Rad, PictureBox, New York, NY
“Live Through This,” Jeffrey Deitch and Kathy Grayson, eds. Deitch Projects, New York, NY
2004
“Kramer’s Ergot 5,” Sammy Harkham, ed. Avodah Books, Beverly Hills, CA
“Black, White, and Read All Over,” Paper Rad. Exit Art, New York, NY
Select Press
2016
Dan Nadel, “Punk and Hippie,” Art in America, May 1
Steven Zultanski, “Technically Funny: Ben Jones on Television,” Art in America, May 19
Nicole Rudick, “Lines of Thought: An Interview with Ben Jones,” Hyperallergic, November 5
2015
Janelle Zara, “Collide-o-Scope,” W Magazine, July 15
2013
Natology, “An Introduction to Video Painting: Ben Jones,” culturedesigners, January 1
2010
Kathy Grayson, “Ben Jones,” i-D Magazine, February
2007
Vivian Host, “Hyper Hyper,” Xlr8r Magazine, Jan/Feb
2006
Caitlin Jones, “On & Off: the Expanding Domain of Internet Art,” NYFA Interactive
Miller, Ken, “Paper Rad,” Tokion, Oct/Nov
Annette Monnier, “Paper Rad!!!!!!!!,” Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, August 10
Abraham Orden, “San Francisco Days,” Artnet, October 10
Roberta Smith, “Art in Review: Looking for Graphic Lightning From Fort Thunder,” The New York Times, December 16
2005
Sarah Boxer, “Web Works That Insist On Your Full Attention,” The New York Times, June 28
Lauren Cornell, “Noise,” Nylon GUYS, September
Leslie Hoffman, “Free Rad-icals,” Whirl, October
Daniel Kunitz and Joao Ribas, “The ArtReview 25: Emerging US Artists,” ArtReview, Volume V3N3
Jennifer Papararo, “Paper Rad: The Rainbow Graffiti Will Fade,” C Magazine, Issue #85, Spring
Roberta Smith, “Art in Review: Cory Arcangel and Paper Rad,” The New York Times, February 4
Ben Tarnoff, “Interview With Paper Rad,” The Harvard Advocate, June
Christina Vassallo, “Infinite Exhibition,” Digital & Video Art Fair: A Tribute to Bruce Nauman, New York, NY
2004
“Feel The Heat: What’s Hot Now?” Paper Magazine, August 2004
Rachel Green, “Internet Art (World of Art Series),” Thames and Hudson, London, UK
Roberta Smith, “”The Infinite Fill Group Show,” The New York Times, June 6
2003
Holland Cotter, “Doing Their Own Thing, Making Art Together,” The New York Times, January 19
Jerry McPheerson, “Crazy Cartoons: Paper Rad scare the shit out of cute,” Vice Magazine, Vol. 9, No.9
Ian White, “Hacker’s Delight,” ArtReview, September
Ian White, “Romancing the Black Box,” Mute Magazine, Autumn
2002
Holland Cotter, “THE CRITICS/10 MOMENTS,” The New York Times, December 29