Artist Bio

Benny Merris is a New York-based artist from Boise, Idaho. He received a BA from University of Massachusetts Boston and MFA from Glasgow School of Art. He was a member of the inaugural Paint School cohort run by Shandaken Projects in New York City. Merris has had solo exhibitions at The Bernstein Gallery at Princeton University, Princeton; Heroes Gallery, NYC; Cleopatra’s, Brooklyn; Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson; Nina Johnson, Miami; Battat Galerie, Montreal; Cokkie Snoei, Rotterdam; Glasgow Project Room, Glasgow; and Kunsthal Rotterdam. Merris has participated in numerous group exhibitions including presentations at Nathalie Karg Gallery, NYC; O’Flaherty’s, NYC; Topps Gallery, Memphis; KMN Projects, Providence; The American Academy of Arts and Letters, NYC; GRIMM Gallery, NYC; Essex Flowers, NYC; Murray Guy, NYC; Regina Rex, NYC; LAXART, Los Angeles; Contemporary Art Museum Houston, Houston; Boston University Art Gallery, Boston; and the Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff.  Merris has been an artist-in-residence at Casa de los Artistas, The Banff Centre, Denniston Hill, and Offshore Residency. His work will be featured in the upcoming exhibition Ecstatic Land at Ballroom Marfa in Texas, curated by Dean Daderko and Daisy Nam.

PRESS

Cate McQuaid, "Pop-up show in East Providence beckons with 'Oddkin'",The Boston Globe, June 7, 2022

Martha Schwendener, "What to See in N.Y.C. Galleries Right Now", The New York Times, August 11, 2022

Max Lakin, "Divine Excess on Avenue C", The New York Times, July 20, 2022

Public conversations

Brooklyn Rail New Social Environment #614: Benny Merris | flash!

CAMH Connects with Dean Daderko

Tuesday Evenings at The Modern