Brian Bress
Brian Bress is a video artist who creates absurd, circularly narrative films driven by the circumstances of a bizarre cast of ridiculously costumed characters, more often than not played by Bress himself. Though they rely predominantly on homemade props and costumes, Bress's videos are visually innovative and their inherent silliness and rambling pace only serve to intensify the examination of assumptions about the nature of reality. He is also known for his collage-like portraits that feature costumed actors wearing strange masks that obscure their faces. By disguising the identities of the sitters, Bress heightens the level of uncertainty in the work to humorous levels.
“Everything in my studio was more interesting than the paintings and so I started creating these tableaus that were large enough to get inside of and interact with... and I would arrange them as carefully as I would a painting”
--Brian Bress
Review
Solo Exhibition
2018 Brian Bress: Pictures Become You, Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Gallery, Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH
Another Fine Mess, Josh Lilley Gallery, London, UK
2017 Sidewalk Cinema Art Blocks presented by Aurora Picture Show, Main Street Square 1111 Main Street,
Houston, TX
In Lieu of Flowers Send Memes, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA
Imperfect Tense, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (Public Commission)
2016 The Desmond Six, Time Equities, Inc. Art-in-Buildings, New York, NY
In the Box: Brian Bress, Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA
Brian Bress: Make Your Own Friends, Orange County Museum of Art, Orange County, CA Brian Bress: Make Your Own Friends, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, CO (catalogue) Brian Bress, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA
2015 Brian Bress: A Toyota’s a Toyota, Los Angeles Nomadic Division, Los Angeles, CA Brian Bress: Make Your Own Friends, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT
2014 You Can’t Sleep on a Door, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA
2013 Idiom (Brian, Raffi, Britt), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Brian Bress, Museo d’arte contemporanea Roma, Rome, Italy
Brian Bress, Galería Marta Cevera, Madrid, Spain
2012 Interventions: Brian Bress, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Brian Bress: Status Report, New Museum, New York, NY
Under Performing, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA
2011 Creative Ideas for Every Season, Salt Lake Art Center, Salt Lake City, UT Creative Ideas for Every Season, Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art,
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
2009 The Royal Box, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles, CA
2007 Project Room, Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, NY Pardon Me, Angstrom Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Sometimes You Are Just A Hat, RC Art Gallery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 2003 Brian Bress: New Drawings, Open-End Gallery, Chicago, IL
Work Available on ArtPlay
Rabbis #2 (2019)