OVERVIEW

BRIAN ALFRED (°1974 in Pittsburgh, PA)is best known for his collages, paintings, and digital animations. He works fluidly between classic and contemporary media like drawing and digital art, and he depicts subject matters that range from architecture and technology to modern idealism and romantic heroism. Best known for his works that examine how people’s perception of their surrounding world and culture is mediated by technology, Alfred’s practice is often accounted for as socio-critical and a mirror of our contemporary times.

He creates flattened and usually depopulated worlds of color reproduced in two dimensional bold patterns, often derived from found images. Alfred explores the effect public imagery has on individual perceptions of reality by using newspaper photographs, television advertising, and the internet as source. Inscrutable scenes in his paintings and animations remind the viewer of how public media tend to show a glimpse of reality: relevant information is cropped out of the image and the overall picture is flattened into a coherent colourful narrative of a simple ideology.

In a more recent project titled Millions Now Living Will Never Die!!!, Alfred created portraits of 333 musicians, artists, actors, writers, and politician that he said all were a creative influence on his own practice. The project is a self-portrait of Alfred as much as it is an archive of his creative development.

Brian Alfred earned his B.F.A. in painting from Penn State University in 1997, and his M.F.A. from Yale University in 1999.

HISTORY

2018
‘Future Shock’, Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, USA

2017
‘Techno Garden’, Maho Kubota Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2016
‘In Praise of Shadows’, Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, New York, USA

2015
‘It Takes A Million Years To Become Diamonds So Let’s Just Burn Like Coal Until The Sky Is Black’,Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, New York, USA

2014
‘New Animations’,Hezi Cohen Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel
‘Beauty in Danger’, Salon 94 Video Wall, New York, USA

2013
‘Storms and Stress’, Hezi Cohen Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel

2012
‘It’s Already the End of the World’, Frist Center for Visual Art, Nashville, USA

2011
‘Co-op‘, Giraud Pissarro Ségalot, New York, USA
‘Rise Above’, Haunch of Venison, London, England

2010
‘It’s Already the End of the World’, Haunch of Venison, New York, USA

2009
‘Majic Window’, Studio La Città, Verona, Italy

2008
‘Millions Now Living Will Never Die!!!’, Haunch of Venison, Berlin, Germany

2007
‘Global Warning’, SCAI the Bathhouse, Tokyo, Japan

2006
‘Surveillance’, Haunch of Venison, Zurich, Switzerland
‘Space is the Place!’, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA

2005
‘Paper and Pixels’, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, USA
‘Conspiracy?’, Haunch of Venison, London, England

2004
‘The Future is Now!’, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, USA
‘Overload’, Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA
‘Fallout’, Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, USA

2003
‘New Work’, Sandroni Rey Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2002
Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA

2000
Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA

2018
Miles McEnery Gallery, ‘Belief in Giants’, New York, USA

2017
Samsung Art TV, ‘The Frame’ Samsung, USA
Mountain Gallery, ‘Like Oxygen’,Brooklyn, USA

2016
EDDYSROOM, ‘Room with a View’, Brooklyn, USA
Art Basel Miami Beach, ‘Art Film’, Miami Beach, USA
Maho Kubota Gallery, ‘Tokyo / London / New York’, Tokyo, Japan
Denver Art Museum, ‘Audacious: Contemporary Artists Speak Out’, Denver, USA
JR-EAST(Echigo Yuzawa), ‘Genbi Shinkansen’, Niigata, Japan
Aomori Museum of Art, ‘In an Illusion Village: Our Form Connected by Media Art’, Aomori, Japan
Palmer Museum of Art, ‘Extended Practice’,Pennsylvania State Univeristy, University Park, USA

2015
(curator) Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, ‘BLACK | WHITE’, New York, USA
(curator) DeBuck Gallery, ‘The Search For The Real’, New York, USA
Hôtel Des Arts, ‘Villissima’, Toulon, France
Culturadora, Art Miami NY, ‘The Everywhere Exotic’, New York, USA
Marfa Contemporary, ‘ Animation Screening’, Animation at the Dallas Art Fair, Dallas,USA

2014
(curator) LaMontagne Gallery, ‘BLACK/ WHITE’,Boston, USA
Art Basel Hong Kong, ‘Art Film’, Hong Kong, China
Montclair Art Museum, ‘100 Works for 100 Years: A Centennial Celebration’, Montclair, USA
Lafayette Art Galleries, ‘Mercury Retrograde: Animated Realities’, Lafayette College, Easton, USA
Art Cologne, ‘Film Cologne’, Cologne, Germany

2013
Palmer Museum of Art, ‘Uncanny Congruencies’, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA
Art Basel Miami Beach, ‘Art Film’, Miami Beach, USA
Stephen Stoyanov Gallery, ‘Mercury Retrograde: Animated Realities’, New York, USA
Storefront Ten Eyck, ‘Epic Fail’, Brooklyn, USA

2012
Frankston Arts Centre/Cube 37, ‘exURBAN SCREENS’, Melbourne, Australia
15th Japan Media Arts Festival, Tokyo, Japan
Steven Vail Fine Arts, ‘Sourced’, Des Moines, USA

2011
SCAI the Bathhouse, ‘Beyond’, Tokyo, Japan
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, ‘Videosphere: A New Generation’, Buffalo, USA
Big Screen Plaza, ‘The Big Screen Project’, New York, USA
Bertrand Delacroix Gallery, ‘Printer’s Proof,’, New York, USA

2010
12th International Cairo Biennale, Cairo, Egypt
Big Screen Plaza ‘The Big Screen Project’, New York, USA
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, ‘Me, Undoubtedly. 1309 Faces’, Wolfsburg, Germany
Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, ‘Aichi Triennale’, Nagoya, Japan
South Bend Museum of Art, ‘Surface Tension’, South Bend, USA
The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), ‘onedotzero’, New York, USA
Orange County Museum of Art, ‘New Art For A New Century: Contemporary Acquistions 2000 – 2010’, Newport Beach, USA

2009
Big Medium Gallery, ‘Mercury Retrograde: Animated Realities’, Austin, USA
Haunch of Venison, ‘The Figure and Dr. Freud’, New York, USA

2008
Contemporary Arts Center, ‘Uncoordinated: Mapping Cartography in Contemporary Art’, Cincinnati, USA
Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, ‘Ru Ru Ru Landscape: How I see the World Around Me,’, Shizuoka, Japan
Den Frie Udstilling Bygning (Den Frie Center of Contemporary Art), ‘Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks’, Copenhagen, Denmark

2007
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, ‘The Shapes of Space’, New York, USA
Palazzo delle Papesse, ‘System Error: War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning’, Sienna, Italy
Art Fair Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Art Basel, ‘Art Film’, Basel, Switzerland

2006
Creative Time, ‘The 59th Minute, Times Square Panasonic Astrovision Screen’, New York, USA
American Academy of Arts and Letters, ‘American Academy of Arts and Letters Invitational Exhibition’, New York, USA
Denver Art Museum, ‘Radar: Selections from the Kent and Vicki Logan Collection’, Colorado, USA
Studio La Città, ‘New Code’, Verona, Italy
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, ‘Signal Channel: Contemporary Video Art’, Nebraska, USA

2005
Eyebeam, ‘Produced at Eyebeam’, New York, USA
Lucas Schoormans Gallery, ‘Surface’, New York, USA
Ignivomous, ‘ART!@*><WORK’, New York, USA

2004
National Gallery of Victoria, ‘Metropolis’, Melbourne, Australia
Palazzo Ducale, ‘Art and Architecture 1900 – 2000’, Genoa, Italy
Sandroni Rey Gallery, ‘Inagural Show’, Los Angeles, USA
Van Brunt Gallery, ‘Trouble in Paradise’, New York, USA
Kingfisher Projects, ‘Happy Ending’, New York, USA

2003
Max Protetch Gallery, ‘Toxic’, New York, USA
Austin Museum of Digital Art, ‘Digital Showcase’, Texas, USA

1999
Max Protetch Gallery, ‘Group Show’, New York, USA
Yale School of Art Gallery, ‘MFA Thesis Exhibition’, Connecticut, USA

NEWS

FIXED CONTAINED Curated by Tomokazu Matsuyama

KOTARO NUKAGA is pleased to present Fixed Contained, a group exhibition of seven international contemporary artists: Brian Alfred, Firelei Báez, Inka Essenhigh, Nir Hod, Tony Matelli, Tomokazu Matsuyama, and Carlos Rolón. This exhibition is guest curated by Matsuyama, and will be on view from April 20, 2019 through June 29, 2019. Each of the artists