Stephen Benenson
Stephen Benenson is a painter who has lived and worked in the greater Portland area for over two decades. Benenson received his MFA in Painting from the Yale School of Art in 2014, and maintains a studio at the SPACE Studios building. His practice focuses on experimental application of geometry and color, juxtaposed with references to art history and children’s drawings. The artist’s exhibition history includes the Portland Museum of Art Biennial, ICA at Maine College of Art & Design, Platform Project Space (NYC), Durden and Ray (Los Angeles), 1708 Gallery (Richmond), and the Riverside Museum of Art (Riverside, CA), among others. He was a co-founder of the artist-run gallery Able Baker Contemporary (2016-22) in Portland.
Education and Study:
MFA
Class of 2014
Yale School of Art
Member
2005-Present
SPACE Studios & Pickwick Independent Press
Residency
2007
Painting
‘Painting’s Edge’ Idyllwild, CA
Post-Bac Certificate
2004
2-D Art
SACI Florence, Italy
BA
2002
Art, Anthropology
Wheaton College, MA
Junior Year Study
2000
Studio Art
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Private Study
1999
Painting
Studied under painter Bill Elmore, Mendocino County, CA
Apprenticeship
1997
Sculpture
Apprenticed with sculptor Adam Leventhal, Los Angeles, CA
Exhibitions:
September 2026 "A Backwards Bloom", SPACE, Portland, Maine
January 2018 “2018 Biennial”, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
September 2016, “Broken Register”, Able Baker Contemporary, Portland Maine
April 2016, “Stephen Benenson”, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, CA.
December 2014, “New Works by Elizabeth Gilfilen, Jeremy Chandler, and Stephen Benenson”, Fred Giampietro Gallery, New Haven, CT
August 2014, “Point of Departure” 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA.
February 2014, ‘Condensed Matter, MFA Thesis exhibition’, Yale, Green Hall Gallery
January 2014, ‘Stephen Benenson. Prints, Paintings and Drawings’ The Study at Yale.
April 2013, ‘For Ed: Splendor in the Grass with Olympic Lad & Lass’ Yale, Green Hall Gallery
April 2011, ‘Above and Below the Line: Contemporary Drawing in Maine’, Pace Galleries of Art, Fryeburg, ME
December 2010, ‘Simple complexities’ at Whitney Art Works, Portland, ME
June 2009, ‘The Business of Art’ juried exhibition at University of New England, Portland, ME
September 2008, ‘Stephen Benenson’ Whitney Art Works, Portland, ME
July 2007, ‘Painting’s Edge’ exhibition Riverside Museum of Art, Riverside, CA
May 2004, ‘Zonzo’ exhibition of SACI Post-Bac studio art, Florence, Italy
May 2002, ‘Sfumato’ thesis exhibition for majors in Studio Art, Wheaton College, MA