Benjamin Entner

Benjamin Entner has an MFA in Sculpture from Syracuse University and a BA in Renaissance and Medieval Studies from the University of Albany. His work shows regularly in both national and international venues including Artprize at the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Grand Rapids, MI; Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center in Buffalo, NY: and The Contemporary Arts Center in Las Vegas, NV. His most recent commissions have been for the Hancock International Airport in Syracuse, NY and the Soap Factory in Minneapolis, MN. 

Entner was a Semi-Finalist for the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2016, at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, DC and he has been a resident at SculptureSpace in Utica, NY and Living Arts in Tulsa, Ok. 

Entner is also an Associate Professor of Art History & Sculpture at the State University of New York College at Oswego. He enjoys longs walks with his dog, Taz, and listening to the Moana soundtrack with his daughters. Entner is currently in-waiting for the MacArthur Genius Grant.

Research 

My current body of work explores the boundaries and interplay between two- and three-dimensional methods of making. Specifically, the point at which a drawing can become form and an object can become representation. Focusing on the figure, I draw contemporary individuals: myself, friends, family in postures similar to the figures of Classical Greco-Roman and Renaissance sculpture. In so doing, I hope to create an awkward dialogue between my contemporary parodies and the historical works—a dialogue that questions and challenges notions of beauty, proportion, sexuality, and idealized form. 

Conferences 

Presentations

• 2019 Pressure Cookers Chair, FATE Conference, Columbus, OH, April 4 The Fettig Mechanism Workshop Chair - 2019 Puppeteers of America National Puppetry Festival, Minneapolis, MN, July 16 - 21 
• 2017 Art History to the Core Chair - *did not attend due to flight cancelation, FATE Conference, Kansas City, MO, April 6 - 8 
• 2016 "What's Past is Prologue" Chair, ISC Conference, Pittsburg, PA, October 15 - 18 Evaluating 3D Work Panelist, Spring Break Out, SUNY Oswego, Oswego, NY, May 23 
• 2015 Architectural Models Co-Chair, FATE Conference, Indianapolis, IN, March 26 Old Dog, New Tricks Panelist, FATE Conference, Indianapolis, IN, March 26

Selected Lectures and Workshops

• 2018: Visiting Juror Lecture SUNY Brockport, Brockport, NY 
• 2017: Visiting Artist Lecture Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 
• Visiting Artist Lecture CSN Fine Arts Gallery, College of Southern Nevada, North Las Vegas
• Visiting Critic Expanded Forms course, RIT, Rochester, NY. 
• Studio Reviewer SculptureSpace, Utica, NY. 2016 
• Gallery Lecture SOA Gallery, Pratt MWP, Utica, NY 2015 
• Gallery Lecture Robert F. DeCaprio Art Gallery, Moraine Valley CC, Palos Hills, IL 
• Visiting Artist Lecture Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

Awards and honors 

• 2015 Semi-Finalist Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 
• 2016, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution 
• 2011 Juror’s Award Supersize Exhibition, AnnMarie Sculpture Center, Dowell, MD 
• 2010 Strategic Opportunity Stipend New York Fine Arts Association 
• 2009 Gertrude Herdle Moore/Isabel Herdle Award Rochester Finger Lakes Exhibition, Rochester, NY 
• 2006 Community Service Award Syracuse University, Dorothea Shaffer Award Syracuse University 
• 2002 Inductee Phi Beta Kappa Society 

Performances and exhibitions 

Solo Exhibitions

2017 

• Classics CSN Fine Arts Gallery, College of Southern Nevada, North Las Vegas 
• Drawings Bevier Gallery, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY

2016

• Classics SOA Gallery, Pratt MWP, Utica, NY 
• Portraits The Studios of Key West, Key West, FL

2015

• Sumus Yavapai College, Prescott, AZ 
• Ego Sum Caldwell Arts Council, Lenoir, NC 
• Ego Sum Robert F. DeCaprio Art Gallery, Moraine Valley CC, Palos Hills, IL

2014

• Mining the Ego: Self Portraits of a Humble Artist. Kenneth J Minnaert Center of the Arts, Olympia,WA 
• Sumus McLanahan Gallery, Penn State Altoona, Altoona, PA 
• Colossus Rosewood Gallery, Kettering, OH 
• Sumus Clifford B. West Gallery, AVA Art Center, Lebanon, NH

2013

• Ego Sum The Contemporary Arts Center, Las Vegas, NV 
• Nettuni SOMA Kunstgeneratorinstitusjon, Bergen, Norway 
• Still Lives LaGuardia Community College, Long Island City, NY 
• Sumus: Figurative Sculpture Through the Ages Handwerker Gallery, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY

2012

• Ego Sum Fluxx Gallery, Des Moines, IA 
• Still Life: Graphite on Paper Living Arts, Tulsa, OK 
• Still Lives and Portraits Riversview Art Space, Lynchburg, VA

2011

• Self-Portrait on a Cold Day Truckee Meadows Community College, Reno NV 
• Ego Sum 621 Gallery, Tallah

2010

• Mock One Houston Art League, Houston, TX 
• Still Life: Graphite on Paper Earlville Opera House, Earlville, NY 

2009

• Patches, the Disgruntled Carrot and Other Stories Miami Dade Public Library, Miami, FL

2008 

• Still Life with a Side of Cheese Bronx River Art Center, Bronx, NY 
• Works on Paper Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, MO 

2007 

• Two Items from Granny’s Closet Clermont Art Gallery, University of Cincinnati 
• Under Covers (Granny’s Flower Patch) Lawndale Arts Center, Houston, TX 
• The DeNatural History of the Blue Whale University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME

Selected Group Exhibitions

2018 

• A Bunch of Baloney Loud Cow, Spencerport, NY Performances International Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron, Scranton, PA 
• Big Fun Art AnnMarie Sculpture Gardens and Art Center, Dowell, MD 

2017 

• 40 Under 40 Fort Works Art, Fort Worth, TX

2016

• KCAC 40th Anniversary Invitational Exhibition Kansas City Artists Coalition, Kansas City, MO 
• 26th Annual Members Exhibition Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Rochester, NY

2015 

• Amid/In WNY Part 4 Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo, NY 

2014 

• ArtPrize Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI Made in NY 2014 
• Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, NY 
• Northern Spark Festival Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN 

2013 

• Tension and Flow: Sculpture in Flux Howard County Center for the Arts, Ellicott City, MD 
• Faculty Show State University Plaza Gallery, Albany, NY 
• Made in NY 2013 Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, Auburn, NY 

2012 

• The Other New York: 2012 Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY 

2011 

• Supersize: Bigger is Better? AnnMarie Sculpture Gardens and Art Center, Dowell, MD 
• Rochester Finger Lakes Exhibition Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY 
• After School Special University Art Museum, Albany , NY

Education 

• MFA Sculpture 2006 Syracuse University 
• BA Renaissance and Medieval Studies 2002 University at Albany, SUNY (Summa Cum Laude)