Kajahl "A New Covenant", 2021, Oil on canvas, 60 x 48 in.
Kajahl "Agenda Delivered", Oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in.
Kajahl "Alchemist 1", 2016, OIl on canvas, 36 x 24 in.
Kajahl "Architects of Simulation", Oli on canvas over panel, 48 x 36 in.
Kajahl "Council on Foriegn Relations", 2021, Oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in.
Kajahl "Definitive Proof", 2021, Oil on canvas, 60 x 48 in.
Kajahl "Libation", 2021, Oil on canvas, 60 x 48 in.
Kajahl "Suspension of Belief", 2018, Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in.
Kajahl "Empowerment Overload", Oil on canvas, 78 x 60 in.
Kajahl
Kajahl was born in Santa Cruz, CA in 1985 and received his BFA in painting from San Francisco State University in 2008. He spent his final year studying at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, Tuscany, Italy.In 2012 Kajahl received is MFA in painting from Hunter College, New York, NY.Kajahl was a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant in 2013. He was also a 2016 Artist in Residence at the Joan Mitchell Center, New Orleans, LA. Kajahl was recently awarded an Artist-in-Residence at Lower Eastside Printshop New York, NY in 2019. Kajahl is represented by Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles and Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago.
Recent solo exhibitions include Royal Specter at Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago, IL, Unearthed Entities at Richard Heller Gallery in Los Angeles, CA, Obscure Origins at Tillou Fine Arts Brooklyn, NY, curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah. Public collections include Collection Solo, The Dean Collection, The Studio Museum Harlem and 21c Museum Hotel: Art Museum.
Kajahl’s work is inspired by the ancient world. He brings fictional characters to life in imagined scenes through the medium and tradition of oil painting.
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2012 M.F.A in Painting, Hunter College, New York, NY
2008 Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, Florence, Italy
2007 B.F.A in Painting, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
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2021
Tabula Rasa, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA2020
Royal Specter, Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago, IL2017
Unearthed Entities, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CAObscure Origins, Tillou Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY
2012
University North Carolina Wilmington Arts Gallery, Wilmington, NC -
2023
Ephemeral Pleasures, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica
2020
Mining Memory, Lower Eastside Print Shop, New York, NYA Romantic Comedy, Twentyfive Kent, Brooklyn, NY
Coherent Brussells, A Pearl Laser on Gothic Holodeck, Brussels, Belgium
2019
Super Dutchess Gallery, Fortress of Solitude: A Dirty Hand Hologram for Umberto, New York, NYArt Brussels, Richard Heller Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2018
Expo Chicago, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CAImmersion, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2017
UNTITLED Art Fair, Richard Heller Gallery, Miami Beach, FLDallas Art Fair, Richard Heller Gallery, Dallas, TX
Respect, The Church of St Paul the Apostle, New York, NY
Beheaded, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016
In Context: Africans in America, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, ZABeauty, The Church of St Paul the Apostle, New York, NY
No Commission Art Fair, Bronx, NY
2013
Empiria, Superchief Gallery, New York, NYMoCADA, emerging; Visual Art and Music in a Post-Hip- Hop Era, Brooklyn, NY
Strange Times, Novella Gallery, New York, NY
2012
Hunter MFA Thesis Show, Times Square Building, Hunter MFA Building, New York, NYSuperheroes and Antiheroes, SUNY College at Old Westbury, NY
Voices of Home, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York, NY
30 Americans; Next Generation, Contemporary Wing, Washington, DC
2011
The Black Portrait, Rush Arts Gallery, New York, NY -
2021
Juxtapoz Magazine, Tabula Rasa: A Conversation with Kajahl, Oct. 26.2020
Newcity Art, A Fantastical Take on the Blackamoor: A Review of Kajahl at Monique Meloche, Dec 8.Colossal, Subversive and Grandiose, Kajahl’s Vivid Portraits Supplant Historical Narratives, Nov. 20.
2017
Santa Monica Mirror, Unearthed Entities at Richard Heller, Nov. 1Artillery, Richard Heller Gallery: Kajahl, Oct. 11
2016
City Press South Africa, Portraits of Reinvention, Nov 1Upper Playground, Provoking Portraiture by Kajahl Benes, Sep. 16
Juxtapoz, Kajahl Benes Parallel Histories, Aug. 25
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2016
Joan Mitchell Center, Artist in Residence, New Orleans, LA2013
Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant, New York, NY