Erik den Breejen
 
Born 1976, Berkeley, California
Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York
 
2006 MFA, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
1999 BFA, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA

1994-96 University of California at Santa Cruz

 
Selected Solo Exhibitions 

2016       

Song of the Earth, Freight + Volume, New York, NY


2014       

There’s a Riot Goin’ On, Freight + Volume, New York, NY


2012        

Image, Music, Text, DNA gallery, Untitled art fair, Miami Beach, FL

 
2011       

Smile, Freight + Volume, New York, NY

 
2008      

Throwaway Lines Often Ring True, Freight + Volume, New York, NY

 
2007      

Ruined by Love Songs, Freight + Volume, New York,  NY

 
2006       

Hits, Hartell Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York



Public Commissions

2020        

SoFi Stadium and YouTube Theatre, Inglewood, CA

Digital light box prints for elevators


2018         

PS 24 Q mural, Flushing, Queens, NY

Commissioned by Public Art for Public Schools 


2016         

Freddie Mercury mural for Wythe Hotel, Brooklyn, NY


2014         

Ahmet Ertegun mural for Atlantic Records headquarters, New York, NY.                          

Project commissioned by Gensler and Atlantic


2013         

David Bowie mural for Rag and Bone, New York, NY

 

Selected Group Exhibitions 

2024

-Playlist, curated by Heskin Projects, 1GAP gallery, Brooklyn, NY


2023          

-Inside the Outside World, curated by Matthew F. Fisher, My Pet Ram, New York

-Working On It, Shirley Fiterman Art Center, BMCC, New York, NY


2022          

-Diamond Window (three-person show with Maria Calandra and Christine Heindl) TURN Gallery, New York, NY  

-Seeing Red, Looking Blue, Feeling Green, curated by Paul Laster, Marque Projects, Bellport, NY

-You and I Underneath a Sky (two-person show with Maria Calandra), Cynthia Winings Gallery, Blue Hill, ME

-Natural Selection, Room 57 gallery, New York, NY


2021          

-Pencil In the Studio, curated by Maria Calandra, De Pree Art Center and Gallery, Hope College, Holland, MI

-La Banda, Tapetto Volante Projects, Brooklyn, NY

-Summer Reading, curated by Lindsey Landfried and Ann Tarantino, Center For Book Arts, New York, NY (catalogue)


2020          

-Sound & Color, curated by Brian Alfred, Miles McEnery, New York

-Magic Edge, curated by Michelle Tillou and Andy Cross, Troutbeck, Amenia, NY


2019          

-Ornament, BravinLee Programs, New York, NY

-Highway Blues, curated by JJ Manford, Underdonk, Brooklyn, NY

-Em Dash, Ampersand, Portland, OR


2018         

-Meet the Parents, Essex Flowers, New York, NY

                 

-The Mushroom Show, curated by Dan Gratz and Letha Wilson, Wilson Studio, NY

-Summer Reading, Woskob Gallery, Penn State, PA

-Actually Weird, curated by JJ Manford, Underdonk, Brooklyn, NY


2017        

-Weekend, curated by Ezra Johnson, Mindy Solomon gallery, Miami, FL 

-SQUARED x2, Geoffrey Young gallery, Great Barrington, MA

-Press One for Show, curated by Robert Otto Epstein, Lorimoto gallery, Ridgewood, NY 

-The Secret Life of Plants, curated by Jennifer Coates and Nick Lawrence, Freight + Volume, New York.


2016        

-The Oasis, Gitler &________, New York, NY

-Nurture/nature, curated by Matthew Mahler, 245 Varet, Brooklyn, NY


2015         

-Your Bad Self, Arts + Leisure, New York, NY

-WHO, Leslie Heller Workspace, New York, NY

-I Am What I Am Not Yet, curated by Diana Buckley, Madelyn Jordon Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY

-The Vegas Session; Three person show with Christopher Kane Taylor and Joseph Wardwell, Satellite Contemporary, Las Vegas, NV.

-The Ecstacy of Influence, curated by Progress Report, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, New York, NY.

 
2014          

-ConTEXT, curated by Brian Hack, Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn, NY.

-Drawn to Language, Children’s Museum of Art, New York, NY 

-Kiki Bouba, curated by John O’Connor, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY

-Genesis Forward Battery, curated by hkjb, Underdonk, Ridgewood, NY

 
2013           

-Dialogic, curated by Mary Salvante, Rowan University Art Gallery, Glassboro, NJ

-Endless Summer, curated by Gary Petersen, Brian Morris Gallery, New York, NY

-Disque Optophonique (sound piece for Christian Sampson installation), Southfirst, Brooklyn, NY

-Thanks, curated by Adam Parker Smith, Lu Magnus, New York, NY

-Chiraroscuro, curated JJ Manford and Steve Rivera, Novella gallery, New York, NY

-Word; two person exhibition with Jim Torok, One River gallery, Englewood, NJ

 
2012           

-The Double Dirty Dozen (and Friends), Freight and Volume, New York, NY

-Can’t Stop Rock Lobster, curated by Merkx and Gwynne, Shoot the Lobster, NY

-Waivers, curated by EJ Hauser and Rob Nadeau, EJ Hauser studio, Brooklyn, NY

 
2011           

-Temporary Antumbra Zone, Janet Kurnatowsky, Brooklyn, NY

-Gold Records, curated by Jon Lutz, Art Blog Art Blog, New York, NY

 
2010            

-No Vacancy, The Butcher’s Daughter, Detroit, MI

 
2009           

-Awesome-Blage, Artjail, New York, NY

-The Space Between, DNA, Provincetown, MA 

-Heartbreak Hotel, Freight + Volume, New York, NY

-No Soul For Sale, X Initiative, New York, NY

 
Selected Bibliography
2020

Matthew F. Fisher, curator, Art Maze, Issue 17, May 2020: 142-143.


2019

Buzz Spector, editor and curator, December, Vol. 30.2, Fall-Winter 2019: 113-120.

https://decembermag.org/product/volume-30-2/

Herman Verbeke, editor, Neil Young: Art of Gold, Whitsand, 2019: 88-89.


2017

Jon Lutz, curator, Maake magazine, Issue 4, 2017: 23.

https://www.maakemagazine.com/issue-4-artists


2016       

James Kalm, “Erik den Breejen ‘Song of the Earth’ at FREIGHT+VOLUME,” The James Kalm Report (vlog), Nov 27, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5eJBYx__6E

Brian Alfred, “Erik den Breejen,” Sound & Vision (podcast), June 15, 2016. http://www.soundandvisionpodcast.com/blog/2016/6/15/erik-den-breejen


2015       

Ellen C. Caldwell, “Vegas Rising,” New American Paintings (blog), June 8, 2015.

https://www.newamericanpaintings.com/blog/vegas-rising-satellite-contemporary’s-new-space

 
2014       

Kari Adelaide, “Erik den Breejen at Freight + Volume,” Huffington Post (blog), May 27, 2014. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/erik-den-breejen-at-freig_b_5394772

Maria Calandra, “ Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, May 2014.

https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/erik-den-breejen-freight-volume/2983

 
2013       

Doug McClemont, “Endless Summer,” ARTnews, December, 2013: 100

Edith Newhall, “Beats and Beach Boys,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 29, 2013.

Katya Kazakina, “David Bowie Portrait Hits Houston Street, Word by Word,” Bloomberg.com, June 19, 2013. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-06-19/david-bowie-portrait-hits-houston-street-word-by-word#xj4y7vzkg

“Bowie Spotted in Manhattan,” davidbowie.com, June 19, 2013.

https://www.davidbowie.com/2013/2013/06/20/bowie-spotted-in-manhattan

 

2012        

Sharon Butler, “Erik den Breejen: Text and Music,” Two Coats of Paint (blog), Dec. 1, 2012. https://twocoatsofpaint.com/2012/12/erik-den-breejen-text-and-music.html

Jon Lutz, “Erik den Breejen on Smile (and More),” Daily Operation (blog), November 29, 2012. https://lutzjon.tumblr.com/post/36820687045/erik-den-breejen-on-smile-moreKen Johnson, “Erik den Breejen: ‘Smile’” The New York Times, January 6, 2012: sec. C: 27.

Charlie Finch, “New Art Overload,” Artnet Magazine (online), January 6, 2012.

http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/features/finch/erik-den-breejen-and-janet-malcolm-1-6-12.asp

 
2011        

Mary Borkowski, “The Color and the Sound: Erik den Breejen’s Pop Synesthesia and the Beach Boys Smile,The New Inquiry (blog), Dec. 16, 2011.

https://thenewinquiry.com/the-color-and-the-sound/

Nancy Smith, “Erik den Breejen Opens ‘Smile’ at Freight+Volume,” Art Lovers New York (blog), Dec. 13, 2011. http://www.artloversnewyork.com/zine/the-bomb/2011/12/13/erik-den-breejen-opens-smile-at-freightvolume/

Maria Calandra, “Erik den Breejen.” Pencil In the Studio (blog), April 10, 2011.

http://www.pencilinthestudio.com/2011/04/erik-den-breejen.html

 

2008       

Michael Killeen, “Kapoor’s Big Red Battering Ram, Rock Star Splatter: Chelsea Art,” Bloomberg.com, June 12, 2008. 

 
Residencies

2022       

Reach Projects, Blue Hill, ME


2018        

MacDowell, Peterborough, NH

 
2015        

DNA Artists’ Residency, Provincetown, MA

 
Grants and Awards
2015        

New York Foundation for the Arts Painting Fellowship

 
2006        

Charles Baskerville Painting Award, Cornell University.

 
2005        

Cornell Council for the Arts project grant.

 
Exhibitions Curated
2015        

Let’s Go Away for Awhile (co-curated with Maria Calandra), 1 MileGallery, Kingston, NY.

http://onemilegallery.com/lets-go-away-for-awhile/


2010        

Painting Comes Alive!  Artjail, New York, NY.