Ben Venom

Ben Venom graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2007 with a Master of Fine Arts Degree. His work has been show both nationally and internationally, including at the Levi Strauss Museum (Germany), the National Folk Museum of Korea, HPGRP Gallery (Tokyo), Jonathan LeVine Projects (New York), Charlotte Fogh Gallery (Denmark), Wolverhampton Gallery (England), and the Craft Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. He has been interviewed by NPR: All Things Considered, Playboy, Juxtapoz Magazine, KQED, Maxim, and CBS Sunday Morning. Venom has lectured at the California College of Arts, the Frist Center for Visual Arts, Southern Graphics Council, Humboldt State University, and the Oregon College of Art and Craft. Recently, he was an artist in residence at MASS MoCA and the de Young Museum. Ben Venom is currently visiting faculty at the San Francisco Art Institute.

In his work, Venom “contrasts the often menacing and aggressive counterculture components of gangs, punk/metal music, and the occult with the comforts of domesticity. This collision of traditional quilting techniques with elements tied to the fringes of society re-envisions the story of the material through a softer lens.”