# Math Bass URL: https://vielmetter.com/artists/math-bass/ Represented by Vielmetter Los Angeles Math Bass’s practice spans across painting, performance, sculpture, and video. Throughout their work, recognizable forms appear and yet turn abstract, becoming shapes rather than signifiers, like shadows manipulated by the sun. Repetition is used as a tool to foreground these forms as part of a visual lexicon Bass has been developing in the *Newz!* Series. Forms and symbols exist in a multitude of perspectives and (re)interpretation, suggesting the possibility of mutable meaning. Although graphic in the flatness of the forms, there is a crispness and lightness to Bass’s geometric abstraction—thin layers of opaque paint are delicately applied to raw canvas. Bass explores breaking down the common boundaries found within the medium(s) and modes of presentation in order to actively engage the viewer in both surreal and everyday ways **Math Bass** (b. 1981, New York, NY) received a BA from Hampshire College and an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles. Recent solo exhibitions include *Monday’s Child,*Vielmetter Los Angeles, CA (2024); *Math Bass: Full Body Parenthesis*, Lumber Room, Portland, OR (2024); *Math Bass: Roses are Red,*Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, NY;*a picture stuck in the mirror*, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle (2021); *Hammer Projects: Math Bass*, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018); *Math Bass: Crowd Rehearsal*, The Jewish Museum, New York (2017); *Math Bass: Serpentine Door*, Yuz Museum, Shanghai (2017); and *Off the Clock*, MoMA PS1, New York (2015). They have been featured in numerous group shows including *Wintergreen,*La Loma Projects, Los Angeles; *Fictions of Display,* The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; A Wing and. Prayer, The Bunker, Palm Beach; Their work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk; Kistefos Museum, Oslo; Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China, among others. ## Exhibitions - [Math Bass: Monday’s Child](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/math-bass-2024.md): November 16, 2024 — January 11, 2025 · Gallery I · Artists: Math Bass - [Math Bass in Reverberations](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/math-bass-in-reverberations.md): April 28 — September 29, 2024 · The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) · Artists: Math Bass - [Plants Now!](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/plants-now.md): July 16 — August 26, 2022 · Gallery II & Greenhouse · Artists: Edgar Arceneaux, Math Bass, Whitney Bedford, Sadie Benning, Ellen Berkenblit, Andrea Bowers, Kim Dingle, Genevieve Gaignard, Nash Glynn, Raffi Kalenderian, Hugo McCloud, Rodney McMillian, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Nicola Tyson, Tâm Văn Trần, Ariane Vielmetter, Shanna Waddell, Esther Pearl Watson, Mark Todd, Patrick Wilson, Bari Ziperstein - [Math Bassa picture stuck in the mirror](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/math-bass-a-picture-stuck.md): October 16, 2021 — March 6, 2022 · Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle · Artists: Math Bass - [Math Bass: NEWZ!](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/newz.md): January 28, 2021 — January 31, 2022 · 7766 Fay Avenue · Artists: Math Bass - [Math Bass: Desert Veins](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/math-bass-desert-veins.md): January 23 — March 6, 2021 · Gallery III · Artists: Math Bass - [20 Years Anniversary Exhibition Part 1](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/20-year-anniversary-exhibition.md): July 18 — August 29, 2020 · Gallery I · Artists: Edgar Arceneaux, Math Bass, Whitney Bedford, Andrea Bowers, Kim Dingle, Sean Duffy, Nicole Eisenman, Genevieve Gaignard, Liz Glynn, Karl Haendel, Raffi Kalenderian, Ruben Ochoa, Stanya Kahn, Hayv Kahraman, Mary Kelly, Shana Lutker, Dave McKenzie, Rodney McMillian, Wangechi Mutu, Esther Pearl Watson, The Estate of Pope.L, Deborah Roberts, The Estate of Steve Roden, Stefanie Schneider, Amy Sillman, Arlene Shechet, John Sonsini, Monique van Genderen, Tâm Văn Trần, Patrick Wilson - [The Light Touch](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/light-touch.md): September 7 — October 19, 2019 · Gallery II · Artists: Yunhee Min, Caitlin Lonegan, Monique van Genderen, Sadie Benning, Math Bass, Linda Besemer, Iva Gueorguieva ## Biography 1981 Born in New York, NY Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA 2011 MFA, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 2003 BA, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA **Selected Solo Exhibitions** 2024 "Monday's Child," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA "Math Bass: Full Body Parenthesis," Lumber Room, Portland, OR 2023 "Math Bass: Roses Are Red," Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, NY 2022 "clown alley," Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin, Germany 2021-2022 "a picture stuck in the mirror," Henry Art Gallery, The University of Washington, Seattle, WA 2021 "Math Bass," Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA "Desert Veins," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2019-2020 "Fill It Up Silver,” Various Small Fires, Seoul, Korea 2019 "Cherry Baby," The Gallery At, Los Angeles, CA "To Name A Few," Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany 2018 "Hammer Projects: Math Bass," Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA "My Dear Dear Letter," Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY 2017 "Domino Kingdom," Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany The Jewish Museum, New York, NY "Math Bass: Serpentine Door," Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China "Over the Top: Math Bass & the Imperial Court SF," Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA 2016 "Bloomies," Michael and Jon Alan, Miami Beach, FL 2015 "Off the Clock," MoMA PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, NY 2014 "Lies Inside," Overduin & Co., Los Angeles, CA 2013 "Newz!," Michael Jon Gallery, Miami, FL "Monte Cristo," with Leidy Churchman, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA 2012 "And then the words came out," with Leah Glenn, Artist Curated Projects, Los Angeles, CA 2011 "G.L.O.W.," with Mariah Garnett, Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles, CA "Pass the Line," UCLA, Los Angeles, CA **Selected Group Exhibitions** 2025-2026 "Wintergreen," La Loma Projects, Los Angeles, CA 2025 "Fictions of Display," The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA 2024 "A Wing and a Prayer," The Bunker, Palm Beach, FL "Reverberations," The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, CA 2023 "Next Door," Yuz Project Space of Art, Panlong, Shanghai, China 2022 "A Maze Zanine, Amaze Zaning, A-Mezzaning, Meza-9," David Zwirner and Performance Space New York, New York, NY "Dreams," Artist Curated Projects, Los Angeles, CA "Plants Now!" Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA "Not Me, Not That, Not Nothing Either," Leslie Lohman Museum of Art New York, NY 2020 "20 Years," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2019 "The Light Touch," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA "Eight Ball," Martos Gallery, New York, NY "Throwback Jack," curated by Amanda Schmitt, Fredericks & Freiser Gallery, New York, NY 2018 "A Page from My Intimate Journal (Part I)," Gordon Robichaux, New York, NY "Nothing Will Be As Before," Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany 2017 "Abstract/Not Abstract," Moore Building, Art Basel, Miami Beach, FL "New Modernism," Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR 2016 "Los Angeles – A Fiction," Aaturp Fearnly Museum of Modern Art, Oslo, Norway "OVERPOP," Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China "Gesture Play," Simone Subal, New York, NY "Flavr Savr," curated by Alexandra Gaty, The Pit, Los Angeles, CA "A Shape That Stands Up," Hammer Museum and Art + Practice, Los Angeles, CA "Wasteland," curated by Shamin M. Momin, Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Paris, France 2015 "Artist Theater Program," with Shannon Ebner, Lauren Fisher, Dylan Mira, Silke Otto-Knapp, Adam Putnam, and Nora Slade, Performa 15, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL Artist Theater Program, with Shannon Ebner, Lauren Fisher, Dylan Mira, Silke Otto-Knapp, Adam Putnam, and Nora Slade, Performa 15, Roulette, Brooklyn, NY "Bring Your Own Body," Glass Curtain Gallery at Columbia College, Chicago, IL "Bring Your Own Body," Cooper Union, New York, NY "The Answer. The Question," Artist Curated Projects, Los Angeles, CA "No Joke," curated by Sanya Kantarovsky, Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany Drawing Biennale 2015, The Drawing Room, London, UK "My Own Private Los Angeles," curated by Math Bass, Artist Curated Projects, Los Angeles, CA "Initimate Paintings," Half Gallery, New York, NY "Joshing the Watershed," Del Vaz Projects, Los Angeles, CA "With & Width," Chapter NY, New York, NY "VESTAL VIRGINS," curated by Sylvie Lake, Lummis House, Los Angeles, CA 2014 "Bavarian Fire Drill," 247365, New York, NY "Shit Like Hair," White Flag Projects, Saint Louis, MI "Flex," Kent Fine Art, New York, NY "Another Cats Show," 356 Mission, Los Angeles, CA "New Dawn," curated by Leidy Churchman, Silberkuppe, Berlin, Germany "Duck Soup," Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm, Sweden "Darren Bader," Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, NY "Drowning and swallowing this text," Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA "Autograft," Laurel Gitlen, New York, NY 2013 "Culm," Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA "356 Sculptures," 356 Mission, Los Angeles, CA "B.B.S.Q.," Wallspace, New York, NY "Cast Recording," Prism Gallery, Los Angeles, CA "P&Co.," Thomas Duncan Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2012 "Made in LA," The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA "This is It With It As It Is," Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX "Il Regalo," Overduin and Kite, Los Angeles, CA 2011 "Gloria Hole," The Fire Place Project, East Hampton, NY 2010 "Almost Outline," 2nd Floor Projects, San Francisco, CA "Says I," Parker Jones Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2009 "riDYKEu-lous HITS BOTTOM," Leo Koenig Inc., New York, NY "Somethings Gonna Soon," Artist Production Fun, New York, NY 2008 "Our bodies, our selves," Montehermosos Cultural Centre, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain "The Way That We Rhyme," Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA "Oceans of Potions," Pens and Needles, San Francisco, CA 2007 "Shared Women," Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA "The Tent Show," Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen, Denmark 2006 "Not A Marathon, Just a Traffic Jam," Art in General, New York, NY "New Ghost Entertainment Entitled," Or Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada "New Ghost Entertainment Entitled," Stadtische Galerie Kunsthaus, Dresden, Germany "Esthetics of Resistance," CareOf Gallery, Milan, Italy 2005 "Macerate," Around the Coyote Gallery, Chicago, IL 2003 "Listen Translate Translate Record," Andrew Kreps, New York, NY "Man, I Feel Like A Woman," Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA **Performances** 2022 "if i could sing you back" with Eden Batki, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA 2017 "Quiet work in session," with Lauren Davis Fisher, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY 2015 Artist Theater Program Performa 15 + The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Roulette, Brooklyn, NY 2014 Overduin & Co., Los Angeles Artist Theater Program, Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Troy, New York, NY Paramount Ranch, Malibu, CA Quiet work in session, with Lauren Davis Fisher, curated by Summery Guthery, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Portland, OR 2013 "Planets Making Planets," with Anna Sew Hoy and Claire Kohne, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA 2012 The Actors Studio, Wilfred Yang Gallery, Los Angeles, CA "Brutal Set," Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA "Blasting Voice," Suzanne Geiss Company, New York, NY 2011 "Dogs and Fog," Overduin and Kite, Los Angeles, CA 2010 "Perform Now!," Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA **Screenings and Lectures** 2015 Coulisse Effect, Overduin and Kite, Los Angeles, CA 2014 Marmalade Me, South London Gallery, London, UK **Bibliography** 2025 Laster, Paul. "Discover Highlights from the 2025 Aspen Art Fair," Galerie Magazine, August 1 Quadros, Karly. "The Aspen Art Fair, Which Aspires to Be the Summer Camp of Art Fairs, Is Back for Its Sophomore Edition," Cultured Magazine, July 25 2024 Noteboom, Kaya. "Hidden bodies, hoards of feeling: Math Bass at lumber room," Variable West, July 10 ([Link](https://variablewest.com/2024/07/10/review-math-bass-lumber-room/)) 2023 Dorris, Jesse. "A Painter Who Flattens to Find Expanse," Surface Magazine, September 19 ([Link](https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/math-bass-painter-interview/)) Art In America Staff. "The Ruscha Effect: Seven Artists Weigh In on the Impact of the Great Ed Ruscha," Art In America, September 8 ([Link](https://www.artnews.com/list/art-in-america/features/artists-weigh-in-on-the-great-ed-ruscha-1234678882/william-wegman-born-1943/)) 2022 Civin, Marcus. "Math Bass in conversation with Marcus Civin," Maake Magazine, October 7 ([Link](https://www.maakemagazine.com/math-bass)) Bass, Math and Chloe Stead. "Barbara Kruger’s Teaching Legacy: “She Always Cut Through the Bullshit," Frieze Magazine, February 14 ([Link](https://www.frieze.com/article/barbara-kruger-teaching-legacy)) 2021 Simmons, William J. "Queer Formalism: The Return," Floating Opera Press, Berlin, Germany Simmons, William J. "On Math Bass “Got a Light?” Artillery, January 5 2019 "Larry Pittman with Terry R. Myers," The Brooklyn Rail, September ([Link](https://brooklynrail.org/2019/09/art/LARI-PITTMAN-with-Terry-R-Myers)) Simmons, William J. "Portfolio: Math Bass," Bomb, June 14 ([Link](https://bombmagazine.org/articles/portfolio-math-bass/)) 2015 Locks, Mia, “The Body is a Location: Math Bass in conversation with Mia Locks”, Art Journal Open, December 14 Rosenthal, Tracy Jeanne, “Waveforms”, Art in America, October Fox, Dan, “The Eyes Have It”, Frieze, Issue 173, September Tattersall, Lanka, “Ones to Watch”, sleek Magazine, Summer Small, Rachel, “Geometry Lessons with Math Bass”, Interview Magazine, May 20 Zhong, Fan, “Codes and Keys”, W Magazine, May 7 Braithwaite, Hunter, “A New Way of Thinking: Introducing Math Bass”, Modern Painters, May Powers, Bill, “’People Have Anxiety about Ambiguity’: A Talk with Math Bass”, ARTnews, March 2014 Gavin, Francesca, “The Materiality of Math”, Twin Magazine, November “Initiation”, Art in America, October Hudson, Suzanne, “Math Bass”, Frieze, Issue 163, May Wagley, Catherine, “Math Bass: Lies Inside at Overduin & Co.”, LA Weekly, March 18 Ebner, Shannon, “Math Bass: FutureGreats 2014”, ArtReview, March 2013 Raoli, Martha, “Newz!: Math Bass”, The Miami Rail, Winter Cha, Olivian, “Monte Cristo”, Art Papers, September/October 2012 Made in L.A., essay by Amanda Hunt, published by Hammer Museum, Los Angeles Griffin, Jonathan, “Made in LA 2012”, Frieze, September 2009 Doyle, Jennifer, “Managing Desire: Girls, Boys and Queer Sport Spectacles”, X-TRA, Spring Mixed Signals: Artists Consider Masculinity in Sports, essay by Julia Bryan Wilson, published by Los Angeles County Museum of Arts, Los Angeles 2008 Bordowitz, Gregg, “Sentiment, Belief, and Medium”, Film, Avant-Garde and Biopolitics, published by Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Vienna Brewer-Ball, Kate, “In Sight, Out of Focus: Marriage, the union of Wu Tsang and Math Bass” Performance Studies International #14: Interregnum: In Between States. Summers, Robert, “The Way That We Rhymes”, Art US, Issue 23 The Uncertain States of America Reader, essay by Matt Wolf, published by Sternberg Press, Berlin. Wolf, Matt, “New Lives Queer Art”, LTTR. **Public Collections** Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, La Jolla, CA Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China