About

David Benforado’s practice is rooted in a long-standing engagement with pigments and their material behavior. He approaches color as a living, active force, with each canvas functioning as a memory map of accumulated gestures and actions. His works evolve through processes that include burning and scraping the surface, followed by repainting and the layering of translucent passages. Color determines both structure and composition across his practice, whether in multi-layered abstraction, geometrically offset grid systems, or figurative works such as the Goat series.

He studied sculpture and painting at Brandeis University in the United States, where he received his BFA in 1999, and later continued his studies at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest with painter Ákos Birkás (2004–2005). Alongside his visual practice, his engagement with music led him to the Turkish ney, which he has been playing since 2009 after studying with the late neyzen Ömer Erdogdular.

Between 2014 and 2025, Benforado has presented his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions across Europe. Solo exhibitions include Kourd Gallery in Athens, Una Boccata d’Arte / Fondazione Elpis in Sardinia, and the Griechische Kulturstiftung in Berlin. His work has been shown in institutional contexts such as the Jewish Museum of Greece, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete, and the Emsdettener Kunstverein, as well as at international art fairs including Art Athina, Berliner Liste, and Kölner Liste.

He has participated in artist residencies and interdisciplinary projects in Germany, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Finland. His practice has been accompanied by performances, publications, and critical texts by curators and writers including Eleni Varopoulou and Jurriaan Benschop, and has been featured in exhibition catalogues, books, magazines, and broadcast media, including Sky Arte, ZDF, and The Art Newspaper Greece as well in online publications such at the Culture Trip, Lifo, a.o.

Selected Exhibitions (2014-2025)

Solo
2022: Cataclysms, curated by Eleni Varopoulou, Kourd Gallery, Athens
2021: De Terra e de Bentu, curated by Emiliana Sabiu, Una Boccata d’Arte, Fondazione Elpis, Sardinia

2018: Goats and the Abstract Truth, curated by Eleni Varopoulou, Kourd Gallery, Athens

2015: Part 3: Between Sound and Silence, Kourd Gallery, Athens 

          Part 2: Between Sound and Silence, Jewish Museum of Greece, Athens 

2014: Part 1: Between Sound and Silence, curated by Eleni Varopoulou, Griechische Kulturstiftung, Berlin 

Group 

2025: Art Athina, curated by Eleni Varopoulou, Kourd Gallery

-10 Years of Hilbert Raum, Hilbert Raum, Berlin

2024: Anonyme Zeichner*innen, curated by Anke Becker, Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin

-Art Athina, duo presentation with Venia Dimitrakopoulou, curated by Eleni Varopoulou, Kourd Gallery

2023:  Wo man sich trifft, curated by Jurriaan Benschop, Emsdettener Kunstverein

          – Why Paintings Work, curated by Jurriaan Benschop, Kourd Gallery, Athens

2021: A Grammar of Gestures, curated by Jurriaan Benschop, Kourd Gallery, Athens
2018: Poetry of Memory, Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete, curated by Eleftherios Ikonomou, Rethimnon, Crete 

-Salon@Kourd, Kourd Gallery, Athens 

2017: No Net Working, Galeria Huuto, Helsinki
2016: Kölner Liste, Artfein Gallery, Köln
Mechanics of Space, Nitra Gallery, Thessaloniki 

Fragments of a Broken Season, Hilbert Raum, Berlin 

2015: Light and Heavy, Hilbert Raum, Berlin 

Kenophobia, CAN Gallery, Athens
Lange Nacht der Kultur, Internationales Sommeratelier Aschersleben, Germany 

Residencies 

2015: Internationales Sommeratelier Aschersleben, Germany 

Project participations 

2015 & 2016: KunstAutomat Projekt, Jewish Museum, Berlin 

Performances 

2021 Ney performance, Una Boccata d’Arte, Tratalias, Sardinia 

2015 Ney performance, Kourd Gallery, Athens
2014 Ney performance, Griechische Kulturstiftung, Berlin

2014 Fukushima: The Aftermath, Painting & Music performance with Antonis Anissegos, The Story of Berlin

(photo: Sara Deidda)