REZA MONAHAN
B. 1978 Portland, OR
Lives and works in Los Angeles
EDUCATION
2005
M.F.A., Art Center College of Design
2002
B.F.A., San Francisco Art Institute
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Blackmailing the Universe Lazy Eye Gallery, Yucca Valley, CA
2019
Wreck Tangled (Curated by Jan Tumlir) POST in conjunction w/MiM Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2015
Grimm’s Aged Pill Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Swollen Birth Switch, Larger Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA
2007
Certainty In Other Forms: Tear Oar (in collaboration with Krista Chael) Showcave Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2005
Banshee of the 110 Freeway Tries to Read Art Center Wind Tunnel West Wing, Pasadena, CA
2004
Ciao, Main St. The Rome Space, Geneva, Switzerland
Fowl Breath Art Center of Design Graduate Galleries, Pasadena, CA
Group Exhibitions
2023
Insideoutmosphere “soundpedro,” Angels Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro, CA
Unifying Gesture INCOGNITO, ICALA at Hauser Wirth, Los Angeles, CA
2022
Cinematic Tension #12 MATERIAL Journal Issue #5 Online Fundraiser
Cindy Heads Down to Level Two… INCOGNITO, ICALA, Los Angeles, CA
SPLIT DIOPTER Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, CA
2021
B IL I O R F Three Turns Miami, Untitled Art Fair, Miami, FL
2019
B IL I O R F LAGE EGAL Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2015
Swollen Birth Switch, Smaller Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2007
1st Mistake: Movement of An Unconventional Sociologist Bent Backroom Gallery, Pasadena, CA
2006
New Ghost Entertainment – Entitled/Part 2 Kunsthaus Dresden, Dresden, Germany
New Ghost Entertainment – Entitled/Part 1 OR Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
Ignis Lickspittle Fatuus L.A. Municipal Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, CA
2002
The Second Move, A Motion Picture Camper Gallery Route One, Marin, CA
Screenings
2024
PORTICULATES Biophilia International Film Festival, Centro Cultural de la SHCP, Mexico City, MX
2019
FOGBOUND VACUITY BRIG ACUD-KINO, Berlin, Germany
2017
B IL I O R F The Film Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA
2016
Gravely Mistaken Identities Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Geo-Illogical Asphyxiation Angle Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA
Geo-Illogical Asphyxiation Angle Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
2012
FOGBOUND VACUITY BRIG Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA
2011
Academy Ward of the State Temple Street Studios, Los Angeles, CA
2007
Selected Films Karma International, Zurich, Switzerland
Reading The Leaves The Ice Cream Shop, Hollywood, CA
2006
THE SOUND The “M” Cinema Lounge, Los Angeles, CA
2005
THE SOUND L.A. Times Theatre, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
2004
We Don’t Have “Glass of Water” Artist Television Access, San Francisco, CA
2003
Poor Traits Big Oaks Lodge and Salon, Saugus, CA
Selected Films Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
Staples, No Crow Red Door Warehouse, San Francisco, CA
2002
Hang the Projectionist The Roxie Theatre, San Francisco, CA
Couch Chair Or Why I(…) Bannam Street Theatre, San Francisco, CA
Receipt For A Man’s Life New Nothing Cinema, San Francisco, CA
Ba New Nothing Cinema, San Francisco, CA
Performances
2024
Insideoutmosphere Live w/Marcus Herse Yucca Valley Material Lab, Yucca Valley, CA
Insideoutmosphere Live w/Marcus Herse Healing Force of the Universe, Pasadena, CA
Insideoutmosphere Live w/Marcus Herse 2220 Arts + Archives, Los Angeles, CA
2023
Insideoutmosphere Live w/Marcus Herse Zebulon, Los Angeles, CA
2012
I Feel Like Two Wolves Are Fighting In My Heart (The Lookout Agent) by Stephanie Allespach, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA
2010
Arc Hive Live Blue Moon Tavern, Seattle WA
2007
Arc Hive Live Mars Bar, Seattle, WA
Arc Hive Live Rotture, Portland, OR
Arc Hive Live The Stork Club, Oakland, CA
Arc Hive Live Hemlock Tavern, San Francisco, CA
Arc Hive Live The Cog, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Arc Hive Live Atlantis Lounge, Portland, OR
2002
Rezanate, “Mist America” Quotidian Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Album Releases
2010
Arc Hive “Lake Bologne School of Hairdrying” Released on Aio Soundings
2003
Rezanate “At the Eat” Released on Mandragora Records
Insideoutmosphere “untitled” self-released
2001
Rezanate “Mist America” Released on Mandragora Records
Curatorial Projects
2025
SPLIT DIOPTER 2 **Coming May 2025** SCI-Arc Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2022
SPLIT DIOPTER (co-curated with Jan Tumlir and Marcus Herse) Featuring works by: Uta Barth, Matthew Brannon, John Divola, Lawrence English, Alex Israel, Hedi El Kholti. And a documentary plus additional video work produced by Reza Monahan and Jan Tumlir with the participation of: Stan Douglas, William E. Jones, Lynne Marsh, Patti Podesta, Jeffrey Stuker, Liam Young, and Julianne O’Brien with the Dance School of Chapman University (Alana Gregory, Sara Iisaka, Camryn Mandelbaum, Cole Neville, Morgyn Pottorf, Spencer Seebach) Guggenheim Gallery, Orange, CA (SCI-Arc)
Selected Produced & Directed Art/Architecture/Philosophy Documentaries and Interviews
2025 - 2015
Views of Planet City: A Precursor to Tomorrow
Sarah Davachi: Diegetic Dioramas at the Museum of Jurassic Technology
Sarah Davachi: Timbre, Texture, and Tone at the Cathedral
Victory Wellness Center: Adaptive Diagonals
Lorenzo Komboa Irvin: These Things that Result in Victories
Beyond the Frame: Regeneration of Black Cinema 1898 - 1971
Living Infrastructure: The New Los Angeles Sixth Street Viaduct
Discovery: Worldmaking, Ecology and AI
Aaron Curry: Metal Plastic Paint
Model Worlds: Phil Tippett – Monster Maker
Model Worlds: Fon Davis – Robots, Nightmares and Starry Spaceship Skies
Split Diopter: At the Seam of Art and Cinema
How We Are in Time and Space: At The Armory Center for The Arts
Return to Community Arts: How Local Arts Organizations Resist Hierarchy
LA's Historic-Cultural Monuments and the Women They Leave Out
People's Pottery Project: Community and Decarceration Through Clay
Sarah Rosalena: Intersectional and Intergalactic Art-Making
Achieving a Living Building: Santa Monica City Hall East
Exhibit Columbus 2021: New Middles
Despina Stratigakos: Interventions in the Archive
Hillary Mushkin: Survey to Surveillance
Fear and Wonder Series
Simphiwe Ndzube: Embracing the Coexistence of Seemingly Irreconcilable Realities
Coachella Valley: An Arid Symphony
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Patti Podesta: The Art of Production Design Part One
Patti Podesta: The Art of Production Design Part Two
Arabesque: Julia Morgan, Jules Bourgoin, and Rayyane Tabet at Storefront for Art and Architecture
Claude Parent: Visionary Architect
Do Ho Suh: 348 West 22nd Street
Soft Schindler: Softness as Resistance at the MAK Center
The Surreal Visions of Hernán Diáz Alonso/HDA-X
Jónsi at Tanya Bonakdar, Los Angeles
William Friedkin: An Analysis of Film and Beyond
Fiona Connor: Closed for Installation at SculptureCenter, New York, N.Y.
Our Automated Future: Science through Storytelling
Shirin Neshat: I Will Greet the Sun Again, at the Broad
Alice Könitz: Los Angeles Museum of Art
Oscar Tuazon: The Los Angeles Water School (LAWS)
Vincent Pocsik's Anatomical Sculptural Works
Guillermo Kuitca at Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles
Roberto Burle Marx: Brazilian Modern at the New York Botanical Garden, New York
The Prop Houses of Los Angeles: Dapper Cadaver & Nights of Neon
Hodgetts + Fung: Robert Frost Auditorium Renovation
Frieze Projects at Frieze Los Angeles 2019
Mextrópoli 2019: Festival De Arquitectura Y Ciudad
Can Art Capture What Happens When We Dream
Ai Weiwei: Zodiac at Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles
The Studio at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab
Bruce Sterling & Benjamin Bratton in Conversation
Fritz Haeg's Salmon Creek Farm
Walead Beshty: 'Equivalents' at Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Jasper Johns: 'Something Resembling Truth' at The Broad Museum, Los Angeles
Won Ju Lim: 'California Dreamin' at San Jose Museum of Art
Made in L.A. 2018: Curator Conversation at The Hammer Museum
Wolf Eyes: Godfathers of American Avant-Noise
Olafur Eliasson: 'Reality projector' at Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles
Vespertine: A Journey with Chef Jordan Kahn
Syd Mead & Craig Hodgetts in Conversation
Monika Sosnowska - Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles
Rapid Resilience: Housing for disaster relief in Puerto Rico
Marciano Art Foundation and PST LA/LA: An Inside Look
Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960-1985 - Curator Conversation
Are We Human? Interview with Mark Wigley
Stanley Kubrick: Behind the Scenes with Jan Harlan and Michael Stock
Rick Owens 'Furniture' Exhibition Walkthrough
Moholy-Nagy: Future Present at LACMA
Doug Aitken at MOCA: 'Electric Earth'
Interview with Gregory Crewdson
For a list of over 150 films go to – Reza Monahan IMDB
Press
2023
“Meet Reza Monahan” Canvas Rebel Magazine
“Rising Stars: Reza Monahan” VoyageLA
2015
“Grimm’s Aged Pill” Monte Vista Projects Exhibition Review by Kevin McMahon, SilverLakeBlvd.com
“Grimm’s Aged Pill” Monte Vista Projects Exhibition Review by George Yuen, artilikela.org
2001
Rezanate “Mist America” Album Review by George Parsons, Dream Magazine
Issue 4
Rezanate “Mist America” Album Review by Scott Heller, Aural Innovations
Issue 21
Rezanate “Mist America” Album Review by Mats Gustafsson, The Broken Face
Issue 14
Rezanate “Mist America” Album Review by Matt Shimmer, Indieville.com
Awards and Grants
2024
Hollywood Blvd. Film Festival, Best Screenplay, for the feature-length screenplay “EXTEARIORS” written by Reza Monahan
Dublin Movie Awards, Best Original Screenplay, for the feature-length screenplay “EXTEARIORS” written by Reza Monahan
2019
Queer Perspectives in Architecture Film Series, Co-Produced with Marcelyn Gow and Pamela Miller for SCI-Arc Channel, National Endowment for the Arts Media Grant
2012
“Out Spoken: Lectures from the SCI-Arc Media Archive” at the Mak Center, Curated by Roger Sherman, Paulette Singley, Anthony Fontenot and Marcelyn Gow, National Endowment for the Arts Exhibition Grant, Directed by Kimberli Meyer and Co-Managed with Kevin McMahon
SCI-Arc Media Archive, Co-Managed with Kevin McMahon for SCI-Arc, The Getty Foundation Grant 2
2011
SCI-Arc Media Archive, Co-Managed with Kevin McMahon for SCI-Arc, The Getty Foundation Grant 1
SCI-Arc Media Archive, Co-Managed with Kevin McMahon for SCI-Arc, National Endowment for the Arts Supplemental Media Grant
2002
San Francisco Art Institute Graduate with Distinction
1998-2002
San Francisco Art Institute Merit Scholarship Awardee
Guest Lecturer/Visiting Critic/Consulting/Faculty Positions
2019
Chapman University, Fine Arts Studio, Guest Lecturer
2015-2019
Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Visiting Critic
2014
The Mike Kelley Foundation, with Kevin McMahon on media preservation and access, for the creation of the Mike Kelley Media Archive, Consultant
2012
“1 Short lecture about 629 longer ones,” with Kevin McMahon and Aaron Bocanegra, Reel Thing XXIX, Association of Moving Image Archivists, Lecturer
2009-2011
Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Motion Graphics Workshops, Instructor
2007
Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Film Theory and Motion Graphics, Faculty