Born in 1959, in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, Adolf Benca emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 10 years old. From 1977 to 1981, he studied at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, where he received his BFA. For the next four years, he studied at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he graduated in 1987 with an MFA. From 1987 to 1988, he studied human anatomy at the University of Bologna in Italy where he received the title “Doctor honoris causa.” He received fellowships from New York Foundation for the Arts, Fulbright, Sarah Cooper Hewitt Fund Prize, Yaddo, French Ministry of Culture, and Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.