Brian Benfer

Brian Benfer Objects

Contemporary Artist Brian Benfer makes work that contemplates interaction through marks. Physicality and materiality- the contact between them bends method into result. Benfer has executed works with traditional materials like clay, paint, and ink, but in untraditional or surprising ways. He may use impression to create a painting, couple the act of assemblage and “framing” to elevate everyday objects, or engage raw materials to create a fugitive installation that activates space. All of his actions dismantle something in our anticipation of the normal qualities of his chosen material or subject. The final work thus forces us towards appreciation of the interaction between the material/object and time. Brian Benfer’s interests root in the physical memory and psychological residue things can possess and reveal when contemplated.

We include Benfer’s Untitled (TP-1) and Untitled (TB-1) as they are everyday items at times, coveted in this pandemic. We normally think little about toilet paper or toothbrushes yet engage with both daily. Benfer’s end of the roll toilet paper fragments act here like pseudo-scrolls that once speaking mostly to “flaws” of mass manufacturing, now feel like white-flag metaphors for a last shred of desperation. The toothbrushes have a more personal and intimate associations because of our ongoing connection with each one we possess. When lined-up, their shape and mechanical nature almost transform them into “little oral soldiers or monuments.” Teeth-brushing is one of our most intimate daily routines (what other object is recommended for oral-use twice daily), yet one of the least considered. Here dismantled from their base, the brush-heads are functionless and call for introspection- what are we usually thinking about in the moments we employ this object.

Brian Benfer

Brian Benfer was recommended for inclusion in You and Yours by Paul Turounet.