Jesus Benavente “go Gentle”
The West 10th Street Window
This event has ended.
Time Equities Inc. Art-in-Buildings presents the newest exhibition at the West 10th Window: Jesus Benavente, go Gentle.
go Gentle continues Benavente’s recent exploration of the possibilities of non-narrative storytelling through the combination of neon and video. Benavente considers neon a time-based media, as it is a controlled phenomenological medium, both static and fleeting. Benavente developed go Gentle with the work’s exhibition site in mind, recalling the glowing signs in bar windows. Rather than appeal to passerby’s thirst, Benavente’s work ambiguously reads, “go Gentle.” This is a contraction of Dylan Thomas’ poem, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. The literary-minded will know the White Horse Tavern, a famous haunt of Dylan Thomas, is located just a few blocks from the West 10th Window. The poem and the neon text complement the accompanying video without providing descriptive context. The video slowly, patiently documents the sun setting behind the gravestone of Donald J. Schlaegel, someone whom Benavente describes as “very important to me, he lived the way he wanted to the very end.” The cryptic relationship between the poetic language and video is not easily deciphered. Thomas’ poem spoke to those like Schlaegel who fought and strove for what they wanted from life but, in this enigmatic work, a release from struggle, rather than a call to, feels more apt. Although intensely personal, this memento mori is a sphinxlike comment on life and its often frenetic pace.
Jesus Benavente earned an MFA from the Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers University and attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Recent exhibitions and performances include, Performa 13, NY; Chashama, NY; Shin Museum of Art, South Korea; Vox Populi, Philadelphia; Kingston Sculpture Biennial, Kingston, NY, Socrates Sculpture Park, NY and Austin Museum of Art, TX, among others. Born in San Antonio, TX, Jesus Benavente lives and works in Long Island City, NY.
Media
Schedule
from November 15, 2013 to January 14, 2014