Traditionally, Riverviews has welcomed the dog days of summer with light-hearted and unusual offering. This July is no exception as we welcome the wonderful, whimsical work of LA-based sculptor, Benjamin Entner. The exhibition will open with a First Friday reception on July 6th and will run through August 26th.
Benjamin Entner
Inflatable Still Lifes and Portraiture
Drawing on his curiosities and inspirations, Benjamin Entner creates larger than life inflatable “still lifes and portraits”. The works bridge the gap between 2D and 3D and have a sarcastic edge. With each piece, he strives to create something that is aesthetically pleasing, conceptual, and comical.
As a sculptor, with an inferiority complex with respect to the history and gravitas of painting, I am trying to elevate my craft by leeching from the qualities of drawing and painting. As I work on a project, I try to anticipate and plan for the viewers’ experience. I want to make viewers aware of themselves as they relate to my art. I accomplish this by creating a presence of an object or installation that interrupts or intervenes in the passive viewing of a piece and invites an active experience with it. Within the gravitas of a typical art space, I also try to inspire a childlike nostalgia and wonder by engaging the viewer with an object or environment that is playful.
Formally trained as a sculptor, Entner received his MFA from Syracuse and his exhibited nationally and internationally, with recent solo shows in LA, Houston, Kansas City, and Berlin.
While I certainly appreciate your efforts to enlighten the regional art enthusiast with varied artistic representations from throughout the U.S., I would suggest that you review more closely those local artists within your area and promote them with the same enthusiasm. In this light, I strongly feel that your responsibility – as a major regional gallery – is to locate and encourage new local talent, not just artists from “afar”. The Craddock-Terry Gallery has the opportunity to identify and promote the careers of local contemporary and abstract artists and should endeavor to represent them equally: Please do not neglect this important talent pool!