Paraphrase
Benjamin Anderson
16 July – 22 Augustst 2026
Press release
Installation Views
More about the artist
Benjamin Anderson
16 July – 22 Augustst 2026
Press release
Installation Views
More about the artist
↓
Paraphrase
Benjamin Anderson
Benjamin Anderson
16 July – 22 August 2026
These drawings are part of a body of work made over the course of 2024 and 2025. Their purpose was designed to test a hypothesis regarding the effect of observing an abstract composition based on an image of narrative structure, with all the narrative elements removed in the abstract work via obfuscation. Since the structure specifically correlates with a particular impactful narrative scene, will the structure remain impactful even if unintelligible? And if so, at what point does that function fail and fall apart?
Without having seen the reference images, what actually is it that is sensed? And could we assuredly say that the impression caused in the viewer relates to the obscured scene? Of course not. But, the works and their compositions only come to pass as a derivative function. So perhaps a better way to look at it is in a more genetic, generational sense. You are made up of the DNA that was passed on to you by your parents and you likely resemble them to some degree. If someone were to meet you before meeting your parents, they would be likely to notice similarities between you and them. But beyond that, something is oftentimes passed down and shared that is not phenotypic. A spirit, a demeanor, or some sort of sense is shared. It is attached to the form but not physical in the way we observe other shared aspects. How many generations can continue to hold this demeanor? What are its vital parts? What is superfluous? When does it become something else?
Calling this process a hypothesis maybe isn’t completely accurate. I don’t feel as though I can claim to have proved anything. Even if I felt that I had or could, I have no way to measure it. Art’s function in this sense lacks the abstract unit of measurement but insists on being palpable.
- Benjamin Anderson
The still life drawings in this series are based on the compositions of each of the landscape oriented etchings from Max Klinger’s famous suite, Paraphrase on the Finding of a Glove (1877-1878), pictured below:
Triumph (Triumph) plate 5
13,5 x 25,7 cm
Huldigung (Homage) plate 6
15,3 x 32 cm
Ängste (Anxieties) plate 7
13,5 x 25,7 cm
Ruhe (Repose) plate 8
13,5 x 25,6 cm
Entführung (Abduction) plate 9
11,4 x 26,1 cm
Amor (Cupid) plate 10
13,5 x 26 cm
graphite on paper
19×38cm (framed)
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graphite on paper
19 × 38cm (framed)
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graphite on paper
19 × 38cm (framed)
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graphite on paper
19 × 73cm (framed)
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graphite on paper
19 × 38cm (framed)
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graphite on paper
19 × 38cm (framed)
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