Jean Benfante
“Above” and “Below”: Landscapes
There’s an above and below to my work.
“Above” can mean above ground, being awake, conscious, solving daily problems, or observing three dimensional objects. Inspiration begins in walks along streams, creeks, and wooded areas,bearing witness to places vulnerable to destruction by humans. These places exist in spite of us, quietly providing life andsustenance to countless organisms all vital to the life chain and they deserve to be honored. Working through details suchas how a fallen branch causes a shadow along the ground, moss that seems to glow when wet, or the volume of a streamripple when it pushes against a rock is a way of understanding how the earth is connected by all its elements. Earlysculptural work in wood, marble, aluminum, and bronze laid the foundation for this interest in how things fit together.
“Below” reflects a murky, subconscious, dream-like state. These are moments when I remember strange snippets of adream or the feeling I’ve been somewhere, yet not in this lifetime. Images emerge through randomly chosen oil crayons,traveling across paper as if I’m just following behind, not knowing where it’s headed. After initially filling the white spacewith lines, shape and color, I peer through the blurry image, again, trying to make sense of the three dimensional worldinside. How the angles and planes fit together to form something I can name or imagine moving through provides practicein problem solving and shifting spacial properties that often carry over to the “above” works. The final image alwaysmanages to reveal a personal truth living just below the surface, a truth which has been there- all along.
These two forces have long been my framework. Sometimes they are separate, sometimes not so much. Will they converge someday? Stay tuned.
Keystone Junior College, AFA, Tyler School of Art, BFA, East Stroudsburg University, M.Ed.
