New Exhibit Available in Brooks Gallery
The Fairmont State University Department of Art is excited to announce the solo exhibition “This System is Working” by Christian Benefiel in the J.D. Brooks Gallery at Fairmont State University. The show opens to the public on February 15th and will stay on display until March 8th.
Christian Benefiel’s work has been shown nationally as well as in England, Finland, and Latvia. Christian was an artist in residence in Maryland, North Carolina, and Finland and has received multiple academic grants and awards. Benefiel received his BFA from East Carolina University and his MFA from the University of Maryland and he currently is employed at Shepherd University where he is the assistant sculpture professor and area coordinator.
"This is from a body of work formed from interconnected construction of elements that rely on each other for strength, structure and support. “said artist Christian Benefiel. “The Shape and system, reflect the nature of domestic relationships, cultural norms, as well as the vast hidden system of global and universal forces influencing me and us – weather, commerce, the dynamics of gravity and time in the broader universe, etc. I am particularly interested with this work in the complex fragility in social structure which is often assumed to be solid by design or implementation. This work serves as a self-describing metaphor, where I am both the system and an interconnected element contained within encapsulating and increasingly larger units and networks that make up my reality. In this reality, there is an undeniable influence of fortune, luck and/or ignorance that is held against probability, permanence and consequence. The temporary nature of an individual's time with the work, set against a part of larger whole, correlates to the persistence and imperfection of memory and recalled interpretation. The pieces are in a state of collapse; they have a defined lifespan, and each subsequent installation is an interpretation or variation of the previous structure,” he said.
The JD Brooks Gallery is open M-F 10am-3pm and there will be an opening reception and gallery talk on Thursday, February 15th. The exhibition will run from February 15th until March 8th. Please join us for this event which is free and open to the public.
School of Fine ArtsJ.D. Brooks GalleryChristian Benefiel
