CENIZTANOS

Joshua Edward Bennett

July 11 - August 2, 2015

Good Children Gallery

4037 Saint Claude Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana 70117​

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Ceniztanos is a dimension. It is a conduit. It is a language, a symbol. It is ancient, it has yet to happen. It is a ceremonial ritual. It is sacred. We create images to represent other things or events to remind us of what we have experienced. We monumentalize. We use these images to take us somewhere out of the here and now. This is a realm where we are not bound by ego or corporeality. Some call it spiritual. Some call it psychedelic. It is the “other,” and we do not really know hat is is with the senses that we are most familiar with. Regardless of what to label it, it still enthralls and empowers us.

 

This series represents a recent and new exploration of fabrication within my practice. Aluminum, painted with vibrating color of tonal equilibrium, and layered with a harmonious relationship of revealing cuts, give a dimension to each piece which functions on a physical and metaphysical feel. The plywood, also layered, begins a dialogue about process, about being built. These “frames” give the piece a prominence and visual weight, as well as a warmth relative to the rigid graphic lines.

 

The imagery is universal, loosely culled, but not quite distinctive. It may remind or evoke wonder. It is intended to confuse in the best way possible. Everything is connected to everything else. We are all layers upon layers. Ceniztanos is an acknowledgment of the yearning we have to define the “other.”

 

Ga Gu Ray Gu Raga