Frank Benson CATALOG 1
Three Star Books, 2019
Edition of 12
Each box is signed and numbered by the artist
The edition, housed in a slipcase, is composed of five folders:
Four folders — each containing eight archival digital prints, stamped and hand-numbered on the back
Prints are mounted on cardboard
One folder containing a pair of anaglyph glasses
Print dimensions:
9 1/2 x 12 in (24 x 30 cm)
Slipcase format:
12 x 10 x 4 in (31 x 25 x 10 cm)
Reproducing a work of art in book form is an inevitable failure. Even with the most up-to-date printing techniques, a reproduction inevitably returns a poor version of the original regardless of how the image is created, lit, photographed, sometimes scanned, often photoshopped, and finally printed.
For his first project with Three Star Books, Frank Benson has approached this problem by creating a portfolio of images that document his celebrated series of Human Statue sculptures in the form of 3D renderings, exported directly from the software he used to create the work. Over the course of the series, which began in 2005, Benson has made increasing use of 3D modeling and rapid prototyping technology. Inevitably, adjustments and compromises are required as each sculpture makes the journey from 3D virtual model to physical object. Rather than documenting the final object, the images in CATALOG 1 capture the sculptures in their ideal states, before they entered the real world.
CATALOG 1 includes a selection of eight views — seven photographic renderings and one anaglyph rendering per sculpture. The anaglyph image can be viewed using the once revolutionary cyan and magenta 3D glasses invented by W. Rollman in 1835.
CATALOG 1 by Frank Benson is a combination of a sculpture and a book. If the sculptures seem to float in front of us, there is no illusion: the works face us as we face them. Our confrontation with the artist’s subjects in CATALOG 1 is as crucial and imperative as it is in the world; Benson has once again destabilized the viewer. CATALOG 1 provides us with the certainty that it is impossible to be sure of what we see and experience.
See all images from CATALOG 1 below.