Human Statue (Jessie)
Overduin & Kite | Los Angeles
September 11 – October 8, 2011
Overduin and Kite is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in Los Angeles by New York-based artist Frank Benson.
The exhibition features a single life-sized bronze figure. The sculpture, titled Human Statue (Jessie), depicts a young woman standing on a pedestal wearing a softly draping dress and sunglasses with a large vessel at her feet. This work is the female counterpart to Benson’s sculpture of a nude male, Human Statue, from 2009. Both works bring a contemporary figure into the framework of classical Greek and Roman sculpture. This interplay of modernity and classicism is reflected in the making of Human Statue (Jessie). The bronze was fabricated from a 3D digital model which was constructed using photographic scans of the subject. The technology used to construct the sculpture is integral to the conception of the work. The cold, mechanical data capture and the precise, physical fabrication employed to create the piece informed the model's rigid, robotic pose. The resulting work combines Benson’s interest in mechanical reproduction and sculptural objecthood.
Citing influences such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Patrick Nagel, Tilman Riemenschneider, and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, Benson’s Human Statue (Jessie) is neither an allegorical figure, nor a true portrait of the model. Rather, the figure becomes an armature for the sculpture, eschewing an idealized depiction of the body in favor of a more photographic realism.