Ezra Benus
SUN / MOON, שמש / לבנה
2020, acrylic on canvas, seven canvases each 18x24 in
Hold (For) Me, 2020, Digital photo, print size and material varied.acrylic print 11 x 14 in., Riso print 8.5 x 11in. Edition of 100
All Hands On Deck/Rock On, 2019, Digital photo, print size and material varied.(acrylic print 12 x 12 in., Riso print 8.5 x 11in. Edition of 100
Me/You or Does It Become Us? 2019, Digital photo, print size and material varied. acrylic print 11 x 14 in., Riso print 8.5 x 11in. Edition of 100
Touch Me Tenderly, 2021, Rug (acrylic, wool, cotton on poly-cotton cloth), 2 x 4 feet
Stretch/Tourniquet, 2021, glass panel from donated desk, used tourniquet from infusions, plexiglass detritus from Jeannette, orange triangle hazard construction signs from street, acrylic paint. installation size varies (approximately 6 x 6 feet of wall space)
DESCRIPTION
SUN / MOON, שמש / לבנה
Seven canvases are hung immediately next to each other, forming one large horizon line of paintings. Each has one main background color, from left to right: pink, blue, orange, yellow, sage green, maroon, and grey. utilizing the palette of the background colors, to create colorful compositions with a variety of triangles painted on them as if they are floating and crashing all over. A rumination on arbitrary marking of time based on 7 day week marked by capacity for labor 5 days a week, without the disability lens understanding of who can and cannot be “fit” for work and that disability/sick/crip time doesn’t rely on the capitalist notion of time as it equates to labor and productivity.
WHEN THE SUN RISES
AND YOU FEEL STUCK
WHEN THE SUN SETS
AND YOU FEEL RELEASE
WHEN THE MOON SHINES
AND YOU FEEL THROBBING
WHEN THE MOON FADES
AND YOU TOO FADE
Hold (For) Me
Focus of the image is of two nurse’s hands in blue gloves are concentrated over the middle of my outstretched left arm ending in a fist. one of the nurse’s hands is holding my arm while the other is inserting the needle for my infusion. The blue tourniquet is wrapped in a bow like a ribbon on a wrapped present. Part of ongoing hospital photo series exploring relationships and cycles of pain, intimacy, time, care, illness, disability.
All Hands On Deck/Rock On
Two nurses’ hands in blue gloves are concentrated over the middle of my left arm, attempting to re-do the insertion of the needle for my infusion. The bottom left most hand is posed like the rock n roll symbol). Part of ongoing hospital photo series exploring relationships of pain, intimacy, time, care, illness, disability
Me/You or Does It Become Us?
The left side of the composition shows a green sleeved arm of a nurse wearing a metallic banded watch, and a blue latex glove, resting fingers on a metallic pan or tray that has four vials of my blood resting on the far right corner. The wall behind this is white and the grey and white patterned curtain is grazing the top right side of the frame.Part of ongoing hospital photo series exploring relationships and cycles of pain, intimacy, time, care, illness, disability.
Touch Me Tenderly
Tactile translation of painting series, leaning into softness and comfort and touch as knowledge makers.
Stretch/Tourniquet
Expanded painting utilizing found materials related to care, construction, constriction, made in and with and through pandemic time.
ARTIST BIO
Ezra Benus is an artist, educator, and curator whose work addresses a range of themes in his art such as constructions of time, care, pain, and illness/health. Their self is a site where social, political, and spiritual forces collide through reflections on bodily knowledge and social constructions around values of normativity. Ezra’s practice is cradled by embedded Jewishness, queerness, and sickness as purviews and navigational tools in this world. Their practice and projects have been hosted by The 8th Floor, Flux Factory, NYU Gallatin Galleries, Dedalus Foundation, Gibney Dance, The Laurie M. Tisch Gallery at the JCC Manhattan. Ezra has lectured and consulted at universities and art spaces such as Red Bull Arts in Detroit, Hunter College Art Galleries, Eyebeam, SUNY Purchase, CUE Art Foundation, York College, and Princeton University, and UT Austin. Benus was an Erich Fromm Fellow at Paideia Institute in Stockholm and the first Access and Adult Learning Fellow in the education department at the Brooklyn Museum. He is currently a 2020-2021 SHIFT Artist in Residence at EFA Project Space, and works at United States Artists as Program Manager of the Disability Futures Fellowship, along with dedication to educational and curatorial projects. Ezra and Noah Benus founded Brothers Sick, a sibling artistic collaboration on disability justice, illness, and relationships of care. The Shed recently commissioned their Up Close digital artwork Phases and the In-Betweens with collaborators Yo-Yo Lin and danilo machado. Ezra is sick, tired, and forever grateful to be building community with disabled and sick artists around the world.