Benji Liebmann
The Triptych
23 de Mayo 2019 - 15 de Julio 2019
Benji Liebmann (1953) vive y trabaja en la Cuna de la Humanidad. En este territorio situado al noroeste de Johannesburgo y designado Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la Unesco, Liebmann es fundador y director de NIROX, institución artística multidisciplinar sin ánimo de lucro que cuenta con residencia de artistas y un gran parque escultórico. En Nirox se celebran también conciertos, se presentan obras de teatro y múltiples actividades performáticas paralelas.
Todo África sabe que Benji Liebmann es un gran mecenas de las artes, pero desconocen que es también un gran artista, un creador secreto.
Estamos muy orgullosos de haber vencido por fin sus reticencias y conseguir que exponga su obra al público. Por ello, es un honor que su esperada salida al exterior ocurra en nuestra Art Window.
La obra de Benji Liebmann es necesaria.
De gran virtuosismo técnico, es una figuración onírica y detallada que transmite un misticismo sensual de poderosa unión con la naturaleza. Sus dibujos constituyen una presencia casi tangible que va más allá de la expresión física. En palabras del artista:
Writing a text about an artwork is likely more misleading than helpful, since I know little in the rational sense required to write coherently, of what the outcome means or how I came there. I can look back on it as a stranger might. And I can recall moments and features in its making.
It came together over 6 months starting its life as a contemplation of a large piece of paper cut roughly to the size of Marta’s window. It has grown and shrunk with marks and their erasure day by day. It has sometimes disappointed me and more often exulted me. This depends a lot on the prevailing mood…and the light. It is in some ways a reflection on light; and how this alters our perception of things.
After thinking at a stage that I had completed it, I had it photographed for the book, only to find myself return. The branches bottom left came out of that…and then again it became emptier… It is rather botanical, I would say. But that too comes and goes. It comes together and it falls apart all at the same time.
Finally it has become a triptych, I hope it serves to transport someone (just one is enough) somewhere that is not bound by reason and concrete experience, but uses these as the tools to open other possibilities for understanding; accepting materiality as a gateway to being.
Benji Liebmann