What Benjamin Edwards illustrates is an imaginary portraiture of a city that consists of fictitious architecture that makes full use of today’s digital technology. Vast amount of architectural samples, minutely designed by computer graphics, are stocked and projected in 3D one by one and they appear on the tableau evolving into an expansive virtual city. The production process may seem like metamorphosis, floods of information and intangible order surrounding us changing one after the other into streets, signs and buildings to construct a whole new city. What is it that gives shape to our city? Couldn’t it be said that all the citizen’s social and spending actions, even the libido that bursts out of it, are mirrored clearly to its function and design? The level of power within a colossal monument in the tableau changes constantly, from a public institution to temple or office building, then to shopping mall.
It could be said that his method to paint based on computer graphics is quite contemporary, oscillating between the cutting edge technology and the traditional painting technique. The artist focuses repeatedly on themes such as “Capitalist Utopias” or “Origins of Republic” that surrounds us living in the postmodern society today.
According to the artist, "[Democracity] was the name of a popular exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair showing what a future American city might look like. " Many titles of his artworks come from this World’s Fair in NY and quotes from the architect Le Corbusier. "Machines for Living”, "Freedom through Order", "Immense Industrial Undertakings Do Not Require Great Men" reveals a different form of an utopian city than how our long sought democracy have pursued it since the modern age.
Benjamin Edwards was born in Iowa in 1970. He works and lives in Washington D.C.
He has shown along with 150 other artists in the show“Greater New York" at P.S.1 in conjunction with MOMA NY in 2000. He had solo shows in NY and in Paris, and group shows around the world including the US, Australia, Spain and Germany. His works are in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY ,The New York Public Library, NY., Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA and so on. This will be his first show in Japan, please take this opportunity to come see the works.
Tomio Koyama Gallery
Contact information for press materials : Tomoko Omori tel / 813-3642-4090
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