ART | ALEXIS ARNOLD

Alexis Arnold's practise is material and process drive. She utilises sculpture, installations and mixed media 2-D art to create a dialogue around time, transformation and perception. Her crystallised book series is so so beautiful. Fragile yet strong at the same time. Frozen in time, words locked in a crystal tomb.

McSweeny's 39

13 x 8 x 8 inches, 2015

Hugh Johnson’s Story of Wine

10.5 x 9 x 10.75 inches, 2016

“The crystals remove the text and solidify the books into aesthetic, non-functional objects. These pieces are transformed into artifacts or geologic specimens imbued with the history of time, use, and memory. The crystals and book shapes spark a sense of wonder akin to a great piece of literature.”  

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BENAH BOOK CLUB | NEON LOVERS GLOW IN THE DARK

Welcome to Benah Bookclub. Where we explore books we love, own or admire and celebrate independent and interesting publishers, books stores and sites. Owning beautiful books is one of the great joys in life. 
Print is not dead, just more luxurious!

Publisher/Copyright : Museum of Neon Art Los Angeles
Artist : Lili Lakich

Printed and Bound by Dai Nippon Co. Tokyo Japan

Pages: 96 pages

Cover: Hardcover cloth bound with foil emboss

Publication Date: 1986

Language: English

 

Lili Lakich (born June 4, 1944) is a pioneer of neon sculpture. She began making art in the 60's and choose neon because at the time no one had considered it a medium worthy of fine art. It was a medium for advertising - sleazy bars, shoe repair shops and cheap motels. It was the connection between the stigma of neon and the equal contempt with which emotions are regarded in our culture that informed Lili's early work. Her first light sculpture was a self-portrait with tiny light bulbs controlled by a motor, blinking down her face like tears. 

"For the first time in my life, I felt that I had really and absolutely expressed myself. For me, art is cathartic—-a means of packaging emotion and exorcising it. Once I had made a portrait of myself crying, I could stop crying. The sculpture cried for me. If you can express mangled feelings in a work of art, you can overpower them. They then exist as a set of lines, colours and forms. They're no longer an amorphous nausea eating away at your gut. They're incorporated into an object. You can see it. You can hang it on a wall. And if you can make it beautiful, you can somehow feel that it has sanctity...that it is an icon capable of arousing an emotional response in other people as well." 

"We are given support for denying our emotions, for not being 'hung up', for not wallowing in depression or pain, for not expressing and opinion for fear of hurting someone. I believe in emotion. I believe in wallowing in it"

It was these emotions that lead her to create our favourite work in the book - Vacancy/No Vacancy (1973). A contemporary Madonna who puts forward her availability or lack of it in no certain terms. A flick of a switch will change her from an open and willing seeker of intimacy to a woman who needs nothing from anyone.

Neon Lovers Glow In The Dark was published in conjunction with her exhibition of the same name in 1986. But its so much more than a catalogue of the art, its a personal journey through her creative process and inspirations which lead to the development and creation of each sculpture. Featuring illustrations, photos and colour plates, It is a highly personal document by one of the pioneers of neon art.

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ART | ISABEL YELLIN

One's interest in art is deeply personal. You may be drawn to something that another is repelled by or vice versa. Love it or hate it, you don't really need a reason. Art just needs to make you feel something. The most important thing is to let yourself be lead by emotional. Maybe the meaning will come later, maybe it wont?

In this world we need to keep surrounding ourselves with art. In our Art series we will introduce you to some artists we have discovered and love.

Artist : Isabell Yellin

Born : New York City 1987

Currently Resides : London UK

Born and raised in New York, Yellin moved to London in 2013 to pursue an MFA in painting at the Royal College of Art.  Having just completed her second solo show at Vigo Gallery, her new works occupy a space between painting and sculpture. They are begging to be touched, fondled almost. Is it soft? Is it hard? You don't really know until you are up close. And you really need to get up close to see it for all its simple complexity. Much like us humans I suppose?

“They’re skin and bone, but they’re synthetic, the fake version of it. They’re body-like, but they’re also completely foreign. They’re square and rectangle like a painting should be, but they’re also sculptural. They contradict themselves. They’re uncomfortable.” - Isabell Yellin

 

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IN CONVERSATION | Kyle Montgomery

Today we have a chat to Sydney artist and Benah studio neighbour, Kyle Montgomery. 

Kyle's work is a eclectic mix of religious paraphernalia and scientific objects filled with quartz and resin. His refreshing tough-in-cheek approach to art makes for the perfect addition to any contemporary space - we already have several in our studio!

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BENAH LOVES | Ken and Julia Yonetani

Collaborative sculptural artists, Ken (Japan) and Julia (Australia) Yonetani’s work often discuss the current state of our environment, and in light of Art Month (which the pair are indeed a part of) we sought to learn more about their practice. They have shown all over the world, most notably at the Venice Biennale and also at our own Art Gallery of New South Wales, and now we share one of their beautifully poignant installations with you.

Still Life: The Food Bowl, 2011, is a collection of objects molded out of groundwater salt from the Murray-Darling Basin, known as ‘Australia’s food bowl’. The work touches on the artistic tradition of Still Life that emerged out of the rising European bourgeois class from centuries ago. In an attempt to bring to their audience’s attention the environmental issue of salinity, the artists reenact the contemporary human condition of consumption and mortality as direct influences on the current state of our environment. Through the juxtaposition of salt as both preservative of food and destroyer of ecosystems, the pair presents a complex metaphor of the rise and fall of civilizations and the problem of climate change that faces us on a global scale today.

To see more of their work, visit their website. 

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ART | Crowd

David Taylor describes himself as a 'Craftsman Extraordinaire'. A title that is both fitting and a slight understatement in our eyes. The stockholm-based Scotsman is a contemporary artisan who incorporates elements of design, art and metal craft in his work. By cleverly combining post-industrial waste with precious metal, DIY components and other metals; Taylor is able to create unique and extraordinary objects. 

His most recent body of work titled 'Crowd' is a series of candlesticks build to embody human characteristics with each bearing it's own name. The assemlbly of approximately 30 pieces works as an organic community that changes over time when some are bought and others are made to replace them. Much like when old friends leave on an overseas adventure and new ones spring up to fill the space they have left behind. And while each piece stands alone, collectively they share a sense of cohesion when in the company of their 'friends'.

The idea of useable objects as art is one that appeals. We love Taylor's unique ability of melding contrasting materials, such as concrete, brass, bakelite and leather together to build something so utterly tactile and beautiful.  

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