Born in Belgium and born of curiosity and convergence, this series of photographs captures and combines light, architecture, the accidental and the ephemeral. Benedict continues an exploration he began with his 2003 series of paintings,'Idea(s) of North', where canvases were transformed by light and lines. A chance discovery yielded a shift in language from ideas to une idee, from painting to photography, from abstraction to documentation.
While in Beauvechain, Benedict discovered a deserted barn one day and was captivated by the spots of light filtering through the roof. Created by the gaps in the tiles, these spot/lights first struck him (an architect/artist) as the building exercising its need to breathe. The gaps introduced a certain ambiguity about building and making as they allowed not just light but water to infiltrate the space. These permeations elicited, provoked and provided the necessary questions, subtext and subject matter. For Benedict, place is a tentative compression made evident via the descriptive qualities of boundaries applied, and therefore can only be known, defined and described by its edges and its environment.
Without the gaps in the roof, without the punctuated surface there would be no story, no language, no vocabulary. This fascinating virtual constellation of lights shifted and changed over the course of each day, with passing clouds and weather altering the intensity and clarity. The spots doubled as dramatic effects: totally fleeting and intangible though entirely capable of being documented. The riddle presented Benedict with the material that would be distilled to two dimensions. Some prints have been augmented, others untouched; with this process, matte lamination builds the requisite layers.
Benedict's continual curiosity extends to the notions of place, navigation and construction, the web of problems made and how all can (and often does) give way.
Tracey Hummer
New York, 2006