Detail of “Le gaz d'éclairage” (2017)
Photo credit: Jessica Breedlove Chatham
Benjamin Wright
#NaughtyByNature
September 1 - October 15 , 2022
ONLINE ARTIST TALK:
Bottom of this page or HERE
ARTIST RECEPTION
First Thursday Art Walk
September 1st & October 6th
5:00-8:00pm *
Refract Seattle 2022 Artist’s Reception
Friday October 14th, 6-8pm
HOURS:
FRIDAY
Noon-4pm
BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
SCHEDULE YOUR FRIDAY VISIT
SATURDAY
Noon-4pm
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY
#NaughtyByNature
September 1 - October 15 , 2022
ONLINE ARTIST TALK:
Bottom of this page or HERE
ARTIST RECEPTION
First Thursday Art Walk
September 1st & October 6th
5:00-8:00pm *
Refract Seattle 2022 Artist’s Reception
Friday October 14th, 6-8pm
HOURS:
FRIDAY
Noon-4pm
BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
SCHEDULE YOUR FRIDAY VISIT
SATURDAY
Noon-4pm
NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY
ARTIST STATEMENT
"That is why we study things that might seem ridiculous...but which are sufficiently simple that we are able to make some progress on a problem that essentially has the same characteristics as a truly important problem like the economy, global warming..."
-Steven Strogatz, Cornell Professor of Math
In #NaughtyByNature, Benjamin Wright creates an immersive, multimedia, sensory installation.
Greeted by the salacious avian catcalls, soothing trills and cartoon cackles of unambiguous courtship emanating from clicking clocks lining the walls, curious visitors will weave through shelves of interwoven creations, collected cultural debris and constructed optical curiosities to the laboratory lair of Dr. Snuffy, self-appointed scientist, amateur inventor and inveterate thinker.
Upon entry, participants find themselves in a gallery transformed into a hyper sensory echo chamber aimed to confuse and tickle brains into unexpected connections and new discoveries as they tour Dr. Snuffy’s many experiments, models, and future work in progress. A 4-dimensional collage of overlapping soundtracks, video and pictographic clues that peek out from a landscape of two and three-dimensional case studies, work benches, models, drawings, diagrams and memorabilia of the utopic proposals and the sardonic field observations of our strangely absent hero.
This show is at once a celebration of the cross-species commonality of carnality and a confused chuckle at the self-destructive animal that we have become. It uses the tools of today to concentrate the eyeballs of tomorrow on the issues of forever. Meant to amuse and confuse, the very carefully constructed chaos quickly becomes a conceptual scavenger hunt for the curious and a light-hearted romp for the oblivious.
Either way the seeds are sown…
Like mischievous toddler tinkerers who despite repeated hand slaps continue to pee in the pool of our collective ecosystems we are all “naughty by nature”.
"Nurse Log", (2022) mixed media, Image courtesy of artist
ARTIST BIO
Benjamin Wright has an unusually diverse creative practice which draws in equal parts from his academic studies in evolutionary biology, traditional crafts, and conceptual art as well as from a life and career rich in collaborative synergy.
While an undergrad at Dartmouth College, Wright tracked songbirds from the forests of upstate New Hampshire to tropical Jamaica for the renowned ornithologist Richard Homes. His art making often mirrors that chaotic yet scientific process and endeavors to better understand human nature through our clumsy, if well intentioned, interactions with our ever-evolving environment. He expresses himself through a wide range of fabricated objects, media and experiences that increasingly are coalescing into hyper sensory installations.
He has taught and exhibited the fruits of this approach at numerous universities and venues in the US and abroad in Germany, Turkey, Denmark, Japan, Belgium, Poland and Australia. He is currently the Artistic Director of Pilchuck Glass School.
For more information: www.bensnuffywright.com
Instagram @snuffywrong
Benjamin Wright has an unusually diverse creative practice which draws in equal parts from his academic studies in evolutionary biology, traditional crafts, and conceptual art as well as from a life and career rich in collaborative synergy.
While an undergrad at Dartmouth College, Wright tracked songbirds from the forests of upstate New Hampshire to tropical Jamaica for the renowned ornithologist Richard Homes. His art making often mirrors that chaotic yet scientific process and endeavors to better understand human nature through our clumsy, if well intentioned, interactions with our ever-evolving environment. He expresses himself through a wide range of fabricated objects, media and experiences that increasingly are coalescing into hyper sensory installations.
He has taught and exhibited the fruits of this approach at numerous universities and venues in the US and abroad in Germany, Turkey, Denmark, Japan, Belgium, Poland and Australia. He is currently the Artistic Director of Pilchuck Glass School.
For more information: www.bensnuffywright.com
Instagram @snuffywrong
