Allan Bennetts II
Region: Midwest
I seek to examine the varied positions consumer technologies occupy in both our collective and individual perception. In particular, the way these familiar, often intimate, objects fundamentally change when they cease to function in the way in which they were intended. At this point, we no longer see through the objects into their use or potential, but just see them: their physical form, awkward and silent. Through a slow, laborious painting process from direct observation, I translate my engagement with these objects. While aware of implicit notions of consumerist culture, mediated experiences, and mass production, this engagement also draws forth reflection on cherished memories and previously unrecognized personal insights. By rebuilding these products as paintings, I can move the object further from its former utilitarian function, shifting it into a new category of commodity that asks to be consumed in a very different way: as a painted representation to contemplate. Ideally, this isolated portrait creates a still and quiet space to encounter the resonances and subtle transmissions of its contained human content and implications.