Ben Schonberger: Beautiful Pig

Friday, Nov 2 – Dec 1, 2018

Opening Reception: November 2 | 6 – 9 pm
Artist Talk: November 15 | 6 pm

Beautiful Pig is an examination of Sergeant Marty Gaynor’s personal archive through the perspective of the artist Ben Schonberger and his interactions with Gaynor as well as the artist’s reaction to the conflicts the archive reveals. The exhibition presents Gaynor’s archive along with Schonberger’s photographs and sculptural objects highlighting the investigative role-playing performances between the artist and subject.

Schonberger states, “While working in Detroit, I acquired a series of photographs from a retired former Detroit Police officer, Marty Gaynor, whom I began to interview weekly over a course of two years. Among his thousands of photographs were images that he had taken in the line of duty. By cataloging, arranging, and interpreting his work, I gave it the parameters of an archive. I arranged Marty’s images to create documents in the format of a grid. Each grid was presented to Marty as a canvas for him to transcribe a narration for his images. I infiltrated and paired the grids with images I had taken during my investigation and interaction with Marty. After organizing the images, I began to struggle with indexical notations the archive revealed when presented as unified work. I embarked on an image making process along-side Marty to see if I could understand the realities of identity, spirituality, and empathy.”

The artist will be discussing the project at Filter Space on Thursday, November 15th at 6 pm.

http://filterphoto.org/portfolio/ben-schonberger-beautiful-pig/

About the Artist:
Ben Schonberger is an artist and art teacher currently based in Pittsburgh, PA. Utilizing photography, appropriated imagery, digital montage, and performance, his work examines the complexities of identity through social investigations. Schonberger has exhibited nationally and internationally. His work is part of public and private collections in including The Detroit Institute of Arts Department of Prints, Drawings and Photographs and The Toledo Museum of Art. His self-published photobooks can be found in the MoMA Library, The Arts Library at Yale University, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.