Kristopher Benedict: Happy Ghost
Curated by Will DiBello
December 5 - December 28, 2014
Opening Reception: Friday, December 5

[Images]

Philadelphia
Please join us for our December exhibition as we present Kristopher Benedict’s Happy Ghost, curated by Will DiBello.

Ghosts are happy because they are free. They shook off their material state and the shackles of the world. Unfortunately sometimes they get pissed because – like everything else – they can’t really transcend. Sometimes ghosts get stuck in a particular place for infinity but I believe it’s possible to nevertheless maintain a decent attitude about it. Ghosts are happy because it’s great when ghosts are happy. It makes the whole thing much easier if you see a ghost and they have a big old smile on their face. It’s heartwarming, even if it’s a little suspicious. Ghosts that are happy have no idea why they are so happy because time works differently for them. They live in the present, or maybe a moment from our past that is an eternal present for them. All they know is that things are going well so far and they have an easy time smiling. Ghosts are barely there. They are spirits and shadows and traces. You could claim that a whole host of different things were actually ghosts and you would be hard to prove wrong. If you were curious about what your boss keeps in his locked desk drawer when you were alive, when you are a ghost you can finally find out. We are happy ghosts because it’s remarkably easy to imagine ourselves this way. We can be smiling little cartoon marshmallows or an emoji with our tongues hanging out. We can handle contradictions. We are happy ghosts because we are free.

Kristopher Benedict’s Happy Ghost presents a group of paintings built from traces of disparate images and obscured representations. Sourced from domestic and everyday scenes found in children’s books, found and artist-generated photography, and his own drawings from imagination, the paintings aim to convey an unstable sense of space and establish uncommon relationships both between different paintings in the group and within individual works. Benedict’s paintings are united through a versatile use of color and an accumulation of layers of visual information transposed through the act of painting.

Kristopher Benedict lives in New York and teaches painting at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His works have been exhibited in solo shows at Sue Scott Gallery in New York, Gallery Diet in Miami, Volta NY, and the Goodyear Gallery at Dickinson College among other venues. Group exhibitions include those at the David Petersen Gallery in Minneapolis, CTRL gallery in Houston, the University of Florida, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, and the Orlando Museum of Art. His work is in the public collections of the RISD Museum, Flint Institute of Arts, and The Orlando Museum of Art. He holds a BFA from The Cooper Union, and an MFA from Columbia University.