Anodize

by Benjamin Kaplan

June 1 – July 29, 2018
The Dark Room

Before embracing music, film, and a host of other media, I started my career as a metalsmith. Early on, I was drawn to the process of anodizing, the dying of metal’s surface. I used a variety of techniques to discover palettes hidden on the metal’s surface. What was initially gray, yielded blooms of surprising color—the metal’s invisible truth.

These prints— which are organized under the title Anodize—are the manipulation of digital shapes and textures to produce similar results to my early experiments with metal. As a transplant to St. Louis, someone who has spent the last 18 years discovering this city’s invisible truths, I regard these prints as a metaphor for tempering future landscapes…looking for those surprising blooms of color.

About the artist

Benjamin Kaplan is a St. Louis-based multi-disciplinary artist working in film, sound, light, installation, the occasional performance, and flat stuff on paper. Kaplan newest project is ‘Hasty Drinks the Tiger’s Heart’, a collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Rick Deja. Their debut release, “La suprématie de l’amour,” is an homage to and remix of Love Supreme, John Coltrane’s sacred rumination on love and gratitude.

Kaplan is also known for his collaborations with the Shakespeare Festival St. Louis; ‘That Fatal Gift of Beauty,’ a re-imagination and reconstruction of all of Beethoven’s nine symphonies; and ‘Living Like Kings’ a dual-channel video installation which premiered at the World Chess Hall of Fame and has screened at international film festivals, including the St. Louis Film Festival.

Anodize is his first exhibit of works on paper in 20 years.