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Benjie Heu
Artist's Statement |
With my work I am expressing a personal narrative. I believe that everything and everybody has a significant story to tell. "How did you get that scare?" "If only that chair could talk..." No matter how incidental these statements may seem, I believe they are central to a larger story. Narratives are like myths - they seek to explain things that do not always make sense. They help me put my mind in touch with the experience of being alive and teaches me about my own life. Narratives tell me what the experience is, what it was, and its lasting significance - like present time soon to be our past, yet always influencing our future.The relationship between myself and the accidents and planning of life is a rich source of inspiration for my work. Often it pertains to the stages of life - the initiation ceremonies as I move from childhood to adult responsibilities, from the unmarried state to the married state, from one geographical location to the next, searching for the next place to call home. As I derive content through events from the past and present, my art has become a diary of life as I perceive it. With each piece I attain a greater sense of permanence and identity. The relationship that exists between a location and its inhabitants fascinates me. The physical disposition of a region fosters specific and unique responses by its people. The earth shapes man's architecture as man's architecture shapes the earth. I feel it is in this living dialogue that the spiritual is touched. This reciprocity and its resulting spiritual dynamic is the underlying theme of my work. The physical attributes of the works featured contain three worlds. First, that upon the earth's surface and landscape - a physical record of natural processes and human manipulation through the use of architecture. I define architecture as anything man-made, that when used empowers him to control and dominate. This control takes many forms such as a complex structure or machine(house or car) to a simple hand held tool(shovel or pencil). Secondly, that within the earth and below it's surface - a transformational, yet protective nurturing place within our reach. And third, that above the earth, sometimes beyond our grasp, yet not our of sight - the air, flight, and the heavenly. The proportion of each world relative to the others varies from piece to piece. I would describe my work as sculpting with pictures. Though my work is sculptural, I believe everything can be traced to drawing. Juxtaposing objects and images is an integral part of my creative process. Clay is another important factor to my work. Not only does it allow me to freely manipulate and render the form, but it is a very personal material requiring time and care as it reflects every mark I make.
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