BENEDIT-page

Luis Fernando Benedit (Buenos Aires, 1937-2011)

“I want to produce visual artifacts that may be described as “for non-specific use”. I do not make any distinctions between architecture, painting and design, a term that has become increasingly important. I consider a painting by Lucio Fontana and a Ferrari car of equal value, but I choose the latter”.

Architect, designer, and visual artist, Benedit began his career in the arts in the early sixties. He explored Informalism and Neo-figuratism, and later approached the aesthetics of Pop with bright solid colors and a hint of humor. In the seventies, he explored the connection between art, science and nature. He built cases or circuits to house small animals, like bees or fish, as well as plants, in order to explore the way in which environments affect individuals and their life in a community. The implications of this conceptual work are not only ecological, but also sociological and philosophical.

Another recurring subject in Benedit´s work is the historical and cultural identity of Argentina. Through various means, from drawing, watercolor and acrylic painting, to environments and objects, he studied the countryside, its people the “gauchos”, their homes, their clothes, and the tools and animals they use in their everyday work. Parallel to his artistic and architectural career, he designed a vast variety of interiors and everyday items, such as lamps, tables, chairs and other furniture. Conceived as unique pieces, they frequently feature materials and elements that evoke this local imagery, from a modern and often satirical point of view.