|
|
|
Sylvia Benitez
|
| Sylvia Benitez created a maquette in 2006 of thin wood pieces in multilayered angled planes seemingly experimenting with how she was about to tackle the irregular outdoor setting of the environmental piece Hatshepsut (2008). During her month-long residency at Abington Art Center in Pennsylvania, Benitez created two bamboo and copper wire sculptures deeply integrated into a natural wooded setting that are part of the expansive area behind the art center. Benitez has captured the potential of the site of a tall fallen tree caught between two massive branches as an impetus for her piece; a detour from her original maquette. The large diagonal tree trunk caught by a neighboring tree’s branches/forked trunk is breathtaking in its suspension. Decaying tree trunks and branches scattered on the ground in front of and behind the fallen and supporting tree trunks foreshadow the descent of the tree, underscoring nature’s cycle of birth, growth, vitality, decay, and death. The striking elements of the 45 degree angle of the lodged fallen tree with vertically dangling bamboo poles (over 200 bamboo poles in the works of art) allude to the dramatic trapezoidal hair design of the Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut (the well known Pharaonic images of male and female Pharaohs are always adorned with shoulder-length stick straight black hair). In Benitez’ sculpture, over life-size bamboo poles allude to the Queen’s straight hair; the bamboo poles sway to the slight movement of the wind through the forest, suggesting the movement of wet strands of hair swinging back and forth with the pace of individual footsteps. The gigantic tree installation is a wonderful example of environmental art by fully integrating with its surroundings -- closely aligned vertical bamboo poles, as if they are hanging vines, dangling from a fallen tree, rotting roots and branches on the surrounding ground and the curved arched tree trunk acting as a blocked exit/entrance to another section the forest. Across the asphalt path from Hatshepsut is a curved curtain of bamboo poles suspended from an arched tree trunk about 14’ wide, a gateway with no entrance. Again, tied to the supporting branch with thin copper wire, Benitez has carefully chosen her site with upturned roots of fallen trees and the thin semicircular branch as a frame for this blocked doorway to what could be an allusion to the archaeological site of Deir el-Bahri, Egypt, 1450 B.C. This Egyptian Mortuary Temple is now situated in barren surroundings with none of the fruit bearing and frankincense trees on stepped terraces of its original landscape. The colonnade of the ancient Temple façade have often been described as mimicking the striated cliffs behind the Temple; an ageless device to integrate architecture with natural surroundings. Pharaoh/Queen Hatshepsut (1478 -1459 B.C.) became Queen when there were no legitimate male heirs to the ruling dynasty; subsequently, her successors attempted to erase her memory by destroying the numerous buildings she had constructed under her reign. Benitez’ Hatshepsut will be erased only through climatic time. The light and dark of the partially eclipsed sun in the forest behind Abington Art Center recalls the alternating sunlight and shade of the ancient Temple with its colonnaded architecture. Benitez’ Hatshepsut, 2008 is enlivened by the sun-induced chiaroscuro as is the adjacent dangling bamboo of the blocked entranceway. The fallen and standing trees, bent and straight tree limbs and trunks, swaying bamboo poles, tangled roots and peeling bark provide a visitor multiple perspectives to experience the duality of an ancient reference in contemporary practice of environmental art. Back to InLiquid's
Commentary
section index © 2009 Laura Fattal, Ph.D. and InLiquid; image copyright © Laura Fattal, Ph.D. |
