Ben Beres

Available Works

Twenty-five detailed etchings, most using written words to build the image, present the first decade of Beres’ work as a printmaker.  Beres’ primary medium is etching, a process in which the artist uses acid to aid him in making an image on a metal plate that is inked and printed on paper.  The image on the plate is the mirror image of what will appear on the paper and so the artist must draw the image in reverse.  In the case of Beres, this is a remarkable task.  In many of the works, the artist uses the etching needle like a fine pen to scrawl out unreadable, except with a magnifying glass, messages that must be written backwards in order to be readable when printed.

Beres’ most recent work avoids the traditional rectangular etching plate.  He shapes metal plates into circles, word balloons, and comma-shapes.  The script spirals around the plate, encouraging the viewers to spin the image as they read it.

Beres’ finely wound script and intricate graffiti-like images create textured surfaces that entice from a distance. Closer inspection reveals their curious stories.

This is the artist’s first solo exhibition at Davidson Galleries.  Beres graduated from Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA in 2000.  He is well known around Seattle as one third of the conceptual art trio SuttonBeresCuller.

• Recent Exhibition: Ten Years, February 2009; Introductions 2007 (Group Show), August 2007