Sadie Benning: Play Pause
Apr 22–Sept 20, 2009
Sadie Benning, drawing for Play Pause, 2001-06. Gouache on paper, dimensions variable. Collection of the artist. © Sadie Benning. Play Pause, 2006: Two-channel video projection from hard drive (created from gouache drawings on paper), 29:22 minutes. Directed by Sadie Benning, in collaboration with Solveig Nelson. Collection of the artists
Artist Sadie Benning is known for her experimental video narratives, which she started making in the late 1980s. First shown here in the Whitney's 1993 Biennial, and again in the 2000 Biennial, Benning now presents her latest video installation Play Pause (2006) as part of the Whitney's Contemporary Series. The two-channel video departs from Benning’s earlier work, cutting together hundreds of the artist’s gouache drawings of urban landscapes, figures, and abstractions. With its fragmented split-screen perspective, durational takes of still drawings, and occasional use of color filters, Play Pause speaks to the heightening of perception that accompanies periods of loss. This is Benning’s first solo museum exhibition in New York.
The exhibition is organized by Tina Kukielski, senior curatorial assistant.
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In the News
"a small, multifaceted gem."
--The New York Times
Profile: Sadie Benning debuts at the 1993 Whitney Biennial
--The New York Times