Trudy Benson | Russell Tyler
zzzzzzzzzzzzz
May 13 - June 19, 2022

Mother is pleased to present zzzzzzzzzzzzz, a two-person exhibition featuring recent works by Trudy Benson and Russell Tyler. The show will be Benson’s and Tyler’s first time exhibiting with Mother. zzzzzzzzzzzzz runs from May 13 through June 19, 2022. Mother | Beacon is located on the ground floor at 1154 North Avenue, Beacon, NY.

As a married couple, the technicolor, soft geometric paintings of Trudy Benson and Russell Tyler contain a reflexive, though unassuming, harmony within their lines (or lack thereof). The show’s title, zzzzzzzzzzzzz, or thirteen lowercase “z”’s, was adopted to describe the buzzing, frenetic energy exuded from Benson’s painting, as well as fuzzy, blurred, vibrating color fields in Tyler’s work. The title itself is also onomatopoeic, referring to the way that punchy colors contrast in vibrations with one another, allowing the eye to foxtrot from one corner of a painting to another.

In Benson's paintings, she employs dense materiality, wedged between colorful checkerboard and feverish, harshly angled lines. From afar, the works first present with a factor of shock-and- awe. But, as viewers are drawn in, process and material become maximally legible. These works emphasize physicality, surface, and perhaps most importantly, physical presence. Benson’s chosen colors, and their unexpected pairings, are replete with strong intention and a yearning for connection. This is a stark contrast from her earlier work, which was heavily influenced by virtuality and digital experiences. Her works in zzzzzzzzzzzzz disallow a through-screen connection—they demand the naked human eye upon them to trace line, to supersede the clandestinity of the artist’s studio, and to invoke sensory quality. They forgo the buzzing of a cellphone in a pocket for that of rapid eye movement and the firing of neurons in the wake of discovery. In a world where almost anything can be experienced virtually, a painting can now be decidedly phenomenological, and Benson’s work achieves as much.

Tyler’s body of geometric paintings have a rugged surface, created by acrylic paint applied via airbrush to raw canvas drop cloth. The paint catches onto the wooly surface resulting in a fuzzy, distorted quality. The rich panels of color feel lavish and beguiling, while simultaneously inviting, a bid for the viewer to engage with intention. The rectangular panels could evoke a cityscape, an analog film reel, a window, a blurred view out of intoxicated eyes. Regardless, the electricity is undeniable, as Tyler’s lines alternate between fuzzy, atmospheric blending and hard, concise edges that separate one pane from another. As a cityscape, transportation and high-speed conversations are frantic; stagnant, behemoth skyscrapers are fixed. As a film reel, the panes shift and remain fuzzy enough to carry along the story, but are consistent enough to keep the viewer within the world of the film. Despite consisting primarily of rectangular shapes, the outcome is somehow beautifully suggestive of the natural world, rather than referential of Modernism.

While both the works of Benson and Tyler capture the frenicity of a world outside the safety of home, the title was also inspired by domestic, familiar, and comforting elements. The “zzz”’s can conjure saccharine images of a purring cat, a snoring lover, a buzzing bee while painting outside. The title itself is also directly representative of sleep, a stark contrast from the vibrations and manic buzzing alluded to in the show’s works. By blending the softness of these simple domestic pleasures with the hectic environment behind softly shut front doors, the work of both Benson and Tyler captures, unpretentiously, the wholeness and complexity that comes with the human condition, and how a simple “zzz” can lend to such introspection.

Trudy Benson (b. 1985, Richmond, VA) received her MFA from Pratt Institute and her BFA from the Virginia Commonwealth University. Benson has exhibited widely including recent solo exhibitions at SUNNY, New York, NY; Massif Central, Brussels, Belgium; Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; Ceysson & Bénétière, Saint-Étienne, France; team(bungalow), Los Angeles, CA; Lyles & King, New York, NY; Dio Horia, Mykonos, Greece; Ribordy Contemporary, Geneva Switzerland and Galerie Bernard Ceysson, Paris, France. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions in the United States, Europe and Japan. Benson’s work is featured in numerous collections including the Susan and Michael Hort Collection, New York, NY; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; Aishti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon; Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom; Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Arts, Peekskill, NY and the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, New York, NY. Benson is the recipient of awards including the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant (Nominee) and the Painting Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY.

Russell Tyler (b. 1981, Summertown, TN) received his MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and his BFA from Concordia University in Montreal. He has had solo exhibitions at Over the Influence, Los Angeles, CA; Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; The Hole, New York, NY; Denny Gallery, New York City, NY; Galerie Bernard Ceysson, Paris, France; Ribordy Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland; DCKT Contemporary, New York, NY; Alon Segev Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel; Gordon Gallery 2, Tel Aviv, Israel and EbersMoore Gallery, Chicago, IL. He has been included in group exhibitions at the Savannah College of Art and Design, the Torrance Art Museum, New Britain Museum of American Art, Anonymous Gallery, Retrospective Gallery, The Fireplace Project, Ana Cristea Gallery, Thierry Goldberg Gallery, ACME (Los Angeles), among others. His work has been reviewed or featured in Artforum, Hyperallergic, Modern Painters, T The New York Times Style Magazine, NY Arts Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail and Le Monde.