Benjamin L. Turner
Benjamin L. Turner works in a variety of media: photography, sculpture, painting, and drawing. The works slip and slide between media, resisting any categorization: In one sculpture, the metal frame from a light-box becomes an armature, holding up photographs and blinking lights; his still-life photographs include his sculptures, and his paintings on paper include photographs. This type of layering is also present in his photography: each photograph is densely stratified with textures and forms, which Turner calls "a dance with chance." .
A large part of Turner's practice centers around creating "happening" style dinners under the name Squamuglia. His work is not far from this aesthetic. In each work he is "organizing a recipe of elements for something oddly beautiful to happen." His titles, also referring to food, are like descriptive menu choices. He calls them "poetic visual riddles. When seen together, Turner's works are echo-chamber of repeating forms and colors.
Exhibitions
Benjamin L. Turner (b. 1982, Winchester, MA) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles who works with a range of media including drawing, paintings, sculpture, and photography. His practice includes performance and audio experimentation, as well as Squamuglia, series of innovative food-based happenings. He launched an experimental audio food show Earth no Patio in 2018. Turner's work has been featured in various publications, including Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles (CARLA) and a 2017 chapter by Dr. Alexandra Lippman in the MIT Press volume “PAID”. He was recently included in a group exhibitions at Hisssss and Studio A1, Los Angeles in 2024. He was the subject of a solo exhibition titled Phaidon Worried at Central Park Gallery in Los Angeles in 2016.