StoreBarton Lidicé Beneš (1942-2012) was born in Westwood, New Jersey on November 16, 1942. Beneš first came to prominence during the 1980s with his whimsical constructions of shredded currency and later with his signature “museums,” gridded arrangements of relics from Ancient Egypt to Hollywood. He transformed fragments of our throwaway culture into art that sometimes addressed taboo subjects and often used unconventional materials including cremation ashes, shells, bodily fluids, currency and shredded money, relics, celebrity artifacts and found objects. Beneš was a first-generation veteran of the AIDS crisis and chronicled his own HIV+ status in Lethal Weapons, a series of works created with his own blood. This exhibit toured Europe in the 1990s and traveled to Lund, Sweden, where authorities intervened and demeaned installation be heated to 160 degrees Fahrenheit in a hospital oven to make it “safe” for public viewing. These provocative pieces confront HIV/AIDS head-on, blending political activism, visual poetry and a wicked sense of humor, forcing viewers to face their fears of death and transmission. His work continues to serve as a symbol of resistance, engaging a new generation in the evolving conversation about art and AIDS.
At the forefront of New York’s burgeoning gay scene in the post-Stonewall era, Beneš was also featured in numerous documentaries about art, AIDS and gay history, including Lovett Productions’ Gay Sex in the 70s. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at The Cleveland Museum of Art; North Dakota Museum of Art; The Katonah Museum of Art; The New York Public Library; and Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as Centre Pompidou, Paris; Boras Konstmuseum, Sweden; and Old Town Hall, Prague. His work is in the permanent collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, The Smithsonian, The U.S. Mint and North Dakota Museum of Art. Beneš is represented by Pavel Zoubok Gallery in New York.
Education
1968 Beaux-Arts, Avignon, France
1960-61 Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York
Solo Exhibitions
2015 Museology, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
2012 The Thrill of the Hunt, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
2011 Barton Lidice Benes: Archive, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
2006-2007 Repositoria, Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, NY
2004 New Works by Barton Lidice Benes, North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND
2003 Barton Benes: Curiosa, Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel, Switzerland
2002 Barton Lidice Benes: Curiosa, Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, NY
Barton Lidice Benes: Souvenirs, Galleri Stefan Andersson, Umeå, Sweden
2000-2001 Reliquaries, Borås Konstmuseum, Borås, Sweden.
Traveled to Uppsala Konstmuseum, Uppsala, Sweden; Museokeskus Vapriikki, Tampere, Finland (catalogue)
1999-2000 Reliquarium, Galeria 111, Porto, Portugal
Traveled to Galeria 111, Lisbon, Portugal.
1999 Barton Benes: Reliquaries, Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, NY
1998 Spirited Away, A Space, Toronto, Canada
Stefan Andersson Galleri, Umea, Sweden,.
1997 Lethal Weapons, Coke Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Lethal Weapons, University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
1996 Novomestska Radnice (New Town Hall), Prague, Czech Republic
1995 Galeria III, Libson, Portugal
1994 Lethal Weapons Galleri, Stefan Andersson, Umea, Sweden,
Lethal Weapons, Anders Tornberg Gallery, Lund, Sweden
Money Madness, North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND
1993 Lethal Weapons, White Columns, New York, NY
Lethal Weapons, North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND
1991 Hokin/Kaufinan Gallery, Chicago, IL
1990 Bjorn Olsson Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
1989 North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND
1988 Moneyworks, Barbara Fendrick Gallery, New York, NY
1987 Fendrick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1986 Moneyworks Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA
University of Idaho, Moscow, ID
Misc, Feingarten Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
Center for Contemporary Art, New Orleans, LA
Galleri Zero, Stockholm, Sweden
1985 Shrines, Hoshour Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Master of Disguise, Federal Reserve Board, Cleveland, OH
Strecker Gallery, Manhattan, KS
Graven Image, Kathryn Markel Gallery, New York, NY
Master of Disguise, Federal Reserve Board, Dallas, TX
Semi-Precious, Craig Cornelius Gallery, New York, NY
Hokin/Kaufman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Requiem Anders, Tornberg Gallery, Lund, Sweden
1984 Brentwood Gallery, St. Louis, MO
Master of Disguise, Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C.
Moneyworks, Reynolds/Minor Gallery, Richmond, VA
Moneyworks, Netsky Gallery, Coral Gables, FL
1983 Souvenirs, Hoshour Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Money Matters, Fendrick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Kathryn Markel Gallery, New York, NY
1982 Moneyworks, Anders Tornberg Gallery, Lund, Sweden
Kathryn Markel Gallery, New York, NY
Ruins and Artifacts, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
Futura Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
Shellworks, P.M. & Stein Gallery, New York, NY
Letters From Aunt Evelyn and Other Artifacts, University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA
1981 Taylor Art, Dallas, TX
1980 Kathryn Markel Gallery, New York, NY
Stampworks, Galleriet, Lund, Sweden.
1979 Ruins and Artifacts, Fendrick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1978 Rubberstamp Works, Stempelplaats, Amsterdam, Holland.
1977 Bookworks, Franklin Furnace, New York, NY
Shell Shocked, Fendrick Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Selected Parts of Letters from My Aunt Evelyn, Bienville Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1976 Princeton Gallery of Fine Art, Princeton, NJ
1975 Letters From Aunt Evelyn, Center for Book Arts, New Yorks, NY
Sculptured Books, Feingarten Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
Sculptured Books, David Stuart Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
1974 Sculptured Books, Allan Stone Gallery, New York, NY
1972 Leather and Lace, Bienville Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1967 Edinburgh International Festival, Traverse Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Selected Collections
Agnelli Collection, Turin, Italy
Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
AlixPartners, London
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France
Bank of America, San Francisco, California
Bank of Montreal, Chicago, Illinois
Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, Wisconsin
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York
Chemical Bank, Wilmington, Delaware
Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
Coca-Cola Corporation, Atlanta, Georgia
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware
Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C.
General Electric Corporation, New York
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Hofstra Museum, Hempstead, New York
3M Corporation, St. Paul, Minnesota
Malmo Museum, Malmo, Sweden
McGill University, Rare Book Library, Montreal, Canada
Merrill Lynch, Princeton, New Jersey
Morgan Stanley Corporation, Tokyo
Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, Wisconsin
Museum Of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery, Canberra, Australia
National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
New York Public Library, New York
North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, North Dakota
Price Waterhouse Corporation, New York
Princeton University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Progressive Art Collection
Prudential Insurance, Newark, New Jersey
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Miami, Florida
Sol Lewitt Collection, Chester, Connecticut
University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Wachmeister Collection, Sweden