Ben Pruskin

29 February - 6 April, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 1st, 6-8pm

FREE PARKING with gallery validation at Border’s Books and Music

invite

PawnShop presents the first US solo exhibition of Los Angeles based Ben Pruskin.
This new body of work centers around a series of busts, the symbol of classical portraiture. Pruskin’s heads are of family, friends and associates; their stories captured in this idea of an object, the bust. Each sitter, answering questions to gauge their personality, emotions, beliefs, desires are fused into the portrait, the physical evidence of the interview resting in the traditionally grounded sculptural portraiture. The modern take plays with the subject rather than the medium as raw clay, plastics, resins, dyes are molded, poured and placed into an unlikely society of representations.

As with previous exhibitions, Pruskin’s practice moves between video, sculpture and installation. The environment has been specifically created for the intimate dimensions at PawnShop; the scene for his sculptures includes a setting of chimes, fragmented mirrors and polystyrene blocks. These elements both acknowledge the busts and question their role as sculptures.

Ben Pruskin graduated with an MFA from Goldsmiths College, London in 1998.
He has exhibited in group shows at Musee D’Art Moderne (1996), New Contemporaries, UK (2000), and Tate Modern, London (2001).
His first solo show was at VTO, London (2005) with a two-person show at Sweeney Gallery, Riverside (2006) after relocating to Los Angeles.

Catalogue and interview to accompany the exhibition.

Ben Pruskin is exhibited concurrently with the Video Library (on show in the east gallery) screening the permanent collection of video works alongside each exhibition in the main gallery.

Solo Solo: Ben Borthwick selects Andrea Büttner’s Yes, I Believe Every Word You Say (2007) opens 11th April - 18th May 2008.

install
Installation view (main gallery), March 2008