Dutch art writer lectures at USC Aiken
On Sept. 30, Dutch art writer Jurriaan Benschop lectured at USC Aiken to students.
With the lecture room almost filled to capacity, Benschop discussed different pieces of his internationally acclaimed artwork, and recalled fond memories of his time outside of The United States.
Crossing different parts of Europe, he spoke of particular encounters of contemporary artists he had met, their painting style and storytelling methods.
Dissecting each piece of artwork on display and the memories that accompanied, Benschop gave insight to what fueled the contents of his latest book, “Salt in the Wound: Encountering Contemporary Artists across Europe.”
Benschop gave a detailed explanation of the relationship between the artist’s work and their environment, including what influenced them and ultimately him.
The above photo tells the story of a girl whose inspiration is drawn from living in Portugal, and yet she cannot stay there.
“She needs to go to England. There she makes her art,” he said. “The question of ‘where are you from?’ tells something about you. So in her case, she loves Portugal, (but) she hates Portugal. She needs it for her painting, but she cannot paint there.”
Benschop and company traveled North to Belgium for the above piece. He dissected the artistic approach by pointing out that he made very small paintings.
“You could say [he] has an awkward kind of painting,” said Benschop. “Skillful or with hesitation. Quickly made.”
