Mia Bencun
Contusions
11.10.–13.12.24


In the new exhibition Contusions, artist Mia Bencun uses natural materials to explore different forms of physicality, value and organic transience. She leaves much to natural chance in her works, as oxidation, casting and decay create unpredictable forms, colour facets and surface aesthetics. The uncontrollable and the organic dimensions of the materials are therefore central aspects of her works.
        In the G10 Projektraum, the artist presents various new works from her Bruiseseries. The exhibited wall objects consist of natural materials such as latex (made from natural rubber) as well as more durable inorganic ones such as glass and copper. Brownish-yellow, abstract shapes, created by a chemical reaction, writhe in a milky-soft surface. Some areas crack and deform over time; oxidation and slow decay lead to non-figurative traces which resemble abstract paintings. The more time passes, the more the works change and show evidence of their transience. A specific physicality is created by the surface structure: the latex, which bursts in some points, reminds the viewer of skin, frozen liquid or microscopically enlarged viral formations.
        Bencun explores concepts of the processual and transitory, i.e. the variable nature of a state. Aspects of metamorphosis and degeneration represent a contrast to the capitalist-influenced art world, where artists try to create something lasting. Bencun, on the other hand, finds beauty in transience and leaves the materials to their natural process of decay.


        Mia Bencun (*1990 in Lagos, Nigeria) graduated from the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach in 2019. Her work has been featured in various group exhibitions, including Kunsthalle Darmstadt (2023 and 2017), Museum Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt (2020, 2019 and 2018), Basis Projektraum in Frankfurt (2019), Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt (2018), Opelvillen Rüsselsheim (2018) and Frankfurter Kunstverein (2016). She was awarded the Charlotte Prinz Scholarship of the City of Darmstadt (2021) and the Johannes Mosbach Foundation Scholarship (2019).

 

Text: Carolina Maddè
Photography: Nils Heck