Benedict Scheuer

born 1992, Burnsville, MN
lives in Columbus, OH

Benedict Scheuer credits gardening and summers in the verdant Appalachian Mountains as key inspiration for conceiving and refining his soft sculptures, performances, and vivid silk paintings. Scheuer’s artistic process is enmeshed with his spirituality and often begins with a meditation session. From there, Scheuer draws improvisational lines and marks to create fantastical motifs that are reminiscent of vegetal forms.

The artist’s recent writings lend insight into his work, mentioning “sadness slowly settling in. Like a soft hovering silk. It is coming from above, draping me in a state of mind that—no matter what I do to prevent it—finds its measure in clinging to my skin.” In Song to Hold My Grief, one of Scheuer’s most ambitious silk paintings to date, the artist invites visitors to pass through the silk fabric and feel it cling to their skin, too. Here, Scheuer envisions the depths of sorrow as a crying songbird whose feathers are “the product of focusing my breath upon the act of drawing the lines.” Scheuer adds, “These lines are rich in emotion—holding the processing of a personal grief (perhaps a collective grief as well) while simultaneously weaving it with the song of birds that were richly present during this moment in the studio.”

Akron Art Museum