Peter Michael Hornung, 2011

Potentiale for forandring, April 2011

Når man siger, at en billedhugger arbejder med eksistentielle temaer - og det siger man, at Eli Benveniste gør - siger man også noget om oprindeligheden i hendes kunst. Derfor bør det ikke overraske, at Eli Benveniste er autodidakt.

Mens de akademiuddannede billedhuggere fra hendes generation har skabt kølige personlige variationer over firsernes postmoderne skulpturbegreb, står hun for en klart mere selvberoende og anti-akademisk linje.

Nok er hun født i København, og nok regnes hun med til det danske kunstliv, men både hendes internationale baggrund og hendes mangeårige samliv med billedhuggeren Jørgen Haugen Sørensen har placeret hende i en mere stedløs kunstnerisk sammenhæng.

Eli Benveniste debuterede i 1988 på Veksølund-udstillingen, hvor hun ofte siden har vist flaget, og i 1995 blev hun medlem af sammenslutningen Koloristerne. Af hendes udstillinger, som den store, der for et par år siden blev vist på Sophienholm i Lyngby og Kunstcentret Silkeborg Bad, kan man se, at hun ikke er nogen omrejsende repræsentant for en bestemt stil.

Hvor mærkeligt det end kan lyde, er den tilsyneladende bevægelse i en skulptur noget af det, hun stræber efter at skabe i hvert eneste af sine arbejder. At hun gerne former i ler, viser hendes forhold til en tradition, der stiller den organiske helhed i centrum.

“Når man modellerer, er det en form for meditation”, har hun sagt. “I starten tænker jeg på skulpturen, men så forsøger jeg at lade en anden form for bevidsthed arbejde med den”.

Eli Benveniste har også inddraget andre materialer end brændt ler, f.eks. glas, for selv traditioner kan udvikle sig, og det er dette potentiale for forandring, der gør hende værd at følge - også fremover.

I 1993 var hun med til at instruere og producere portrætfilmen ‘En erfaring mindre’ om Haugen Sørensen. Eli Benveniste har udført flere udsmykningsopgaver. I 2000 modtog hun Astrid Noacks Billedhuggerlegat og året efter en portion fra Anne Marie Telmanyi født Carl Nielsens Fond.

 

 

Potential for change, April 2011

When you say that a sculptor works with existential themes - and it is said that Eli Benveniste does - you also say something about the originality of her art. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Eli Benveniste is self-taught.

While the academy-educated sculptors of her generation have created cool personal variations on the postmodern sculptural concepts of the eighties, she stands for a clearly more self-reliant and anti-academic line.

Probably she was born in Copenhagen, and probably she is included in the Danish art life, but both her international background and her many years of cohabitation with the sculptor Jørgen Haugen Sørensen have placed her in a more placeless artistic context.

Eli Benveniste made her debut in 1988 at the Veksølund exhibition, where she has often since shown the flag, and in 1995 she became a member of the association Koloristerne. From her exhibitions, such as the big one, which a few years ago was shown at Sophienholm in Lyngby and Kunstcentret Silkeborg Bad, you can see that she is not a traveling representative of a particular style.

Strange as it may sound, the apparent movement in a sculpture is something she strives to create in each and every one of her works. That she likes to shape in clay shows her relationship to a tradition that puts the organic whole at the center.

"When you model, it's a form of meditation," she said. "At first I think of the sculpture, but then I try to let another kind of consciousness work with it."

Eli Benveniste has also included materials other than fired clay, e.g. glass, because even traditions can develop, and it is this potential for change that makes her worth following - also in the future.

In 1993, she co-directed and produced the portrait film ‘An Experience Less’ about Haugen Sørensen. Eli Benveniste has performed several decorating tasks. In 2000 she received the Astrid Noack's Sculptor Scholarship and the following year a portion from the Anne Marie Telmanyi born Carl Nielsen's Foundation.