Matilde Benmayor
Matilde Benmayor (1987, Santiago Chile) lives and works in New York. She studied her Bachelor of Art in 2006 at University of Chile and in 2021 received her Master Degree from Hunter College. In 2016 she was selected for the V Biennale Of Young Art in Moscow curat- ed by Nadim Samman. She have had two individual exhibitions in different galleries in Chile. Her work are in numbers of collection, including the Minister of Culture in Chile and Engels Foundation.
2021 Ceramic, porcelain and rubber tubes. 400 x 400 x 320 cm / 157 x 157 x 125 in
I have an obsession with webs, roots, and connections that grow and spread in a space. In my effort to understand this, I thought of why, when men landed on the moon, did they feel the impulse to colonize it? Is this human nature or is it ideology? What causes the territorial sentiment of belonging to a place? Why do we need to own everything? I think of social constructions and how this affects me: the organization of a city, the delimitation of spaces, and the rules that make my body behave in specific ways. I am trying to understand this with an intuitive and imaginative approach that lets me, as a social being, be flexible and play in a very stiff terrain. I project my associations into fictions, using psychological content based on childhood fantasies, myths and dreams that challenge reason and allow me to understand what I am experiencing.
2021 Ceramics, rubber tubes and copper lids 100 x 600 x 400 cm / 39 x 236 x 157 in
2021 Fabric, thread, ceramic, liquid rubber and grip tape 60 x 60 x 180 cm / 23 x 23 x 70 in
This spring, the Hunter College MFA Program in Studio Art will graduate 26 artists who completed their degree over the challenging months of the COVID-19 pandemic. These talented MFA Thesis Candidates are exhibiting their work in six group exhibitions at 205 Hudson, in addition to this online spotlight hosted by Hauser & Wirth. At time when the public audience for in-person exhibitions has been limited by the pandemic, we are excited to provide this digital platform to the emerging artists from Hunter College’s MFA Program in Studio Art.
Images: Portrait of Matilde Benmayor. Photo: Néstor Perez Moliere; Matilde Benmayor, To Take Root, 2021. Photo: Néstor Perez Moliere; Installation view. Photo: Néstor Perez Moliere; Matilde Benmayor, Péinate, 2021. Photo: Néstor Perez Moliere; Matilde Benmayor, The Standing Flag On The Moon, 2021. Photo: Néstor Perez Moliere