GONZALO BENARD

self-portrait with smoke

AKA: Gonzalo Benard

Born: 1969 Lisbon/Portugal

• Conceptual
• Contemporary
• Digital
• Drawings
• Figurative
• Mixed Media
• Painter
• Photographer
• Portrait
• Realist
• Established

Self-portrait with boots

The Manipulation of the Man, the Masks, the Puppets, the doses and overdoses of the naked bodies with myself …

marks of rebirth process. From only textured white on canvas, to the veins of raw wood with three primary colors combined with a varied basis of fragile Chinese ceramic powders mixed with acrylic and a light graphite in the line.

In this way Gonzalo Bénard marks the rebirth of man in the spirit, body and mind. The constant debate between the creator and the man. Man the author of the creator, or the creator as author of man. The body that makes a shadow of a creator who manipulates it. And the creator-manipulator as man. The puppet with manipulative strings, also controlled by the creator. The creator in the form of the hand. A manipulating hand. A creative hand. It is natural. In the position and in the creating. Man, too. The man created God and God created man. Later he rested. Still later they both rested. They cut the strings. Or somebody cut them. The puppet is now no longer. Now it is a creator - like the man.

The body as imposition, force and fragility. To the touch. Of the hands, of the creator, of another body. The fears and the masks. The escapes, the appearances and the proper face. The face, yes. The image. I. The uncertain spiritual and mental giving the body manifest security. Because the body is easy. The body is visible. It is a given. Sold. Traded. The mind doesn’t. The spirit never.

The man created the man. That created the God. That created the puppet. That created the new man. That was reborn. That was reborn to create. The man that does not stop - is reborn, innovates, creates. Always creating and always he wants more. And is rebirth. And returns to be reborn and to create. And returns. In body. And in soul.

It is given. In myself. And in me as well.

selfportrait with octopus

2005
Galeria Espacio Guides, Madrid (Abril)
Galeria Alberto Sarmento, Lisboa (Março)
"San Sebastian Contemporaneo", (colectiva), Galeria OB-Art, Barcelona (Janeiro)
Galeria de Arte Inter-Atrium, "jardin das inocencias", Porto (Janeiro
2004
Expo XX Aniversário, Galeria de Arte Inter-Atrium, Porto (Outubro)
”La Madre k me parió”, Galeria Inter-Atrium, Barcelona, Espanha (Setembro)
"Primavera Fotografica", Barcelona, Espanha (Maio)
Galeria OB-Art, Small Sizes, Barcelona, Espanha (Abril)
Galeria Zero, Barcelona, Espanha (Janeiro)
2003
Espaço Dedois, Porto, Portugal;
Colectiva Galeria S. Mamede, Lisboa, Portugal;
Feira Internacional de Arte, Estoril, Portugal;
Galeria Zero, Barcelona, Espanha
2002
“Klones”, com Dave Farnham (video), NaManga, Oeiras;
“Klones”, Chicago
Galeria Kivipankky, Finlandia;
1º Salão Internacional de Artistas Contemporâneos, Oeiras;
Meridiano Zero, Lagar do Azeite, Oeiras;
Galeria Artitudo, Castelo de Vide
2001
“Maestros y alumnos”, colectiva, Cantábria
“Universalidade de Culturas II”, Galeria Culturas, Santander;
“Esboços para 1 Sudário”, Galeria da Ermida de Belém, Lisboa;
Feira Internacional de Arte da Cantábria, Santander;
Galeria Aldo Castillo em Chicago, EUA
Encontros Paralelos (col.), Cascais;
“Sudários”, Galeria La Villa, Estoril;
“Being”, com Kris Emmerson (escultura), Galeria Zero, Barcelona;
2000
“Universalidade de Culturas I”, Galeria Culturas, Santander;
“West side”, Nepal;
“Espaços, Pêndulos e Formas do Vazio”, Armazém do Ferro, Lisboa;
“Culturas”, Galeria S. Mamede, Lisboa;
represented in art colections: Portugal, Espanha, França, Bélgica, Holanda, Finlândia, Brasil, Austrália, Inglaterra, Chicago. art colections of PT Comunicações, CMOeiras and other firms, companies and colections