Benjamin Swallow Duke

708 Virginia Ave. East Lansing MI 48823   benduke@bendukeart.com (443) 691-3837  www.bendukeart.com

Statement

In my paintings I ask myself “Is this the way the world is?’ I reshape and retool my painting experience to answer that question.  But while the question begins with the world, it ends with the work itself: “Is this the way the world is in this work?”

The search is for the world in painting and painting in the world (painting worlds/ paintings world). Am I in the world or is the world in me? I allude to my life, to writers works, to imagery and it is my hope that this record of allusion conjures and creates the same. My aim is to invite the viewer into this questioning space, to explore the various narratives that drive the work. I am referring to text, theory, idea but I am also finding myself already there, looking out to see in.