PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF A DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN

ABOUT THE WORK

BenCab as a master of line is amply demonstrated by the visual harmony he creates with the subjects. A sense of order and structure underlies the seeming spontaneity of the composition featuring the figures ethereal garments. The faces, which are rendered in a figurative manner, manage to express a slurry of emotions and dispositions. Although BenCab honed his focus in drapery to the near exclusion of the three figures, the dynamics of the human bodies remain the primary vessels for their essential appreciation. Beyond his masterful technical execution, the piece also exemplifies BenCab’s nuanced socio-political leanings. As an artist, BenCab developed his artistic practice amidst the complexities of the 20th Century’s sociopolitical and economic landscape. The century was defined by not only its insistence on equality and liberty rights, but also by its attempt to reshape and revamp the various “isms” and ideologies that purported their own views on how society must be structured. Amidst the slurry of ideologies vying for their own slice of the geopolitical share, BenCab, like most citizens, became disenchanted by their false promises and empty words. This particular piece entitled The Color of Ideology represents this paradigmatic shift, one wherein individuals, unconvinced by traditional ways of being, have instead decided to look inwards in order to find purposiveness in the midst of the existential dour of life. The work prominently features a variety of colors, each one representing a major political movement. Yet, BenCab’s figures are cloaked and rendered in a combination of hues and tones. Thus implying a stark contrast between the artifices of ideology and the realities of human complexity. BenCab’s work is a symbol of hope, one that wills for a future that is no longer defined by dogma, but one controlled by the will of the people.