Barton Lidice Beneà ¡ (November 16, 1942, Hackensack, New Jersey â May 30, 2012, New York) was an artist who lived and worked in New York City. He studied at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York and Beaux-Arts, Avignon, France.
Before Beneà ¡ attended Pratt Institute, he lived with his grandparents in Brooklyn, New York. As a teenager he made the U.S. Olympic speed skating team, while smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. It became clear around 17 years old that Beneà ¡ had a flair for the contradictory, and the romantic. He would often walk around the city bare foot saying âÂÂI thought it was romantic to be a pigâÂÂ. Around this time in his life Beneà ¡ would sneak out and go to a mob-run gay bar named New Colony. While spending time there he was asked to complete an installation for customers to view. After being hired for his first piece he was given a job designing window installations for New Colony. While working for New Colony he met a man named Howard Meyer.
Beneà ¡ and Howard soon moved in with each other and began their careers from home. Not soon after in 1969 Beneà ¡ was contracted and put on his first exhibit âÂÂLeather and LaceâÂÂ, a show involving him strapped naked to a padded leather table. He was then changed when he traveled to Africa to create his last painting. While in Africa his views of art evolved towards an obsession with Africa's tribal culture, artifacts, and erotica.
Following Beneà ¡'s trip to Africa his work became increasingly contradictory during the 70s and 80s. His art revolved around clever artistic puns (i.e. a book nailed shut in protest of freedom of speech). During this time he and his aunt Evelyn, who was interested in the stories of Barton's life in New York, would exchange letters. Fueled by speed she would write letters ranging from 50 to 60 pages. Barton would then turn the letters in to small intricate books.
While Beneà ¡ was using his aunt as a prompt for his art, a hustler that was hired by Beneà ¡ began an affair with his lover Howard. Aunt Evelyn who had begun writing to Bartons friends, also began writing to the hustler. During the affair the hustler responded to Aunt Evelyn informing her of what her letters were being used for. This led to a falling out between Beneà ¡ and his Aunt. She threatened to sue him, then immediately stopped all communication with her nephew. Later in life Beneà ¡ attempted to reconnect with his aunt, but his efforts were not successful.
In 1986 Howard Meyer was diagnosed with Kaposi's Sarcoma and BenÃÂs with AIDS. The next few years after he was diagnosed included the passing of a number of close friends. Three years afterwards Howard Meyers passed from his illness. This was the breaking point for Beneà ¡ as he watched his lover pass. Barton says that âÂÂWhen he diedâÂÂit's crazy but trueâÂÂI saw the energy leave his body, and I got on top of him to grab the energy.âÂÂ. For the first time since Beneà ¡ was diagnosed with AIDS, he had an artistic impulse. He was inspired to use the emotions he was experiencing in his work. Beneà ¡ began to use his friends and their memories as mementos in his pieces.
On one evening in 1990 Beneà ¡ cut his hand while preparing dinner. Being used to fact that his blood is toxic he rushed for bleach. Before retrieving the bleach however, he began to focus on the idea that his blood contained a dualistic meaning. Responding to the experience he began a series of pieces titled âÂÂLethal WeaponsâÂÂ, a series of 8 shadow boxes, each containing a different weapon containing his blood. During the first showing of his exhibit in 1990 his pieces were disinfected at 160 degrees in a hospital oven while in Lund, Sweden due to the extreme level of discomfort that the patrons were experiencing.
After his diagnosis, Beneà ¡ became an advocate for the destigmatization of AIDS. From 2003 to 2009 he served on the board of Visual AIDS. His artwork became a visual representation of AIDS and its history. He turned his life from a victim of the disease to a terrorist. He would inflict symbolic violence on a judgemental society, his works of art showing the lethality of a disease. Beneà ¡ also explored the eroticism of his illness, using eroticism to cope with the world around him. When two of his friends died, he paid tribute to the couple by combining both of their ashes in a hourglass, symbolically binding his friends in death.
Beneà ¡'s apartment in New York contained his collection of over $1 million worth of African, Egyptian, and contemporary art, as well as his own. After his death in 2012 the interior of his apartment, including his shadow box museums, was relocated and reconstructed at the North Dakota Museum of Art, under the supervision of his friend and colleague Laurel Reuter, director of the museum. The exhibit opened in late 2013 and is called Barton's Place.