Fletcher Benton - 9781932646177

Fletcher Benton: The Alphabet is a fortuitious merging of creative minds. David Finn's sensitive photographic eye gave him the impression that "Fletcher approached the forms of letters and numbers the way Monet painted water lilies. One could always see the water lilies floating in the water in Monet's paintings, but one knew that those details were not what fascinated the artist. They were the starting point for his magnificent images of the surfaces of water. And so it is with Fletcher's letters and numbers. One could always find the letter or number in the sculpture, and one could imagine that it was with that image that Fletcher started his composition. The key esthetic experience was not recognizing the letter in the sculpture, but appreciating the curves and angles and spaces that were incorporated in works that were inspired by letters and numbers."
Each of Benton's letters and numbers began with a delicate pencil sketch and an ingeniously formed paper model, some only three inches high, which he constructed by hand. With the pencil marks and glue still visible, Finn's photographs give these small models a presence that belies their size. Likewise, his photographs of the fully executed alphabets and numerals focus on their many fascinating details, and reveal their dynamic sculptural forms, as they unfold, curve, create angles and negative spaces.