Ben Sanders
Strange Attractors

Barely Fair, Chicago, IL
April 8 – 24, 2022

“Beauty is the creation of a strange attractor.” - Kim Stanley Robinson

Strange Attractors is a suite of small paintings depicting otherworldly landscapes inhabited by objects that are simultaneously alive and inanimate. According to Sanders, they are loose representations of a post-human planet, where life and deity may still exist, but human consciousness has long evaporated. Subjects of Sanders’ previous work; flowers, food, dripping ooze, polished forms; vaguely persist, transforming into relics from a different time.

Ben Sanders (b. 1989, Arcadia, CA) is a multi-disciplinary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally, as well as commissioned by clients, big and small, throughout the world, including Nike, Dropbox, Louis Vuitton, SSENSE, and The New York Times. Most recently, Sanders’ work has been exhibited at Ochi Projects and Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles, CA; Asya Geisberg in New York, NY; Left Field in San Luis Obispo, CA; Carl and Sloan in Portland, OR; and LVL3 in Chicago, IL.

For Sanders, practices of gardening and cocktail-making hold as much value as a process-rich, finely rendered painting. Complementing his studio work is an enthusiastic, open-ended list of activities, materials and processes, inspired by the domestic and the designed. Whether facilitating highly curated social experiences involving food and beverages, or working with members of diverse, non-art communities, Sanders welcomes the influence of the everyday as a path towards meaning.

Barely Fair is an international art fair operated by Julius Caesar Gallery of Chicago. The invitational fair presents a tiny peek inside the programming of thirty contemporary art galleries, project spaces, and curatorial projects during “Art Week” in Chicago. Included spaces will exhibit works in 1:12 scale booths built to mimic the design of a standard fair.