The Hunt | Matthew Benedict's Mystery Stories

Given the wildly worldly hunting tales told in the post below (by so many very well-travelled readers!), the theme continues...

Brooklyn artist Matthew Benedict tells tales of mystery through trompe l'oeil and 20th century adventure story-inspired paintings. Death, he says, is the "greatest mystery story of all." He explores that in The Killers (2009)...

...and in Requiem (2008-2009) where he displays Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem of that name on the spines of the books. A portrait of the author hangs on the right panel.

Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This is the verse you grave for me:
'Here he lies where he longed to be;
Here is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.'

Baking Bread for the Boys, 2000

The Visitor, 2006

Benedict's "Mystery Stories" are on display at the Alexander and Bonin Gallery through May 2.

(Many thanks to Porter for the heads up on this one. Interview and Art in America have been dispatching her to shoot gallery openings and - some very seedy - parties across the city, so she's my eyes into the art world these days).