Shows Schedule

We are excited to inform our collectors that our artist Francisco Benitez will have an event-filled summer with an active exhibition program in Europe. On May 2, his one-person show entitled, "Ekfrasis" will open at the contemporary art gallery, Quadrifoglio, in Syracuse, Sicily. The exhibition will last for three weeks and will coincide with the annual world-reknown festival of ancient theater "Rappresentioni Classiche", produced by INDA (Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico). This year the production will be the Oresteia by Aeschylus. The festival will be sponsoring Benitez' exhibition in part. The theme of the exhibition will be Benitez' latest work in encaustic, an ancient technique used by the Greeks and Egyptians which is only now being rediscovered. Benitez has taken a very unusual approach to encaustic as he works it in a highly realistic, yet textural manner. The works are a reflection upon the cyclical aspect of history and art, as the medium of encaustic reveals itself as a complex metaphor for layering and memory.

Opening on May 4 in Modica, Sicily, Benitez will exhibit several of his works from the Pompeii Series, one of which caused a controversy in the summer of 2007 when a poster of a nude had to be covered because of protest by the local clergy in Noto, Sicily. The works will be exhibited at the art space of Loredana Roccasalva. This show will be curated by Vincenzo Medica, director of Studio Barnum in Noto, Sicily.

On May 18 Benitez will open another show of encaustics, drawings, and oils at the Capella Bonajuto in Catania, Sicily, curated by Sabina Corsaro. A bilingual publication in English and Italian will be available for this event.

In June, Benitez will have a two-person show in France with Michele Ciacciofera, a Sicilian painter who now exhibits at Gebert Contemporary in Santa Fe. The two painters will show work focussing on war and its victims. Ciacciofera will exhibit several works from his Prigionieri e Deserti (Prisoners and Deserts) Series, and Benitez will show mixed media work from the Women of Bagdad Series, and a series of watercolors inspired by the Iliad by Homer. The show will be held at the beautiful Chapelle des Pénitants in the picturesque village of Gordes in Provence.

Please check out some of the wonderful works by Francisco on our website under his name