109 Stackheads

109 Stackheads

by Ernst G. Benkert

Proteotypes is proud to announce the publication of 109 Stackheads, a new book by Ernst Benkert, the author of 623 Titles Without Paintings (2009).

109 Stackheads reproduces 109 drawings, the contents of a sketch-book filled by Benkert between May 27th and June 17th, 2000. The “Stackheads” of the title, so named by his friend Frank Owen, identify the outline resembling a squared head with ears that Benkert used to frame the highly worked, amazingly varied interiors. Individually they will seem pure abstractions, but taken collectively they might be read as representations of the interior weather of the human head.

Scanned and printed by Italian masters, 109 Stackheads faithfully reproduces all the gradations and nuances of Benkert’s original drawings.

In his Afterword to 109 Stackheads, Corin Hewitt says:

At times, the opaque lines treat the surface of the image like skin (are they wrinkles? scars?); at other times they appear as sticks floating on the surface of a pond. Then there are times when they seem to describe an architectural elevation, creating a type of scaffolding, where structure and image unite. In yet other drawings the illusion of depth asserts itself when the changing width, direction, speed, or length of line create overlapping interiors which appear to recede in space. The lines are never static or fixed; associations remain fluid and elusive.…

In addition to the purely abstract qualities of these drawings, it is also possible to look at their relation to caricature in Ernst Benkert’s work. But the Stackheads are quite different from the rest of his work. They create a new and expansive place between the directly referential and satirical images of his caricatures and his abstract work.