TENDERNESS
Presented at LOVE HOUSE
NYC
October, 2022
This new body of work includes 15 pieces of varied typologies for the home. From dining table to desk, cabinet to mirror, each an artifact rendered with care to be lived with.
“John Berger describes tenderness as ‘a free act, a gratuitous act…a choice,’ and in this way a ‘defiant act,’” says Beson. “I am of the position that the objects we create resonate both through the sensual field of our everyday life and the poetic depth of our experience and memory. I feel a deep sense of responsibility about what I make and how it affects the world. This focus on the act of tenderness—with materials, to others and to myself—has guided me in this new process.”
Community is integral to Beson’s practice, nurtured through collaborations with artists and craftspeople of various disciplines. For the exhibition’s opening at Love House, his work will be in conversation with textiles sourced by Kellan Tucker of Sharktooth, sound by Nelly Kate Anderson and spoken word by Anna Sergeeva, whose Brooklyn bookstore Dear Friend Beson designed custom furniture and interiors for.
“Tenderness is a choice,” Beson says. “How empowering, in our everyday, in whatever we do, and whatever we make, we can choose to be tender and let this be the force we radiate into the world.”