Jane Benson  
   


Library of Eden, 2000-2008
37 books, oil paint, table, chair.
Statue of Liberty: Cover of the book “America: A Photographic Journey”
Oil on book cover, 13 x 19”.

A sister project to the Mountain sculptures, Library of Eden is a collection of over thirty altered travel books, including Frommers, Fodors and numerous hardback picture travel-logs that transform the urban world to an Edenic state. Page after page urban structures and objects are painted over with landscape or shrubbery, leaving only human activity amidst the green. By depicting businessmen, shoppers and locals in blurry surroundings that fail to correspond to the texts descriptions of the regions commerce and customs, the paint strips away the context of a specific place.
Since it’s inception in 2000, the Library Of Eden has been installed in various locations including PS1/MOMA Contemporary Art Center, New York, CCS Gallery, Bard and the Kohler Center, Wisconsin.

Essays by Carrie Lambert and William V. Ganis, Greater New York Catalogue, PS1/MOMA.
all images © Jane Benson 2000-2019