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Pitch Weekly,The

Published on December 15, 2009 at 1:01pm

Review Studios' resident artists

justify their existence

By Chris Packham

Any tour through the 2009 Review Studios' group exhibition should make time for multiple activations

of Beniah Leuschke's "Yeah Right," an assembly of gears attached to a welded steel valve that, when youturn it, operates an aluminum split-flap display, recalling an old-school digital clock, alternating

noisily between the title's two words. The beautifully fabricated piece draws together multiple Leuschke

enthusiasms, including jokey wordplay, interactivity, Rube Goldberg mechanisms and attention to craft. During Leuschke's solo Review exhibit this fall, "Yeah Right" was installed next to a wall-sized reproduction of a familiar Nigerian scam e-mail. The

machined response was ridiculously elaborate and funny. Without the accompanying spam text, the piece just yells "YEAH, RIGHT" at the whole 2009 group exhibition, which includes works by resident artists Elijah Gowin, Warren Rosser, Andrea Flamini, Colby K. Smith, Lonnie Powell and James

Woodfill. Review's stable of midcareer artists is accomplished,

and the exhibit is a knockout, but how often do you get license to shout defiant, albeit automated, skepticism at a whole art gallery?....

Press

Pitch Weekly, the

The Charlotte Street Foundation’s

2008 Fellows unpack some smart work

By Dana Self

published: January 15, 2009

...More coolly detached yet equally engaging, Leuschke's installations and sculptures benefit from creamy surfaces and refined craftsmanship. Employing anagrams, gaming and other play, Leuschke smartly stitches together various physical and conceptual elements. "Fifteen Attempts at a World Record" is a pyramid of 15 melted, drooping long-playing vinyl records. Though Leuschke plays his work close to the chest — I'm never really sure what he's getting at — his material choices, beautiful construction and attention to personal narrative always hold my attention. "The Shoe Is on the Other Foot" is an interactive piece that plays the harmonica when manipulated. Despite the humble nature of the materials Leuschke chooses— plywood, metal, plastic — his application is flawless and clean, and his use of easily accessed material suits the immediacy and mischief of these works. ...

ereview.org

January 18, 2009

By Steve Brisendine

Charlotte Street Foundation Fellows (Group Show)

Whirled Records: Beniah Leuschke at the Nerman Museum for Contemporary Art

Whatever Beniah Leuschke's muse is serving, pour me a double and leave the bottle.

I'm a word guy. More than that, I'm a wordplay guy. Cryptic crosswords? Anagrams? Skewed allusions? I'll take all anyone's giving, and Leuschke wants to dish.This is more than brain food, though. Sure, it's a workout for the lobes -- but no less visually pleasurable for having multiple layers of meaning. Take Fifteen Attempts at a World Record, one-fifteenth of which appears at the top of this post. My first reaction, when I saw the piece at the show's opening in November, was "Hey, that looks really cool." It did, too, with the black vinyl shining and the outer edges flowing in a way that suggested something I knew I should recognize.

I wondered if any part of the warped LPs would still play, and whether the music would sound as distorted as the discs looked. Then I read the program, right up to the paragraph about this particular piece, and I stopped. I went back for another look, slapped my forehead (in a purely metaphorical sense) and thought, "Oh, man. Why didn't I see that in the first place?"

You probably saw it right away. If you didn't, I'm not telling you. Go see it yourself. No looking at the program first.

(Speaking of the program, the phone number it shows for the museum is wrong. It rings through to a Chrysler dealership. The guy who answered yesterday laughed when I told him I was trying to reach the Nerman. Obviously, I'm not the only one who called. If you call the number above, you'll be fine.) Back to Leuschke's work, which isn't confined to the walls. Again, not to give anything away, but the humor in the installation Blue Chip Artist (Hobo Trap) ranges from the broad to the bone-dry without a groaner in the set.

Follow his laugh lines to a deeper level, though. Leuschke has serious points to make about exploitation, commerce and commercialism. (Vinyl comes from oil. Coincidence?)

That bit about the vinyl is just one man's interpretation, though. I could be way off base. Quoting Leuschke 's paraphrase of Freeman Teague Jr.: There's nothing so simple that it can't be misunderstood.

The museum's open for only five hours today. You might need all of them. Leuschke is but one of four artists in the Charlotte Street Foundation Fellows show, which also includes Jorge Garcia Almodovar, Mike Hill and Adolfo Gustavo Martinez. Then you'll want to see Barry Anderson's Op Eyes video installation, in the Oppenheimer New Media Gallery, and check out the excellent permanent collection. The Nerman's a gem, and it's an absolute joke that the Kansas Department of Commerce doesn't include the museum in its list of tourist attractions.

Or maybe the reason for the omission is simple, and I'm misunderstanding it.

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday.

Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art

Johnson County Community College

12345 College Blvd.

Overland Park, KS

913.469.3000

Kansas City Star, The (MO)

December 14, 2006

Section: Art review

Page: 26

Masculine and feminine

Local artist bends genders in 'The Suburban Stunt Double.'

THERESA BEMBNISTER Special to The Star

REVIEW - Beniah Leuschke at Review Studios

Words and phrases often play a big role in Beniah Leuschke's work, but that doesn't mean he spells anything out for his audience.

The Kansas City artist presents a sometimes befuddling yet consistently satisfying collection of sculptures

and paintings at Review Studios, where he holds the position of shop steward.

"The Suburban Stunt Double" is artfully titled; the works on display have double (or triple or quadruple or quintuple) meanings.

"If it conveys one very specific thing, then I‘ve failed," Leuschke said. In interviews, the artist comes across as reluctant to vocalize too much about the meaning behind his art. But that's OK -- the work speaks for itself and has plenty to impart to viewers willing to pay it the attention it deserves. In his artist statement, Leuschke reveals he is interested in the usefulness of the objects he creates. But it's futility, and not utility, that comes across as the underlying theme of the show.

In "Monkey Bars Break My Son," Leuschke presents traditional symbols of masculinity as defunct. A deflated basketball is pinned against a backboard by the mangled metal rim of the basket. The piece's title is etched in blue into the wooden backboard.

In other works, Leuschke injects a bit of testosterone into traditionally feminine objects, such as decorative plates and shopping carts, rendering them weirdly gender-neutral. In "Keep America Rolling. Like a Replica Monger. A Rolling Cake Empire," he alters the shape of a shopping cart, giving it a long, slender body and oversized back wheels, reminiscent of a race car.

This piece also functions as a sly commentary on corporate culture or consumerism. It's difficult to pin the work in this show down to one particular meaning, but why limit it that way? Leuschke gives viewers enough clues to see that there's more going on than meets the eye but not enough information (or perhaps too much information) to come to any one conclusion. This intensifies the show's underlying sense of futility. There is an intriguing discrepancy between craft and the quality of the materials the artist uses. The pieces are impeccably painted on inexpensive materials like 1970s-style wood paneling. Illogical or ill-conceived design -- which is both deliberate and effective -- is another hallmark of the show. The mechanical components of "Fetch" work without a hitch in some instances and are riddled with flaws in others. Participants throw baseballs onto a metal grill with a wooden backboard. The balls then follow metal tracks in one of three directions: leading to a janitor's bucket; through a spiral and down a long ramp; or to a dead end. A piece called "Lineup" includes decorative plates. These seem dangerously full of potential energy, as though they are about to slide down the curiously sloped wooden shelf on which they are perched. Visually, Leuschke's show seems less focused than previous exhibitions. This may be in part because of the

vast gallery space he has to fill, and the combination of strong three dimensional work with less engaging, yet still worthwhile, two-dimensional paintings. But overall, "The Suburban Stunt Double" is an impressive collection of work by one of Kansas City's most talented artists. the show "Beniah Leuschke: The Suburban Stunt Double" continues at ReviewStudios, 1708 Campbell, through Dec. 15. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Call (816) 471-2343.

Review of artist Beniah Leuschke at Review Studios

This

Space is

intentionally

left Blank

Kansas City Star, The (MO)

November 29, 2002

Section: PREVIEW

Edition: METROPOLITAN

Page: 29

Machine language

Wordplay is an artistic element in Beniah Leuschke's exhibit at Telephonebooth

ROBIN TRAFTON Special to The Star

THE SHOW

"dictator tot: new work by Beniah Leuschke" continues at the Telephonebooth, 3319 Troost, through Dec. 9.

Hours are 2 to 6 p.m. Saturdays and by appointment. Call (816) 582-9812 for information.

"dictator tot: new works by Beniah Leuschke" at the Telephonebooth features three mixed-media sculptural works and six cartoony drawings on paper, each based on wordplay and palindromes (a word or sentence that is the same when read backward or forward). Leuschke's sculptures are assemblages of mostly metal, wire and plastic that have a grunge feel but without the rebellious attitude that often accompanies this aesthetic.

The 1998 new-media graduate from the Kansas City Art Institute uses industrial discards and everyday items, not to make poetic statements about culture's decay or to comment on the fallibility of high art, but to create three-dimensional language machines that act as metaphors for wordplay. Although his drab found materials are a bit dated, Leuschke's clever use of wordplay adds kindling to the fire. He humorously hints at hidden messages in our everyday use of letters and words but reveals little about his specific intent. Cunning yet cryptic titles, including "denim axes examined" and "goldenrod adorned log,"

correspond with purposefully ambiguous works.

In his artist statement, Leuschke writes, "The work may seem incomplete or imply an absurd function. Its work is play with a purpose." In "phenomenal anemone hp," metal rings clipped together to form a collapsing bag empty into a wire basketball-like net containing two suspended red rubber balls. It is easy to imagine Leuschke thinking of the English language as a playground, ready for a volleyball match. His palindromes are mimicked in this work's

implied movement, as it can be visually read forward and backward. Leuschke stressed the importance of the artistic process and described his work as a never-ending game: "The process is the product." This goal is most evident in "al lets della call ed stella," where sculptural metal

bars sweep, curve, loop and backtrack while a white softball stuck on top of a metal bar signals a dead end - clearly an echoing of his wordplay roller coaster. In his sculptures, odd materials are scavenged, metal bars are mitered, parts are added and mingled. Giving off more visual sparks are Leuschke's bold, sketchy drawings with brown lines and light pink and orange shapes.

The six works on paper, casually tacked to the wall, visually reference the raucous kind of ambiguous

narrative of Philip Guston (1913-80) or a formal surrealism of machinelike morphologies. Strange ideas are embodied rather than illustrated. These are good-humored works based in representation but veiled with abstraction.