curiosa

I am relishing a book I took out of the library on the art of Barton Lidice Benes, titled "Curiosa - Celebrity Relics, Historical Fossils, & Other Metamorphic Rubbish". I love this guy. I wish I was him. I'm at a loss to describe his work any better than the dust jacket does... I would say he is truly a lover of things.

"Barton Benes imbues mundane objects with the mystical power of holy relics. He assembles modern-day curiosity cabinets, or reliquaries, out of everyday items that have been touched by fame."

The best part about the book is the occasional story he tells about the objects. Here is my favorite:

"I once had an original Picasso lithograph. I say “once” because one night when I was a little high, I thought I was being very clever and scribbled on the lithograph. When I came to, I freaked and realized I had destroyed my Picasso. It hung there like a nasty stain on my wall for about a week. I'd paid a lot of money for that lithograph - like so many others I had wanted a piece of Picasso. Then, either inspiration or desperation made me put it into a blender and grind it up. I got some cocaine bottles and filled them with the Picasso, telling people I was selling Picasso by the gram. After they were all sold, a dealer in Sweden wanted to know if I had any more grams of Picasso. I just had the one left that I was keeping for myself, so I decided to put that little bit back into the blender with some plain paper, and I sold a "cut" Picasso."