Ben Talbert: Love & Luck Revisited: an Exhibition of Erotic Art

Benny (Ben) Jack Talbert                                                  Luck and Love Revisited 

An Exhibition of Erotic (Vulgar) Art                      Robert Berman Gallery Bergamot Station               January - February 2010

Benny was my uncle and this is a showing of his work....  There is a partial exhibition of his anti-war assemblage (which was always on display in his home)  in one part of the gallery.  Unfortunately the "Ace" (the premier piece of the anti-war collection) being displayed in Utah.

But there is a second room filled with the smaller playing cards depicting totally graphic sexual scenes and several larger than life paintings of the same genre. 

The work itself is excellent, tight and has an excellent use of color and flow, but the content is vulgar and not to my taste.  The curator Hal Glicksman notes the work as "Erotic", but I have to disagree....

According to Merriam-Webster: 

Main Entry: erot·ic

Pronunciation: \i-ˈrä-tik\

Variant(s): also erot·i·cal \-ti-kəl\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Greek erōtikos, from erōt-, erōs

Date: 1651

1 : of, devoted to, or tending to arouse sexual love or desire

2 : strongly marked or affected by sexual desire

— erotic noun

— erot·i·cal·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

Dictionary.com 

e⋅rot⋅ic

 /ɪˈrɒtɪk/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [i-rot-ik] Show IPA

Use erotic in a Sentence

See images of erotic

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–adjective Also, e⋅rot⋅i⋅cal.

1.	arousing or satisfying sexual desire: an erotic dance.

2.	of, pertaining to, or treating of sexual love; amatory: an erotic novel.

3.	subject to or marked by strong sexual desire.

–noun

4.	an erotic poem.

5.	an erotic person.

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Origin:
1615–25; < Gk erōtikós of love, caused by love, given to love, equiv. to erōt- (s. of érōs) Eros + -ikos -ic

Related forms:

e⋅rot⋅i⋅cal⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. sensuous, sexy, aphrodisiac, erogenous.

Although, the word relates to sexual desire...the Greek origin included "love" in the meaning...  


I believe that Ben's work had nothing to do with love, but was given to blatant male sexual desire without the least iota of love.  There was nothing amatory about these works of art. It is raw cold calculated maleness depicted in a harsh, angry, and violent manner, which can be disturbing to a sensitive palate.



Keeping that in mind, the art technique is right on top, the portrayal is just as Benny wanted it to be, so then this exhibition is a success
(albeit one that is cold and without heart) even if not to my taste.


What would have made this a better all around show would have been that Hal Glicksman had called those of us who are in ownership of Benny's other works and had displayed them as well.  This would have presented Benny as a more rounded artist rather than presenting him as the deviant fanatic he became in the years prior to his death.