Ben Quilty: Devil/God

In 1928, Arthur Conan Doyle imagined the Earth as a living being, causing a cry of pain. Today, Ben Quilty explores this idea in “Devil/God,” his first solo exhibition in New York at Albertz Benda. The Australian artist uses a spectacular, layered print technique to depict visceral-shaped paintings that question human morality and the dualities of existence. Quilty confronts the viewer with disturbing realities: historical violence, ecological crisis, institutional abuse, and power dynamics. His works, often imbued with ambiguity, present distorted figures, laden symbols (such as a car transformed into a metaphor for masculine aggression), and references to his own journey, marked by traumas related to Catholic education. The exhibition is a powerful confrontation between beauty and horror, compassion and anger, inviting deep reflection on individual and collective responsibilities in the face of contemporary crises. Quilty’s work is free and constitutes an intense artistic experience.