BENJAMIN WILSON
“Some think me a devil, some a lunatic, some an inspired patriot.”
-Charles J. Guiteau
The intent of this series is to explore the rare but deeply impactful phenomena of American Presidential Assassinations, through the lens of painting, drawing, and mixed media work. My occupation with said subject is rooted in my belief that these events perfectly encapsulate the deeply destructive synthesis of American idealism and American tendencies toward violence. Woven throughout these stories I have found themes of idolatry, loss, and the all-too American conception that somehow murder is a solution. Through use of multiple mediums and treatments of form and figure I seek to visually convey the complications of morality and perspective that are so present in this subject. I have also made frequent use of appropriation and adaptation in this series in an attempt to reference and also subvert the historical use of images used.
Images and videos may be clicked to enlarge, feel free to view the accompanying film at any time, or let it play as you scroll
Leon Czolgosz is shooting William McKinley in Buffalo
McKinley’s body slumps, bleeding to the floor as Czolgosz is set upon by the crowd
The President’s body is in the ground now, as several sketches and paintings are done of the event and an “x” is drawn at the point in the floor where the shooting took place and Czolgosz’s body is in the ground now, having been executed at Auburn Prison by way of the electric chair, a device designed by a dentist
The use of the electric chair has been made possible by research funded by Thomas Edison
Hundreds of stray dogs have been electrocuted in the process of experimentation
Less than a year after McKinley is murdered and Czolgosz is murdered, the Edison Manufacturing Company produces a short film reenacting Czolgosz’s execution
What makes something an execution and not just a murder? What makes something an assassination and not just a murder?
Charles Guiteau is finding another hole in his shoe
Charles Guiteau is then getting said shoes shined with money he doesn’t have
Charles Guiteau’s brain is in a jar in Philadelphia and his skeleton is in a drawer in Baltimore
Lee Harvey Oswald is assembling and disassembling his rifle over and over again, sitting on his porch in his underwear
Guiteau is borrowing fifteen dollars from a relative and purchasing a revolver with the express intention of killing James Garfield, he elects to buy one with an ivory handle as opposed to a wood one “on account it would look better in a museum”
The gun is exhibited briefly in the Smithsonian museum, but eventually displaced and never found
The train station where Guiteau shoots Garfield is now the National Gallery of Art
Decades after John Wilkes Booth has died, a house painter known to drunkenly quote Shakespeare poisons himself
He leaves behind a note claiming to be John Wilkes Booth, saying that he has evaded capture for forty years
His mummified body tours America in a sideshow
A Softer, Simpler Time & Place
