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 Awaits Trial, 2021, Oil, Acrylic, and Photo Transfer on Canvas, 51" x 63"

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

Untitled (Oswald with Rifle), 2021, Acrylic and Photo Transfer on Canvas, 18"x24"
Last Week of Mr. J. Wilkes Booth, 2021, Acrylic, Gouache, and Photo Transfer on Cardboard, 15"x23"

Lee Harvey Oswald is assembling and disassembling his rifle over and over again, sitting on his porch in his underwear

 

Untitled (Guiteau with Brimmed Hat), 2021, Acrylic on Canvas, 8"x8"
Charles Guiteau in Court, 2021, Acrylic and Photo Transfer on Canvas, 5"x7"

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

The Assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald, 2020, Graphite on Paper, 11"x14"
The Final Hours of Guiteau/Garfield, Ink on Paper, 11"x14"
Four John Wilkes Booths, 2021, Acrylic, Oil, and Photo Transfer on Canvas, 18"x24"

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

A Softer Simpler Time and Place (Oswald and Kennedy), 2021, Oil and Photo Transfer on Canvas, 8"x10"

Benjamin Wilson

I Will Never Forget This

Oil and Acrylic on Canvas, 68”x60”, 2020

During the last four years, the president, like many before him, has been the subject of countless depictions in visual media. For a long time I had felt a hesitancy in portraying him in my work at all, as there were already so many artists doing so and I wasn’t sure how I could render him in away that felt original. If I was going to paint him, I wanted to see if I could paint a side of him that I didn’t see others painting. It was the news of his COVID-19 diagnosis that really crystalized this impulse as I realized I would attempt to paint him in a moment of weakness. The title, “I will never forget this” appropriates a phrase repeated numerous times by the president during one of his recent video addresses recorded from Walter Reed Hospital. The composition of the piece is also loosely inspired by a number of historical depictions of the death of President Abraham Lincoln.