Ben Denzer
Making Then Meaning
Thesis book can be viewed here.
Thesis talk can be watched here.
RISD MFA Thesis
Image
![Ben Denzer standing on cover of his 200 x 125 ft RISD MFA Thesis book](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2023-05/GD_BenDenzer_02.jpg?itok=qxXLB6a_)
Image
![Ben Denzer's 200 x 125 ft RISD MFA Thesis book photographed from above](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2023-05/GD_BenDenzer_03.jpg?itok=qVWbL_O-)
An MFA thesis book that’s bigger than the RISD library. 200 x 125 ft (opened) 100 x 125 ft (closed). Drone documentation by Stephen Cooke.
Image
![Serena 3, photograph of photos printed and collaged onto portrait sitter](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2023-05/GD_BenDenzer_04.jpg?itok=S4lg4IxN)
Jenni 8
Image
![Jenni 8, photograph of photos printed and collaged onto portrait sitter](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2023-05/GD_BenDenzer_05.jpg?itok=7cvi0pg7)
Printed Portraits (part 2), 2023.
Colin & Lian, Portrait 1
Image
![Colin & Lian, Portrait 1, photograph of photos printed and collaged onto portrait sitter](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2023-05/GD_BenDenzer_06.jpg?itok=H7naKbdr)
Screenprinted Bills
Image
![Two dollar bill, silver and blue checkered patterned has been printed everywhere except for Jefferson's head](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2023-05/GD_BenDenzer_07.jpg?itok=mYtk6EKS)
Printed Coins
Image
![Coins that have checker patterns UV printed on them](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2023-05/GD_BenDenzer_08.jpg?itok=9xOWaL06)
Embroidered Bills
Image
![Two dollar bill that has checkered pattern embroidered onto it](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2023-05/GD_BenDenzer_09.jpg?itok=Dx7SP9kX)
Paper Money
Image
![Paper with dimes embedded within it.](/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2023-05/GD_BenDenzer_10.jpg?itok=zh7Pncd3)
More work on bendenzer.com
At RISD, I’ve been prompted to expand the scope and tools of my practice and to reflect on questions of meaning in my work.
I spend my days making things, but I’ve never really had good answers to questions of why I make the things I make, or what their meaning is. I don’t think there are simple answers to these questions.
I think meaning comes from accrual. From the piling up of time, experiences, objects, and images.
I believe in a sort of ‘coherentism,’ a theory of knowledge that says justification for beliefs comes from the coherence of a system, rather than on ‘truth’ emanating from any one foundational belief. Basically, it means that things prop each other up. I think if I make enough, connections will bubble up and meanings will follow.
I think there’s a power to limiting the number of formal moves I make. I think I gain a legibility.
I think I get something from commitment and rigor. That as simple moves aggregate, within a series and across bodies of related work, they reinforce, and they buoy each other.
I think with quantity, there’s less to explain because more is plainly apparent.
I think design is relationships. Between, people, histories, contexts, forms, etcetera. For me, graphic design is gathering, experimenting, collaging, iterating, and editing. I really believe in experimentation and play.
I think craft is a feeling of process. A felt intentionality, a clarity of relationships, a presence of some humanity.
I believe things mostly live in pictures, that documentation is as important as the work itself. I think images will outlive objects.
I think I am a pile of images and words.