Date: Fri 30-Jan-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Bennett-Aldrich-sitcoms

Full Text:

Mark Bennett: Tuning In For A Different Look At Classic TV

(with photos)

BY SHANNON HICKS

RIDGEFIELD -- Lucyyyy, I'm hooome!

Recall that familiar phrase? Heard time and again, whether from the days of

the original airings of the classic sitcom I Love Lucy on CBS-TV or the

multitude of times it has been seen in syndication, Ricky Ricardo's

now-familiar greeting to his wife, the ever-irrepressible Lucy, is as familiar

to many Americans as the basic layout of the Ricardos' living room: fireplace

to the left, couch in the center, doorway to the hall in the back right

corner, doorway into the kitchen off to the right.

But what was the pattern of the couch? What did the Ricardos keep on their

fireplace mantel? Where was the bathroom situated?

Former television devotee Mark Bennett could answer these questions without

blinking an eye, probably. Mr Bennett could also tell you where any room in

any of the three residences of the Ricardos is located, how large each room

is, even which direction the doors of each room swing.

How about the laundry room of Ward and June Cleaver's home: where was it

located inside the home at 211 Pine Street? Was the washing machine on the

left or on the right? If Lisa Douglas ( Green Acres ) were to look out from

the back porch of the home she shares with her husband Oliver, how long would

the easement in her line of sight be?

The answers to these, and many more vexing sitcom-related questions, can be

answered by visiting an exhibition of the work of Mark Bennett, postal worker

and part-time artist.

As a child, Mark Bennett watched a lot of television. A little too much, some

would even say. While watching the sitcoms -- hour after hour after hour -- Mr

Bennett imagined himself a character of any sitcom. He planned his days and

nights around television.

At age 11, Mr Bennett also began what would become a career years down the

road. During commercial breaks, he would scribble onto any available writing

surface details of the apartments, homes, villages... the main buildings of

each sitcom's setting.

"I used whatever was in the drawer and available during the commercials," Mr

Bennett said during a recent reception for him held in Ridgefield. "I lived

for these families!"

Eventually, Mr Bennett went on to turn his scribblings into full-blown

architectural drawings, presenting detailed renderings of the homes in which

his favorite shows were staged.

Art? Yes, it is contemporary art, a broadly defined genre that can encompass

everything from site-specific installations and old ice skates hanging by

their laces on a nail to yes, architectural drawings of popular television

sitcoms. Entertaining? Highly! Amusing? Yes, as much as the shows on which the

drawings are based.

And through March 15, the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art will be

exhibiting a display of works by the artist Mark Bennett in its Edna D. Leir

(first floor) Gallery. "Mark Bennett: TV Sets and The Suburban Dream" is a

presentation of 22 ink-on-vellum drawings by the artist; the complete

collection, in the works since 1980, is made up of 53 drawings.

"TV Sets" is the first exhibition of Mr Bennett's career. Ridgefield is the

third, and final, stop of a ten-month tour that also saw the exhibition visit

the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Cleveland Center for

Contemporary Art.

Mr Bennett grew up in Chattanooga, Tenn. When he was a child, one of his

parents' favorite hobbies was to visit weekend open houses hosted by real

estate agents. Even then, according to the catalogue that accompanies the

exhibition, Mr Bennett says he remembers accompanying his parents, formulating

new fictional lifestyles for himself and his family as the imaginary

inhabitants of the upscale homes they were visiting.

While studying art at the University of Tennessee, Mr Bennett even made a

balsa wood replica of Ward and June Cleaver's house. When Mary Richards of The

Mary Tyler Moore Show bought a yellow 1973 Ford Mustang, so did Mr Bennett.

For a while, he even arranged his home as if he were living on a sitcom.

"I was trying to find a family and to escape from reality," he told Terrie

Sultan, curator of contemporary art at the Corcoran Gallery. "I watched the

programs over and over, obsessively, and I especially loved the reruns because

there were no surprises."

"I didn't do this for any other reason than I love these shows so much," he

said during the Ridgefield show's opening reception.

Mr Bennett, who continues to seem genuinely surprised at the attention and

positive accolades his traveling exhibition has brought him, said during the

Ridgefield reception last month that he had never considered selling his

drawings for money. In fact, the first couple of pieces he sold himself

brought about $30 each. Pieces today are selling in the hundreds-of-dollars

range.

(Not that those kind of figures are making a dent in Mr Bennett's view of the

real world. When his show opened at the Corcoran Gallery in May 1997, Mr

Bennett apparently did not understand what it meant to be a featured artist at

a major gallery. When he went to see the show the day of its opening

reception, he went in through the front door and paid the gallery's $3

admission fee, just like everyone else.)

The Bennett exhibition is a fun show, certainly. For anyone who has ever

watched television, of any age, the architectural drawings especially will

bring back any number of memories. It is also fun in the sense of comparison

of otherwise unrelated shows.

On all but two of the drawings included in the exhibition, Mr Bennett uses a

one-quarter inch equals one-foot scale. Which makes the Ricardos' 623 East

68th Street apartment seem so much smaller when compared to the estate of

Victoria Barkley ( Big Valley ). In turn, the Barkley holdings are nearly half

the size of the entire island Gilligan and company were stranded on. That's

one big estate!

Bennett is a self-admitted, and proud, former television addict. He went cold

turkey four years ago. The last show he watched was The Golden Girls . Of

course, the only reason he was watching that show, he has admitted, was so he

could draw the girls' Floridian home.

He doesn't watch, or miss, television any longer. He doesn't even crave the

reruns, and he calls people who watch shows taped on VCRs "cheaters."

More To Life Than Television

The exhibit, while its name refers only to the architectural drawings of Mr

Bennett, is broken into two distinct compartments, collages being the second

neat niche. The collages, while each portrays an individual scene, are

collectively titled "The Effects of Fords on Barbara." Barbara is the name of

the mother from Leave It To Beaver ; Ford was one of the show's original

sponsors.

At face value the collage series is an exploration of one woman's fascination

with automobiles. The series is also about the artist's fascination with

popular culture, or the idealized images of life as depicted through vintage

advertising.

The "Barbara" series, which will number 137 collages upon completion, is

another realm of Mr Bennett's quirky sense of humor. And like his

television-based drawings, the women in the collage series are certainly

dated, straight out of the '50s and '60s.

The latest collage is #100; it was completed last year. In it, two women are

discussing their husbands. Woman No. 1 rattles off a list of her husband's

accomplishments, which include being a Rhodes scholar, NWA world champion

wrester, and a Conover model.

"So what?" Woman No. 2 says. "Mine's a mechanic."

While the main character of each collage is named Barbara, each Barbara is

different in appearance.

While Mark Bennett may no longer be watching television, the story lines and

dialogue of his formative (and adult) years are certainly deeply etched into

his mind. With his drawings and collages surrounding him, he can always feel

right at home, whether he is with the Addams family, on an island with the

Professor and Skipper, or in any of the three homes of Ricky and Lucy Ricardo.

The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art is at 258 Main Street, Ridgefield;

telephone 438-4519.