EM: Occupation and Position.
Artist, working and living in Brooklyn, currently showing at Exit Art, New York and at the Westport Arts Center, CT.

EM: Who does the cleaning at home?
Me.

EM: What neighborhood do you closely identify with? What makes your community so unique?
Brooklyn. I feel at home here. We are freaks of every walk of life, living in a town attached to a huge metropolis by a few bridges and tunnels. I love where I live, in a stinky industrial area where the birds sing, where the smell of shit alternates with the poppy seed cake smell coming out of the Polish bakeries.

EM: What’s the greatest item that you found at your local garage/estate sale?
My bike helmet. I got it in the local Salvation Army Thrift store, for free, right before a lady gave it to the store as donation…I intercepted her and said …hei lady, if you give me that helmet, you’ll be saving a life right now on the spot” She was very happy to give it to somebody so eager to have it, she told me It had been hers since the 1970′s, the brand is “Bailen” which in Spanish means “dance” -in imperative verbal mode.

EM: If you could interview one unsung hero, who would it be? Why?
I guess that would be Louis Tardy. an amazing teacher I had in high school. I completely lost contact with him. I would love to find him. Last time I saw him it was in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1993. He could be deep in the jungle looking for El Dorado, or re-staging the French Revolution with some kids in a remote location.

EM: What’s your favorite youtube video?

EM: Where are your favorite local spots to eat?
Honestly, my friends’ houses… but if I had to suggest a restaurant it would be Milon (Indian food) on First Ave. between 5th and 6th St. in Manhattan.

EM: What songs are at the top of your playlist at this very moment?
“NITA” by Young Marble Giants
“Ting A Ling” by Phoebe Jean
“On the Way to the Club” by Blur
“Fluomoro” by Memo Dumay
“Cantan Junto Al Rio y Zamba Del Arriero” de Nutria NN
“Amnesiac” by Radiohead, the whole album…oh well every album by that band…

EM: What is your current bedside read?
Bedside: Then and Now (Hollywood Boulevard) by Ed Ruscha
Love and Rockets by the Hernandez Brothers
Trainride: Los Detectives Salvajes by Roberto Bolaño

EM: What is your favorite city to visit when you travel abroad? And why?
Barcelona is pretty sexy..

EM: What new projects you are building on right now?
I am working on a book that stems from the project Prótesis del Nuevo Exodo, a series of floor rubbings and a solo show in Vienna.

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www.smackmellon.org/picks/benitez.html