Steve Turner is pleased to present Soliloquy For Past Futures, a solo exhibition by Chicago-based Benjamin Cabral that consists of a room installation reminiscent of a youth theater in which his paintings and sculpture exist as background, actor and audience.

The installation is an extravaganza of color and materials: blue velvet walls, plush purple carpet, a row of theater chairs painted lavender with pink upholstery, brightly colored paintings and sculptures with undulating surfaces of glass beads, rhinestones, mirrors and faux pearls. Central in the works is a youthful, red-haired boy who is either performing, playing, ruminating or remembering. His expression is neither frown nor smile, but has something of both. According to Cabral, he is that boy, constructed from memory and invention. The works are obsessively and meticulously crafted, flamboyant and dazzling with Cabral as Liza, Bette, Judy and a character from Cats. The narrative in any given work is ambiguous, but as a whole, the installation conveys a darkness just below glitz where nostalgia and trauma intersect.

Cabral (born 1993, San Diego) earned a BA at Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego (2016) and an MFA at the Art Institute of Chicago (2019). He has had solo exhibitions with Lauren Powell at SPRING/BREAK, Los Angeles and SPRING/BREAK, New York (2020). This is his first exhibition with Steve Turner.