The Handplant, 2026, Video.

Since 2017, Benjamin Sechrest has worked as a video artist. His educational background includes a BFA in Time-Based Art from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. During his studies, he received the Advanced Undergraduate Research Award (AURA) and the Kimberly D. Iles Scholarship. Sechrest recently completed the DWL Artist in Residence program at Praxis Fiber Workshop. His work was featured in 2018 on NPR’s All Things Considered in “Greensboro-Based Artist Transforms Sound into Visual Art” and on the cover of the 2019 High Point Market Accessory Preview Guide.  

Artist Statement

I focus on communicating narratives through abstraction rooted in artistic imperfect dynamism. My time-based art links video, animation, print, electronics, and sound design. In this framework, error, instability, and reduction are used to encompass an emotional state of being. My approach considers blind spots and faulty logic that shape human experience. I visually communicate the seemingly objective yet absurd realities of everyday life. The inspiration for my art comes from lo-fi technologies, analog and proto-digital equipment, and my curiosity about pushing the tools beyond their intended uses through layering tool capacities. Historical video and animation hardware guide my visual language, providing simple workflows with crunchy, raw energy that achieve results not evident in modern equipment.  My artistic practice embodies experimentation, material deconstruction, and sound manipulation to represent a lateral experience across time. The relationship between motion, sound, and abstraction is integral to my process, in which minimal gestures can suggest complex emotional or narrative structures. In my work, absurdism and reduction coexist to allow play and disciplined inquiry to occupy the same space.