Rendezvous At The Crossroads

Leonardo Benzant the artist pays homage to his Haitian ancestry, Palo, and the complex relationship between language and performance in his artwork, Rendezvous At The Crossroads, 2018. The artist frequently references Palo, an African diasporic religion that developed in Cuban and spread throughout the Caribbean, within his artistic practice. In using the mythic sigils, gestures, and signs, Benzant becomes both shaman and artist in creating works like Rendezvous at the Crossroads. The artist explains, “My paintings are pulling from sacred drawings, but it doesn’t stop there. I was thinking how when you salute in a certain way at a ceremony (which he demonstrates) you’re now writing with your body; you’re now signing; it’s codified behavior, body language.”