ONE MAN'S TREASURE

Phil Bender transforms the ordinary into art

Phil Bender's s studio is a monument to disposable American culture. On tightly packed shelves, a plastic Cinderella doll stands next to a plastic Air-Force fighter pilot, gazing across a room crammed with piles of kitchen utensils, marbles, playing cards, and... well... everything.

"You know how pack rats are," said the 53-year-old artist. "I just get new stuff and pile it up on top of everything. One of these days I'm going to get scientific about this and box it all up and organize it." It is the disorganization, however, that inspires Bender to create artwork out of the ordinary. "I was looking around my studio and thought, 'Jesus, some of these piles of things are pretty interesting. '"

A stroll through Bender's studio can be a challenging but rewarding experience, weaving through foot-wide walkways surrounded by piles of present-day artifacts. His space is so crowded, he does most of his work on a library style table in the hallway outside of his studio. It is there he creates his unusual brand of artwork, arranging the ordinary into simple repeating patterns, which force the viewer to examine the everyday in an uncommon light. Bender's work is currently on display along with New York based artist Jerry Gunn at Rule Gallery at 111 Broadway.

"He's one most of the smartest artists working in the city," said gallery owner Robin Rule. "People don't give him the credit he deserves. It's not about the object, it's about the idea." Bender's work in the viewing room in the gallery consists of three installation pieces and a series of works, which use aligned playing cards, which form simple geometric patterns.

"I see a nice deck of cards and I buy them," he said. "I'm sure I have a thousand of these pieces floating around, and I've had enough sales to keep them going." Bender's other three works in the gallery highlight the found-art niche he has created for himself. The piece Hammers, Axes, Hammers consists of three alternating rows of antique hammers and axes hung on a section of the wall painted with rows of turquoise blue, salmon pink and lime green. The clean linear arrangement of the hand tools contrasts with the noticeable wear from years of use. For Beaded Belts, Bender arranged a series of belts from tourist areas such as Taos, Niagara Falls and Yellowstone. The plastic beads sewn onto the belts provide interesting seemingly random splashes of color.

"I'm branching out with this show," Bender said. "I'm moving from grids to rows and stacks of objects." One piece in the show highlights his older, more familiar work. Card Boxes, a 31-by-30- inch installation, features a random assortment of two-deck playing card boxes, ranging from the nostalgic to the contemporary.

"I'm not trying to put any message across," he said. "It's just a visual kick. I don't know where or when repetition caught my eye, but it did. It's strength in numbers, power of repetition. I liked the way it looked. When I got into found objects, I felt at home."

Bender's artistic role models range from world-renowned artists such as Duchamp and Worhol to Leo Boyd, his grandfather who worked as a Model-T mechanic in Hugo, Oklahoma.

"He did folk art in the yard, and collected signs and post cards," Bender said. "The same things I collect."

Bender's artistic career began when he took an art class at a Dallas, Texas high school.

"The main reason was I thought it would be fun and easy," he said. "My collecting added to it along the way when I started working with found objects."

Using the GI Bill he earned from the Navy, Bender enrolled in college to study art. After graduating from the Metropolitan State College of Denver in 1979, bender worked as a courier for a messaging service, which allowed him to hound for more material to add to his artwork.

"I'm sure they didn't appreciate that, wasting their company time picking up stuff," he said.

Between savaging the streets and thrift stores for found objects and delivering letters, Phil Bender, along with a group of fellow Metro graduates, founded Pirate: A Contemporary Art Oasis. The gallery opened January 1, 1980. During the next 20 years, the it grew to become a Denver institution, and remains one of the most successful alternative art spaces.

"Denver is pretty friendly for that kind of thing," he said. "You band together, you pay rent out of your own pocket, and you can put together any any show you want.

"It was pretty zany when we first opened. We had a lot of punk bands playing at openings. We were rebels." Bender said he never thought about how long the gallery would be open. "You just open it and do it," he said. "Now that it's been around for this long, I want to see it go on forever. I wish every graduating class of artists would do the same."

Recognition and more experience are the only things that have changed for Bender since he graduated from college 21 years ago. Currently, he delivers airline tickets for a travel agency, and still, perhaps at his current employer's irritation, picks up material for his art during his travels. But Bender's drive earned him high-profile exhibitions such as a 1996 show at the Denver Art Museum, as well as a 1998 award from the Alliance for Contemporary Art. Despite his successes, Bender's philosophy on his work remains simple.

"There's so many artists at so many galleries, it's just mind boggling," he said. "You have to make art for yourself, and if people want to buy it, that's just gravy." --Sean Weaver & Photos by Sean Weaver