May 16, 2026 to June 28, 2026
Featuring Artists: Stylianos Schicho and V Benjamin
Stylianos Schicho (b. 1977, Vienna) brings to jENSEITS a body of work that probes the fragile boundary between perception and reality. Trained at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Schicho is known for psychologically charged compositions in which figures expand, fragment, and dissolve into destabilized spatial environments. His work is held in major collections including the Albertina, Leopold Museum, and STRABAG Art Collection, and has been exhibited widely across Europe and beyond.
In this first exhibition of Schicho’s work in the United States, the artist’s longstanding engagement with surveillance, observation, and the condition of being watched takes on renewed resonance inthe present moment. Often compared to dystopian narratives such as Orwell’s 1984, Schicho’s work can be understood more broadly as a meditation on social interaction, control, and perception.
The exhibition presents a selection spanning both earlier and recent periods of Schicho’s oeuvre. While the earlier paintings are more vivid and color-rich in their execution, the newer works appear increasingly reduced and graphic A highlight of the exhibition is the large-scale, eight-part work “HOPSCOTCH 2”.
V Benjamin (b. 1995, Cincinnati) offers a contrasting yet complementary visual language rooted in intuitive mark‑making, symbolic fragments, and dreamlike psychological mapping. A self‑taught artist who developed his practice in near‑total isolation between 2018 and 2025, Benjamin’s work blends vulnerability, obsession, and transcendence – echoing the spirit of Art Brut pioneers while forging a distinctly personal vocabulary.
V’s process is entirely intuitive. When he begins a work there is no plan. His paintings are an attempt to capture those fleeting moments of thought that we all experience. He wants his works to act as a mirror, inviting the viewer to delve deeper into who they are at the core of their being and reflect on the “self”.
What connects all of V Benjamin’s work is urgency. The paintings do not seek elegance. They seek honesty, and they emerge at the intersection of vulnerability and nonconformity.