Among Friends

Ault + Beck (2019) by James Benning is a simple wooden sign bearing the Joshua Tree, California, address of his artist friends Julie Ault and Martin Beck (in better times, Benning often visits them). When their old house sign grew too weathered, the two asked Benning to replace it. He lettered the sign in the blocky, born-again style of “outsider” artist Jesse Howard, even including Psalm 148:8, a line about storms and hail. (The next day, it snowed—a desert miracle.) The sign