Ben Quilty Makes the World Scream in 'Devil/God'

Australian artist Ben Quilty is making his New York solo debut with Devil/God, a new exhibition at albertz benda confronting masculinity, power and a planet pushed to its limits.

The exhibition takes its cue from Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1928 short story When the World Screamed, in which Professor Challenger drills into the Earth to prove it is a living organism, provoking a scream and violent earthquakes in the process. Nearly a century later, Quilty revisits the premise as ecological collapse makes the story feel less like science fiction.

Known for his heavily impastoed paintings, Quilty turns his expressionistic language toward climate change, colonial violence, religion and the systems of power behind them. At the center is one of his most persistent subjects: masculinity. Cars, a recurring motif in his work, become symbols of male pride and aggression, appearing in place of heads or distorted to absurd proportions. One oversized carburetor scoop becomes so large that driving itself is rendered impossible.

Elsewhere, Quilty takes aim at institutional authority through a carved figure of the Virgin Mary made from alternating layers of leather and plywood. The materials reference straps historically used to punish children in church schools, transforming a familiar religious icon into an ambiguous figure of comfort, complicity and violence.

Throughout Devil/God, Quilty resists easy distinctions between victim and perpetrator, beauty and brutality. Beneath the slashing brushstrokes, mutated bodies and menacing forms are flashes of tenderness and innocence, positioning the work somewhere between anger and empathy.

Devil/God is on view at albertz benda in New York from October 15 through November 14, 2026.

albertz benda
515 W 26th St.
New York, NY 10001