As a teenager he made the U.S. Olympic speed skating team, while smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
Around this time in his life Beneš would sneak out and go to a mob-run gay bar named New Colony.
His art revolved around clever artistic puns (i.e. a book nailed shut in protest of freedom of speech).
During this time he and his aunt Evelyn, who was interested in the stories of Barton's life in New York, would exchange letters.
Beneš made "museums" somewhat in the style of Joseph Cornell, which incorporate into shadow boxes bits and pieces that reveal the myths and ironies of life.
The fragments in Beneš's museums often involve famous people and events, as do the sixteen collaged bits in this print, from a piece of Elizabeth Taylor's shoe to a crumb from the wedding cake of the Prince of Wales.
Before retrieving the bleach however, he began to focus on the idea that his blood contained a dualistic meaning.
During the first showing of his exhibit in 1990 his pieces were disinfected at 160 degrees in a hospital oven while in Lund, Sweden due to the extreme level of discomfort that the patrons were experiencing.
He would inflict symbolic violence on a judgemental society, his works of art showing the lethality of a disease.
[3] Beneš's apartment in New York contained his collection of over $1 million worth of African, Egyptian, and contemporary art, as well as his own.