american artist interview by BILL POWERS photography by ANNABEL MEHRAN BILL POWERS — What is the relationship between the octopus and the helicopter in your work? Are they adversaries? STEVE DIBENEDETTO — Not really. I have no specific agenda in terms of how they’re meant to interact. The one commonality they share is a hub-and-spoke format where both entities spring from a central axis. You can see that with other motifs in my work, Ferris wheels and UFOs, for instance. BILL POWERS — It’s almost like a blending of morphology and technology. STEVE DIBENEDETTO — Yeah, that’s good. The octopus came into the picture via a specific line from Terence McKenna, the psychedelic thinker, who referred to it as a possible model for future communication. He was alluding to the fact that the octopus changes more radically in shape and color than any other creature. It can externalize its…