#9 (1966) Karl BenjaminClaremont artist Karl Benjamin would never be mistaken for a joiner. The self-taught Claremont artist has always gone his own way as is clear in New York Times reporter Jori Finkel's article in yesterday's NYT:
Benjamin, who was not part of the California School founded in part by Millard Sheets, developed his own style of painting using geometric shapes, flat brush strokes and often vibrant colors that was called Abstract Classicist or hard-edged painting.
Benjamin has since gone on to become one of the most world-renowned of all Claremont artists, mostly by following his own muse. Benjamin's always been concerned with politics, though is work is decidedly non-political. He's been pretty vocal in local politics as well.
During the aftermath of the Irvin Landrum shooting, for example, he was highly critical of the Claremont city government. As a result, city officials never really acknowledged Benjamin's status as an artist. A few years ago, the person in charge of art at city hall decided to not have a showing of Benjamin's paintings, almost certainly because of his support of candidates who might be considered opponents of the status quo in Claremont.
But that appears to have changed in the last couple years, beginning with a Chamber of Commerce showing of some of Benjamin's work, and the new Claremont Museum of Art's inaugural exhibition was a Benjamin retrospective. Not that it mattered. Benjamin's international reputation never needed Claremont's stamp of approval.
...Mr. Benjamin began painting in 1950 while working as a grade school teacher. His principal started it all by asking him to add 47 minutes a week of art instruction to the curriculum.The NYT online article also had a nice slideshow of some of Benjamin's work.
“I bought some crayons and paper,” he said. “And the kids drew trucks, trees, mountains. That was boring, so I said, No trucks, no trees. And they said, What should we do? I said the right thing, even though I didn’t have any background in art. I said, Be quiet and concentrate.”
That exercise — ultimately a lesson in “finding the right color to put down next to another” — is not far from Mr. Benjamin’s own sense of composition. As he likes to say, “Color is the subject matter of painting.”
When school let out, Mr. Benjamin began experimenting with oils at home, at first imitating artists like Miró. He also got to know the Los Angeles art scene of the 1950s.
Benjamin, who was not part of the California School founded in part by Millard Sheets, developed his own style of painting using geometric shapes, flat brush strokes and often vibrant colors that was called Abstract Classicist or hard-edged painting.
Benjamin has since gone on to become one of the most world-renowned of all Claremont artists, mostly by following his own muse. Benjamin's always been concerned with politics, though is work is decidedly non-political. He's been pretty vocal in local politics as well.
During the aftermath of the Irvin Landrum shooting, for example, he was highly critical of the Claremont city government. As a result, city officials never really acknowledged Benjamin's status as an artist. A few years ago, the person in charge of art at city hall decided to not have a showing of Benjamin's paintings, almost certainly because of his support of candidates who might be considered opponents of the status quo in Claremont.
But that appears to have changed in the last couple years, beginning with a Chamber of Commerce showing of some of Benjamin's work, and the new Claremont Museum of Art's inaugural exhibition was a Benjamin retrospective. Not that it mattered. Benjamin's international reputation never needed Claremont's stamp of approval.
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