Erik Benson will have a solo exhibition of new paintings at Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, L.L.C. from September 22nd until October 21st, 2011. Benson’s recent work has drawn the attention of the art media and major collectors.
The 37 year old Benson was born in Detroit, MI and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He received a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Benson had a previous solo exhibition at Brooklyn’s Roebling Hall gallery. He is a former NYFA fellowship recipient and has an upcoming residency scheduled for 2011 at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. His paintings have been praised by The New York Times, The New Yorker, ArtNews, Art Review and the Los Angeles Times.
Gallery owner Edward Tyler Nahem discovered Benson’s work at his former gallery, Roebling Hall, in 2006: “I was taken not only by his technique, but by Erik's clear-eyed view of the intersections of the urban environment and nature - the winners and the losers of this quotidian struggle between "development" and nature, "progress" and tradition. In an almost ironic landscape, we see the push/pull between these forces, how they at once inexorably clash with and embrace one another. Benson's dynamic depiction of this coexistence results in paintings that exude mystique and mood. At times bordering on gritty and foreboding, these paintings can equally dazzle with light, understated humor and the need for inner and outer reassessment.”
The 37 year old Benson was born in Detroit, MI and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He received a BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Benson had a previous solo exhibition at Brooklyn’s Roebling Hall gallery. He is a former NYFA fellowship recipient and has an upcoming residency scheduled for 2011 at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. His paintings have been praised by The New York Times, The New Yorker, ArtNews, Art Review and the Los Angeles Times.
Gallery owner Edward Tyler Nahem discovered Benson’s work at his former gallery, Roebling Hall, in 2006: “I was taken not only by his technique, but by Erik's clear-eyed view of the intersections of the urban environment and nature - the winners and the losers of this quotidian struggle between "development" and nature, "progress" and tradition. In an almost ironic landscape, we see the push/pull between these forces, how they at once inexorably clash with and embrace one another. Benson's dynamic depiction of this coexistence results in paintings that exude mystique and mood. At times bordering on gritty and foreboding, these paintings can equally dazzle with light, understated humor and the need for inner and outer reassessment.”