Artist: Gary Benfield
Title: Escapade II
Edition Size: 175
Medium: Serigraph on Canvas
Image Dimensions: 25" x 36"
About the Art: Gary Benfield was born December 6th, 1965 in Birmingham. He studied art at Stourbridge College of art (1982 – 1984) and at Wrexham College of Art (1984 – 1986). In 1986 became professional freelance illustrator. After leaving the academic world he set up his own studio near London and concentrated on drawing and painting figures. Within a few years his work was collected throughout Europe and his reputation firmly established. Benfield has a natural talent for depicting things as seen. His work is spontaneous and is reflected by his drawn lines and dashes of color. The figures dissolve in and out of their backgrounds and move across the paper. He paints rapidly and discards most of his paintings and drawings, keeping only those he feels are perfected in their conception rather than overwork those that he feels are not correct. His pictures represent a discrete world of objects which combine figures, mythology, nature, and still life. Despite the casual appearance of his compositions, all this imagery is highly organized, and after long observations one finds the hidden symmetry of the graphic design. For Benfield, the world around him is a continuous sequence of contained casualty. Objects and figures intertwine in his mind, they dance, they fuse and the one adopts the color and life of the other. We are drawn into an intimate world of his imagery, where sensuality and delight in life’s form are combined in flight of frolic and fantasy.