Caring for you in your own home.
18
November 2016
By Barb Armijo
Albuquerque artist Robert L. Benjamin chased the right light, the right moment and the right color of the aspen trees in northern New Mexico for five years before he captured one of his most beautiful landscapes on camera and on canvas. For it was the photo he took of that moment that gave him the inspiration for a breathtaking painting of aspen trees in full glory against a glistening sky.
“ My sincere infatuation with the beautiful and ever-changing landscapes is renewed daily when scouting for paintings,” Benjamin said.“ Mimicking natural scenery with paint on canvas is a pleasant obsession and an easy experience I shall always enjoy.”
Benjamin recently donated one of his paintings to the Prime Time Senior Expo. He said he always is pleased to share his art, especially with people who appreciate landscapes with realistic elements.
“ I think of my paintings as if they were bright windows looking out into the world,” he said.“ It pleases me greatly when a viewer says,‘ I’ ve been there,’ or‘ I know where that is.’ Being able to share with the viewer a portable reminder of a pleasant past experience is my finest reward.”
Benjamin’ s paintings are depictions of actual scenes in New Mexico. His distinctive style includes a randomness of natural forms and a strong sense of place. The subjects for his paintings are topographical, varied and diverse.
Since moving to New Mexico in 1971, Benjamin has developed his unique approach to art. He worked as a graphic designer and illustrator when he moved here after spending his early career in Pittsburgh, where he spent several years of study at the Ivy School of Professional Art.
In 1976, Benjamin began working under the direction of Master Printer Ben Adams at the Western Graphics Lithography Studio in Albuquerque. He assisted many notable artists in preparing drawings for printing. Simultaneously he printed a number of his own lithographs, selling entire editions of contemporary Southwestern hand-pulled original prints to American Designs, Ltd., a national distributor. Benjamin’ s fine art prints have sold throughout the United States and Europe.
Many of Benjamin’ s lithographs are in permanent collections in museums across the country. The New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe; the Roswell, New Mexico, Museum and Art Center; and the Navajo Tribal Museum, Window Rock, Ariz., all have his lithographs in their permanent collections. He is also represented in the collections of the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport; the University of New
PRIME TIME
Artist Benjamin Brings Landscapes to Life
“ Spanish Queen” Jemez Mountains
“ Sandias” Albuquerque, NM
New Mexico Artist Robert Benjamin
Mexico Medical Center Cancer Research and Treatment Facility, Albuquerque; The Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque; and other public and private collections.
Most notably, Benjamin’ s art can be seen at the Smithsonian Institute’ s National Collection of Fine Arts in Washington, D. C.
After several years working in other art mediums, such as bronze sculptures, he gravitated back to landscape painting, turning to it full time in 1995. He worked with impressionist painter Les Hawks, of California and New Mexico, known mostly for paintings of Southwest Native Americans and Hispanics and for landscapes of the West. Benjamin traveled throughout New Mexico for artistic inspiration from the beauty of its land forms and the excitement of its dramatic lighting. In 1998, New Mexico Magazine invited Benjamin to be the 2001 Distinguished Calendar Artist for its millennium issue, publishing 12 of his pastels.
As he looks back on his body of work, Benjamin said he is pleased that he has been able to do what he loves. He said he has been asked many times why he became an artist. Inevitably, he said, he goes back to his earliest recollections of painting, drawing and being creative.
“ When I was a preschooler laying on the floor drawing, I was happy,” he said.“ I had very bad eyesight, so I didn’ t really play sports or do those
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