Review

Creative Hodge Podge

"St. Apollinaire"

 

When other youngsters went to the band room, he headed to the art room. Greg Benson recalls being selected in kindergarten help with a rotunda mural. It had to do with Cincinnati burning and was strange. It must have been an influence.

Tucson writer and photographer Bill Beaver writes: "Art has been a facet of Greg's life for as long as he can remember. He grew up in Rural Ohio among an extended family. His ancestry includes Cherokee, Shawnee and a father who was a first generation American, a Swede. Greg's fascination with family and America's real history motivates a passion that emerges on his canvases, as do music, literature and life."

At Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, Greg took every studio and fine art course available. A prof urged students to bring in music to work by. "Benson is early in the alphabet. I was the second to provide music," Greg says. He chose Japanese Koto music, another indication of the diversity of his interests.

Moving to Boston, Greg set out to become a restorationist but soon realized he wanted to do his own work. He lived in several places. About 17 years ago Greg and his wife, while on an Arizona hike, took a wrong turn and ended up not far from Sasabe on a ranch. This 100-square-mile working ranch with about 30 residences is now home.

 

Here, he pursues his multi-directional interests -- French literature, history, archaeology and metaphysical bents. He gives his mind total vent to explore, express hero characters with an ability to change. "Sometimes, while reading, I think 'yes!' This needs to be documented and I get totally immersed. I can't do anything but be an artist. This is me."

He sketches in notebooks, drawing on them later for images to fit a specific painting. He's done sculpture, watercolor, pastel. Now, he uses mostly acrylics, sometimes mixing oils and pastels. He doesn't use stretched canvas, brushes or an easel. Instead, he uses saguaro rib tool "pens" to achieve a unique textural quality. He also works in fragments. "My work is a hodgepodge, cutups literally," he added. "Often, when I'm finished, what is left becomes the beginning of the next piece."

According to Beaver: "In his painting, "St. Apollinaire," an orange striped cat with a huge white face stands below a field of stars. What appears to be an aerial view of a road becomes a truck. An outline of a pot is drawn around the bottom. A toothy red fish with legs, a long car with for doors on one side and a stack of four apartments surround a dark green space. A scratched human figure sans arms completes the almost mythical creation. Across the top the word Appollinaire deliberately misspelled. One might call the piece barely readable, obscure. The overall effect suggests old memories telling a story."

Greg likes just placing completed unframed canvas on a wall or other surface, a bit like displaying a buffalo hide. He leaves the framing to the gallery. Eleanor Jeck Gallery handles his work.

-- by gaël P. Mustapha

Arizona Arts, winter 2000-2002