Submit a bio  

Artist Biography & Facts
Christopher Ward Benson

Christopher Ward Benson (Born 1960) is active/lives in New Mexico, California.  Christopher Benson is known for Interior, landscape and seascape painting.

With a special sensitivity to color and painted surface, Christopher Benson unites representation with modern aesthetics. The components that Benson says must exist in his work, "gestural brush marks, planes of colors, process, and articulated structures," become the ordering principles for his contemporary scenes. Although the familiarity in his paintings begs narrative interpretation, the constructed nature of Benson's compositions pulls focus to his color and sense of balance. Benson wants us to consider, above all, the formal elements.

Benson's unique approach to the Southwestern landscapes features the rich and sensuous palette naturally seen in the area, over the exaggerated colors favored by many Southwestern scene painters. Benson depicts and interprets the world we live in with simplified geometric form and rich paint application, turning it into a study in aesthetics. Even in his interior scenes, Benson's style remains a modernist-inflected interpretation, in which h   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 3095 characters.]  Artist bio

Artist auction records

.  askART's database currently holds 2 auction lots for Christopher Ward Benson (of which 2 auction records sold and 0 are upcoming at auction.)

Artist artworks for sale and wanted

.  There are 0 artworks for sale on our website by galleries and art dealers . There are 1 galleries and art dealers listing works of art by Christopher Ward Benson as either "Wanted" or "For Sale" .

Research resources

.  askART lists Christopher Ward Benson in 0 of its research Essays. Christopher Ward Benson has 1 artist signature examples available in our database.





Copyright © 1999-2024 askART.com and underlying auction houses. All Rights Reserved. Digital copying of these images and content strictly prohibited; violators will be subject to the law including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Facts about Christopher Ward Benson

   Christopher Ward Benson  Born:  1960 - Providence, Rhode Island
Known for:  Interior, landscape and seascape painting

Biography from LewAllen Galleries

With a special sensitivity to color and painted surface, Christopher Benson unites representation with modern aesthetics. The components that Benson says must exist in his work, "gestural brush marks, planes of colors, process, and articulated structures," become the ordering principles for his contemporary scenes. Although the familiarity in his paintings begs narrative interpretation, the constructed nature of Benson's compositions pulls focus to his color and sense of balance. Benson wants us to consider, above all, the formal elements.

Benson's unique approach to the Southwestern landscapes features the rich and sensuous palette naturally seen in the area, over the exaggerated colors favored by many Southwestern scene painters. Benson depicts and interprets the world we live in with simplified geometric form and rich paint application, turning it into a study in aesthetics. Even in his interior scenes, Benson's style remains a modernist-inflected interpretation, in which he contrasts the hard-edged, almost color-field background information with the highly concentrated visual content in his focal subject in the more organic forms of the figure.

Born in Providence, RI, in 1960 to two artist parents, Benson later attended the Rhode Island School of Design for three years before heading to New Mexico and California to pursue painting and continuing education on his own. Benson returned to RISD to complete his BFA Painting in 2005 after receiving the Pollack-Krasner Foundation Painting Fellowship in 2001.

Benson's work is housed in important collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art.


Biography from The Fisher Press – Gallery, Fine Books and Prints

BORN - Providence, RI, 1960


EDUCATION

1979-1982 - RISD, Painting

2004-2005 - RISD, BFA Painting


GRANTS/FELLOWSHIPS

2001-2002 - Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Painting Fellowship


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010 - Christopher Benson and Thayer Carter, The Fisher Press, Santa Fe, NM

2008 - The Printed Picture, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

2008 - West of the Hudson and North of Forty, Working Artist's Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2005 - RISD Senior Invitational Exhibition, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI

2004 - Views from Big Spaces, Owings-Dewey Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

2003 - Christopher Benson and John Beerman, Virginia Lynch Gallery, Tiverton, RI

2003 - Annual Juried Members Show, Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI

1999 - Grand opening exhibition, Tercera Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2000 - Contemporary American Painting, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

1999 - Christopher Benson and John McCormick, Tercera Gallery, Los Gatos, CA

1992 - 167th Annual Juried Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, NY

1989 - Featured Artist, LewAllen-Butler Gallery, Santa Fe, NM


PUBLICATIONS

2008 - The Printed Picture, by Richard Benson, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC

2007- Balancing the Tides, A Newport Journal of Art and Literature

2004 - Art New England, regional reviews


** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at [email protected].

Share an image of the Artist: [email protected].
Top