2023
Gavin Benjamin
About the Project
In 2023 AIR initiated a project with Gavin Benjamin that explored how new and old portrait imagery could be deconstructed and reprinted in layers, creating new source materials for a series of collage paintings.
Three editions of multi layered screenprints were created as part of the project and an exhibition was mounted in December of 2023.
This project was partially funded by the Advancing Black Arts In Pittsburgh Initiative of the Pittsburgh Foundation.
Printers
Printers included Robert Beckman, Feliks Pyron, Erin Pace, Eoin Guidas, Jacob Perkins, and Jafar Turner.
About Gavin Benjamin
Gavin Benjamin is a multifaceted artist who combines original analog photography and appropriated images with collage, paint, and varnish to create rich and luxurious works that call back to baroque traditions while incorporating elements of current culture to provoke, critique, and explore.
Born in Guyana, South America and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Benjamin received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. During this time, he worked as an interned for the legendary portrait photographer, Arnold Newman. Benjamin also worked as black and white and color printer at LTI and Baboo color labs. From there, he went on to work at Edge Reps and Exposure NY, agencies representing commercial and advertising photographers, prop stylists, and hair and makeup artists. After Exposure NY, he worked as a freelance production coordinator/photo editor with stints at Kenneth Cole productions, Esquire Magazine, Hachette Filipacchi Media, and Good Housekeeping magazine.
Benjamin investigates the intersection of culture, media, politics, fashion, and design, addressing questions that (continue to) confront a men of color in America today.
“My work reflects everything that I’m thinking—it includes everything that I love and everything that I’m challenged by. It’s honest and curious and bright and thoughtful. And sometimes a little dark. It’s all of the things that made me want to be a professional artist in the first place.”
His work has appeared at the Slick Paris, Sotheby’s NY, Architectural Digest Home Design Show, Art Hampton, Affordable Art Fair, Scope Miami, Palm Beach Modern, Context Miami, Context NY, Art Silicon Valley, and the LA Art Fair.
Artist Statement
I am very inspired by the work of artists during the 15th to 17th centuries, especially the Dutch and Italian masters. There is something very romantic, dark, mysterious, and brooding about these works. I find this period fascinating because of the deep, luxurious colors and intense light and dark shadows. I am drawn to the juxtaposition of objects and compositions that come together to tell a story.
