Karl
Benjamin Paintings 1950-65
Louis Stern Fine Arts
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Black Pillars establishes the foundation of a clear art to an
African standard. Totem Group III begins the metamorphosis through I.F.
(Interlocking Forms) and I.F. (Interlocking Forms: violet & umber),
i.e., from Picasso to Kelly. |
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How far this had risen, what an eminence it had attained several years
before, may be seen in Red Sun/Blue Moon. And now we have defined some
early parameters (this painting is a Klee Arab City) let us go on and note
the definite landscape of Benjamin. Landscape Forms is made up of
collapsible pillow forms delimiting a red gulch. We’re almost there. VS
#1 is made of vertical bands of color, very particularly organized as
color harmonies not dripped à la Louis. And for this purpose
let’s stop at VS #2, a black latticework anchored at two edges,
from which color springs optically. Artful precision is the
name of the game here. It must be simple and clear, evidently, so that color
does all the pussyfooting, like wit in the actor’s mouth. There are other
foundations, other mirrors and mazes. Prismatic rhythms symmetrical or not,
foreshaping Patrick Hughes. Again the ultimate refinement of Cubism, or the
broadly intersecting forms (with gold) of Easter, leading to an
independent expression, the key abstractions #26 and #27 in
contrasting colors, orange and green or blue and purple. The artist, keen and
soft-spoken, sat in the crowded room conversing with the public under #9
in white and red and pink effecting “hearts” imagery with the
shape of the numeral, before the picture window. Jesus walked among the
disciples that first Easter. They did not recognize him, and he elicited from
them all the sad news. That was the sense of humor Jesus had.
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