Otherworldly riverine landscapes unfold beneath green clouds, and uncanny caverns are dotted with cotton candy-like shrubs in the surreal oil paintings of Gabe Benzur. With color forefront in his mind, the Brooklyn-based artist’s compositions teeter between representation and imagination. He begins by creating scenes digitally, then transfers the renderings into drawings, followed by canvases.
Benzur renders billowing clouds, mountains, and calderas in distinctive palettes, some of which are more fantastical than others. Works like “Uni” and “Menrva” evoke the transcendental landscapes of Agnes Pelton, while pieces like “Orcus” and “Mania” take on an almost cartoonish quality in their melting, sticky formations that play with our impressions of reality.
Benzur is influenced by places he’s been or read about while also incorporating elements of cartoons, the supernatural, mythology, memories, anatomy, and more. “I follow no specific visual lineage,” he says. “I am trying to capture what I see in my head omnivorously to create a world in which I want to exist.”
A few of Benzur’s pieces are currently on view in The Invisible Dog Goes for a Walk at Hashimoto Contemporary, which continues through February 7 in New York City. Find more on the artist’s Instagram.
