These days, Benjamin Anderson is looking pretty blue. The artist feels fine—but his nails, clothes, and studio are all coated in an oceanic palette of cerulean, navy, aquamarine, and all shades in between.
“My wife complains that every single piece of clothing I have has blue on it,” he laughs.
From his studio in Carpinteria, California, Benjamin conjures the universal tranquility of water in oil paintings that span from the realistic to the abstract. For nearly two decades, he’s studied the way the refractions and reflections of water provide a “natural abstraction” to a subject, be it a person or object. The meaning of that, however, is up to the viewer.
“It can be conceptual. It can be nostalgic for people if they recognize that feeling when you’re swimming in water, and they can relate to it,” he says. “The cars are a whole other thing; it has a lot to do with man vs. nature—but it could also be as humorous as just giving a car a wash.”
Benjamin got his start in the world of sculpture, studying art at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco before following a professional path into portraiture. Today, that sculptural element is still very much at play in his paintings, as he builds up layers of oil to play on the third dimension.
“Right now, [my paintings] are becoming a little more sculptural in the sense that I’m using quite a bit more oil paint on them. So, I’m adding a lot of layers of paint that becomes this 3D element on the painting surface, which is pretty fun,” he says. “That’s been a new path for me to try and tie in that sculptural need that I have, doing more palette work and moving the paint around like clay on the surface,” Benjamin explains.
The opportunity to explore new territory with his work is a major factor in his relationship with the galleries that represent him, like SmithKlein Gallery in Boulder, owned by Nathan and Ann Klein.
“[Nathan and Ann] are very open to the creative process; they’re open to the idea that artists don’t really want to stay in the same lane all the time, but instead push their creative process in different ways,” Benjamin explains. “It’s nice to have that kind of creative freedom, especially when adding tons of texture to painting—Nathan is just so into that. It’s cool to have that kind of support."
Visit SmithKlein Gallery, located at 1116 Pearl Street in Boulder, to see Benjamin's work in-person, or visit BenjaminAnderson.com to learn more.