Ben Henderson

I work two ways, the first being the most common approach to art: what I see is what I draw or paint. However, I never try to apply the realistic approach, to duplicate what I see. My philosophy is: Why copy reality? Reality can speak for itself. Reality does its own art perfectly, so why bother?

My aim is to bring the internal to what I see, the feeling it gives me, the movement and psychology of it, whether it is a static object like a screwdriver, or a natural subject like a tree or the human body. Both are alive to me, and the life of it, not the precision of every component, is what I aim to create.

The other approach is more improvisational. I do not plan or sketch out the piece, and use no external subject at all. Rather I use what impulses arise in me so that any ideas are then free to emerge on their own, to deliver themselves from my unconscious unfettered, unbiased and immediate. I have learned that the unconscious mind carries immense creative momentum. I find nature is far more meaningful when filtered through that realm, and form and message come through in the most startling ways.

Often I start out with a single brushstroke and see where it leads me, and usually very intricate shapes occur where l...

BA from Georgia State University
Art Students League, New York: Course work in drawing, color theory, painting, encaustics, and photography
New School for Social Research, New York
MOMA NYC: online coursework on Modern Art (Technique and Theory)

2008 Jadite Gallery, New York, Solo Exhibition
2008 New York Public Library, Solo Exhibition
2010 Artists in the Kitchen, New York, Group Exhibition
2010 Jadite Gallery, Group Exhibition
2011 Jadite Gallery, Solo Exhibition
2011 New Century Artists, New York, Group Exhibition
2011 Art Students League, New York, Group Exhibition
2012 Tribeca Bond New York, Benefit for Rescuezilla
2012 Tribeca Bond New York, Solo Exhibition: “Color Boggie”
2013 Jadite Gallery, New York, Solo Exhibition: “The Water Paintings”
2013 “Hell or High Water” New York, Group Exhibition
2013 “Piccalilli: Relishing Color ” Studio 333, New York Solo
2013 Gowanus Open Studios, Monument Tower, Brooklyn NY
2013 Das Gallery, Group Exhibition, Atlanta, Georgia
2013 Art Forward Group Exhibition, Brooklyn, NY