Selected Works

IM/MATERIAL is Trudy Benson’s third solo exhibition with Miles McEnery Gallery, where she creates vibrant kaleidoscopic abstractions. Benson’s shape making and spatial logic are understood by the artist conjuring memories of their earliest attempts at abstraction which was done via MacPaint in the 90s. Her work is further shaped by an array of influences, ranging from saturated colors and pop culture imagery to early New York City spray can graffiti.

Her paintings exist somewhere between the digital and analog realm of abstraction. Art historian Natalie Haddad describes this as Benson’s “‘bilingualism’ — a comfort with both worlds that allows for fluid movement between them, which extends to visual perception.”

The paintings possess a unique painterliness which comes from Benson’s considerate understanding of acrylic and oil paint. Benson grounds each painting in a vibrant hue of acrylic paint, then assembles overlapping squares and rectangles in response to each other. In this specific body of work, Benson uses spray paint to create some base layer shapes, a nod to urban graffiti. This culminates in the final layer of forms punctuating the canvas with luscious oil paint.

Haddad writes how Benson “builds her images layer by layer in a process that gestures toward the discrete layers that compose digital art. But the results are resolutely physical, even as she achieves a trompe l’oeil effect that brings hands- on mark making uncannily close to virtual imagery.” The exhibition is accompanied by a digital catalogue with an essay by Natalie Haddad.