Painter/illustrator Christine Benjamin, '87 Graphic Design, creates masked super-heroines. They fight pollution (Super Bee Girl). They play the bongos (Bongo Chick). They wear aprons and necklaces while sporting pink head horns. They are funky, whimsical miniature felt sculptures with attitude and loads of quirky charm. For a month this past spring they were on view at South First Street Billiards in San José as part of the "Girl Power" show Benjamin curated and exhibited there.
"The idea for the ‘Girl Power' show came about because there are a lot of women artists, particularly in the Bay Area, who still don't get to show their work," Benjamin explains. "You'd think there would be a lot of women artists showing their work everywhere -- but that's not the case. So I wanted to have a show that featured only women artists that addressed women's issues -- any type of women's issues."
Benjamin's own contributions to the show were sly, ironic, political and unapologetically feminist interpretations on the issues at stake.
"I like to make statements with my art," Benjamin says. "I want to get a reaction -- it doesn't have to be a positive reaction. But I want people to have a strong feeling when they look at my art. There are people who find my art weird. I'm okay with that. I like that reaction much better than when people say: ‘That's a pretty picture.'"
Born and raised in San José, Benjamin is part of a growing legion of artists, working in San José and elsewhere, who are determined to show their art in venues other than what Benjamin dubs "galleries with a lot of white walls." By showing art at so-called "untraditional venues," artists are able to expand their audience and connect with viewers who'd never enter one of those white-walled galleries, Benjamin contends. "Getting art out there for the public to see helps educate the public about art," she says.
Benjamin is an enthusiastic participant in local events such as last June's Sub- ZERO Festival, held in San José's SoFA district, defined geographically as South First Street between San Carlos and Reed Streets. During the SubZERO festival, more than 100 performers, musicians and artists took to the streets to bring their particular art form to the public. Benjamin was one of the "live painters," creating art in real time and on public view. SoFA galleries, including Anno Domini and WORKS/San José, also participated in the revelries, and Benjamin's "Girl Power" show was held over at South First Street Billiards to be part of the festival.
Wherever there's a chance of it being seen, Benjamin is game to show her art. She recently exhibited work at a tattoo parlor in Atlanta and a donut shop in Campbell. In January of this year, she exhibited new paintings at San José's Caffe Trieste in a show called "Real and Imagined Creatures," headlined by a painting of Red Riding Hood escaping a toothy wolf.
Benjamin's mother painted intermittently, so she recognized the artistic bent in her daughter. "My mom completely encouraged me," Benjamin says. "From a really young age, I drew on the walls so, wisely, she started buying me paper." An uncle who was "very serious about cartooning and animation" provided another early example of commitment to artistic exploration.
Benjamin attended West Valley College "to get the general education requirements out of the way," before transferring to SJSU to major in graphic design with a concentration in illustration. At SJSU, she found another influential mentor. At the time, she says, Lanning Stern, professor in the School of Art and Design, "was really into the L.A. low-brow, underground art scene." His enthusiasm for non-mainstream art helped shape Benjamin's interest.
And there was, is, and will be, for Benjamin, the great Van Gogh. "He's always been one of my idols," she says. "The thickness of paint, the light, the color -- everything about his art is just incredible. I admire his paintings and his crazy, hard life."
Benjamin is a member of Heart of Chaos, a San José collective of young artists that, in addition to bringing a network of like-minded artists together, makes a priority of using art as a means to help the wider community. (Heart of Chaos sponsored Benjamin's "Girl Power" show.) The collective fundraises for at-risk youth through its Community Outreach Taskforce. Benjamin has taken part in the Chalk Art Festival and other fundraisers.
"A lot of the money Heart of Chaos raises goes to underprivileged kids," Benjamin says, a cause close to her heart. "By nature, I'm for the underdog." In and out of the studio Benjamin does freelance design and illustration work for the likes of Yahoo, Hitatchi, Addison-Wesley and Apple. Recently, for Hasbro, she sculpted clay circus characters that were photographed for a children's book. In the near future, Benjamin would like to try her hand at illustrating her own children's book, but for now she's concentrating on painting.
Her terrain and privacy guarded by a "big bad tiny white dog with a very loud bark," Benjamin is in her studio every day working, she says. "I work on several pieces at once. I go back and forth between paintings. That really helps me figure out things visually and conceptually. I also do a ton of sketching."
To mix it up further, Benjamin likes to work collaboratively with Lacey Bryant, Michael Foley and other local artists.
"I work collaboratively with artists who are quite a bit younger. I myself have a lot of energy, but those artists' energy and creativity really inspire me," Benjamin says. "When collaborating, you're forced to be more spontaneous. The piece can morph into something you didn't expect or plan for -- and that is very interesting."
San José's art scene has definitely gotten bigger and better in the past five years, with more artists showing work in more venues, Benjamin maintains. "There are so many super-talented artists in San José. You don't have to go to San Francisco to see great art. A lot is happening right here."
-- Kat Meads
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