Layers of paint and plenty of (hidden) meaning
Influence, process, work ethic … what else do you need? If you’re Vandalia artist Philip Benton, not much. He had a solo show of famous guitarists at the Schuster Center in April
2016, a reprise at the Vandalia City Office two months later, and another show of mixed-me dia abstracts at the Schuster in 2017.
Currently you can view his large -scale, mostly abstract paintings at The Meadowlark restaurant in Kettering. He and his highschool buddy Eric Kirker spent more than five hours hanging his works at the restaurant on July 8. All are unframed except for one. Kirker provided a custom, red-striped “The Sun Also oak Rises.” frame for
“His workmanship is within 1-one-thousandth of an inch; he hand-sanded the frame five times, both front and back. Finished it with five coats of lacquer,” said Benton. “His work is impeccable.” If it’s true that viewing great artwork make people want to linger, Meadowlark’s owners will be pleased by the receipts. “My high sch o ol art teacher s aid that I was a ‘color-holic,’ and she was going to break me of it. She gave me specific assign- ments where I was only allowed to have three to four colors,” remembers Benton. “But I wo uldn’t adhere to the rules.” That’s a good thing. There are now 28, very colorful, large-scale mixed-media works enhancing the walls. People can admire them while waiting for their Braised Mushroom/Vege- table Potstickers, Pan-fried Walleye and Mocha Pot de Creme. In addition, Ben- ton is also showing a series of black and white works.
“They really look good when they’re dispersed among the overt colored ones. Underneath the paint- ings there’s an immense amount of texture, espe- cially some of the ones” in this series, Benton said. “For me, the texture of ‘Music,’ was the focus of the entire work until I embellished it with the black and a spot of color.”
Benton’s process is fasci- nating. He surrounds himself with the initi alpain tings, chooses one, and starts adding lace, oil pastels, a new color, etc. Sometimes he’ll dream about one, and get up at 3 in the morning to work on it.
“It’s great cause it’s totally quiet, and there’s no distractions. No TV, no music, total silence,” s aidB enton. “And I’ll bring that dream to fruition.”
Benton’s creative aesthetic has been influenced studied art at Washington by Dali, Monet, Picasso, Pol- State University and Westlack and Van Gogh. But his ern Washington University. favorite artist is Andrew He taught special education Wyeth. Benton’s paintings students on Whidbey Island are highly textured with and retired three years ago wide-ranging styles. He uses from Dayton Leadership acrylics, oil pastels, i nk,reg- Academy. The art teacher ular housepaint, finished wanted to spend more time with Mod Podge. on his own artwork and pro
Benton has a bachelor’s vide 24-hour care for his degree in art education from mother, Mary. Complica- Wright State University; he tions from spinal c ordsur- gery due to stenosis caused a near total loss of mobility.
Benton is also an accomplished performance artist. The musician has entertained crowds at Blind Bob’s in Dayton, as well as working a regular gig in Seattle as a Whidbey Island resident.