Winter News

I’m really psyched to have work in this group show curated by @kenweaverart @14bcgallery in the East Village

Spooky Action at a Distance

Opening this Friday December 8th 5pm- 9pm / 626 E 14th Street btwn B&C, NYC

14BC GALLERY is proud to present Spooky Action at a Distance, a group show curated by Ken Weaver which includes the work of artists @laraallen13 @milliebenson @chbrowningart @cacoethes.png @spitbit @carlagannis @jimbogodwin @marc.grubstein @cmhansen98 @karenmargolis @creepengine @immodium_d @isabelsamaras.art @virginiawagner@kenweaverart @maxyawney @aaronzeem

 Spooky Action at a Distance is loosely based on Albert Einstein's original musings which would later become known as quantum entanglement. This exhibition will expand upon Einstein's "mystery science" to include science fiction, alternative mythologies, new age and cult practices, and the high strangeness dualities of minimal and maximal abstraction.

The show embraces the eclectic where the scientist channels the shaman. This exhibition celebrates the multi-dimensional works of seventeen artists working in a variety of mediums: paintings are juxtaposed with sculpture, emulsion-based tin types are hung next to digital glitch photo abstractions, wall installations merge with sound while the uncanny morphs into the surreal then circles back again transformed.

Spooky Action at a Distance explores art as a physical and spiritual reaction unto itself; one moment of an artwork inevitably affects another artwork within the entanglement of a gallery, illuminating the works both individually, as well as in their collective resonance.

October 27 – 29, 2023 Tryst Art Fair, Los Angeles

I’m pleased to announce that I’m partnering with Gallery70 . I will be curating a booth and exhibiting at the Tryst Art Fair, sponsored by the Torrance Museum of Art in Los Angeles.

TRYST is a new international art fair for artist-run-spaces and collectives as well as an international conference addressing the needs and future of global exchange for artist-run spaces, collectives and organizations, run through the Torrance Art Museum and the City of Torrance. It will be presented in the Del Amo Crossing office building, 21515 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503

-Find more information about our booth at Tryst here

-View my works available through Gallery70 here

Gallery70 is proud to participate at TRYST Art Fair. This fair presents a panorama of diverse artistic voices addressing a range of issues from different types of artist groups, with various structures, that exemplify the myriad ways that these initiatives support and grow the art world.

Join us at Booth 55 to celebrate artists Millie Benson (USA) and Jon Kraja (AL)

Friday October 27th: (preview) 4-6pm

Saturday and Sunday: October 28th -29th: 12-6pm

Del Amo Crossing, California 21515 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, California, 90503

About the Planet Paintings:

Millie Benson's tiny planet portrait series offers a luxurious exploration into color theory, process, and performative painting all while traveling through an outer an inner space of swirls, spray paint, fine brushstrokes, stenciled shapes, and delicately layered painting techniques. The paint is hung on the organic and repetitive shapes of the universe and the geometric structures which represent the ways in which we measure these organic and unknown things in order to get to know them and understand them better.

Saturday October 21, 2023 12pm -6pm Open Studio OHNY

I’m excited to announce that I’m curating a booth at the Other Art Fair for the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The booth will feature works by Millie Benson, Jackie Meier, JC Cancedda and Minku Kim.

 OPENING NIGHT THURS, MAY 18, 2023 6 – 10pm

GENERAL ENTRY

FRI, MAY 19: 4 – 10pm

SAT, MAY 20: 11am – 7pm

SUN, MAY 21: 11am – 6pm

Check out my conversation with the the amazing and wonderful Sarah Rossiter for her new podcast here!

Holding Space

Sunday December 11, 2022

4pm – 7pm 

Vorderzimmer Gallery
280 Van Buren Street Brooklyn, NY 11221

I'll have some, small, fun, affordable, beautiful paintings for sale and this is a really special space to show them in.

Small Works for Big Change / Online Show with the Brooklyn Navy Yard

I’ll be donating to: Razom

Save the Date: ONE DAY SOLO SHOW

Sunday December 11, 2022

4pm – 7pm 

Vorderzimmer Gallery
280 Van Buren Street Brooklyn, NY 11221

I'll have some, small, fun, affordable, beautiful paintings for sale and this is a really special space to show them in.

SAVE THE DATE: OPEN STUDIO with Open House New York
Saturday October 22, 2022 12-6pm
141 FLUSHING AVENUE BUILDING 77 #1304

Art and Artists for Ukraine | Artsy

BWAC is partnering with Gap Inc. to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees. One wall of our gallery will be dedicated to donated artwork from our members and other artists, and 50% of the proceeds will go to the USA for UNHCR fund established by the United Nations to help refugees of the war in Ukraine. Those funds will be matched by GAP, Inc., doubling the aid to these displaced families and individuals in need. This event opens with the members show, April 30 at 1:00 p.m.

Small Works for Big Change

An online art sale and fundraiser organized by the Brooklyn Navy Yard

November 1 - November 30, 2021

Small Works for Big Change features work created by artists and designers working within the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard (the Yard). All works are small in both stature – not larger than 24” x 24” x 24" – and price – not exceeding $1,200. All proceeds go directly to the artists, with all the artists donating 15% of their proceeds to the charity of their choice (identified below with art work). 

Launched in 2020 as a means to support the Yard's artists and designers during COVID-19, the Yard has continued this initiative in 2021 as part of its ongoing strategy to support its creative community in their economic recovery and growth. Work included is as diverse as the Yard itself and ranges from paintings to sculptures to photographs.  

Support your local artists. Invest in creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs. 

A Moment Materialized 

https://www.amomentmaterialized.com/millie-benson

A Moment Materialized is an ongoing exhibition designed to provide a glimpse into this unique moment, a moment shaped by a global health pandemic, a national call for greater racial, social, and economic justice, and a very local and personalized response to living and working through COVID-19.

​Work selected illuminates how creative practices have been affected by this pandemic as well as capturing through materials what stats and quantitative data alone cannot. In short, the exhibition aims to visually capture a feeling, a sensation, a response to this unprecedented time through the eyes of working artists in Brooklyn, New York. 

​Organized by Carli Beseau, Executive Director, Exhibits & Programs at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, on behalf of the organization's continued efforts to support its creative community during COVID-19.

Online Exhibition and Charity Fundraiser

www.brooklynnavyyard.org/visit/exhibits 

Small Works for Big Change features work created by artists and designers working within the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard. All works are small in both stature – not larger than 24” x 24” x 24" – and price – not exceeding $600. All proceeds go directly to artists, with all artists donating a portion of their proceeds to the charity of their choice.

During this unprecedented crisis, artists and designers have been some of the hardest hit economically due to COVID-19. This exhibition was organized by the Yard to support its creative community with direct sales opportunities as well as creating an initiative to help support charities working tirelessly during this pandemic.

Work included is as diverse as the Yard itself ranging from furniture to prints, paintings, and photographs, as well as representing a variety of subjects, themes, and content from social justice to abstract design.

Work will rotate and be added throughout the exhibition with many works limited edition and made available specifically for this opportunity.

Dear Friends, I'm going to do virtual studio visit with Turnstile Tours on Tuesday April 14 at 11am. Because I' m following the "NYS on Pause" order, the visit will be from my house where I've been making lots of tiny paintings.

Turnstile Tours is an amazing business and this will help keep them going until they can do in-person tours again.

The visit will be live and you can interact and ask questions. Hope to see you there!

Use this link to register: https://turnstiletours.com/tours/virtual-programs/

Deep Blue See: An Exhibition for Child Abuse Prevention Month 2020

https://www.artsy.net/show/ground-floor-gallery-deep-blue-see-an-exhibition-for-child-abuse-prevention-month-2020

Ground Floor Gallery has partnered with Prevent Child Abuse America on the exhibition, “Deep Blue See,” to raise awareness for Child Abuse Prevention Month: April 2020. The CAP Month 2020 color is blue so we've invited artists to show their original blue artworks in all media.

SOUL RETRIEVAL

https://thewomensdarkroom.com/gallery/millie-benson/

For Immediate Release:

Millie Benson: Soul Retrieval: A Solo Exhibition of paintings, photographs, sketches and maquettes. Preview: 7 September–4:00PM–6:00PM Dates of Exhibition: 8 September– 26 October, 2019

The Women’s Darkroom + Gallery 36 Waverly Ave., #403 Brooklyn, NY 11205

Open: Thursday–Saturday 12:00PM–6:00PM

For press information, please email: Lisa@thewomensdarkroom.com

WDR+G is pleased to present Soul Retrieval, a solo exhibition by Millie Benson. This is Benson’s first show at the +Gallery and her second in New York. Benson resides in Brooklyn and has an MFA from Hunter College-City University of New York.

In this work Benson uses the idea of packaging and containment to engage with themes such as mortality, motherhood, transformation, and metamorphosis as they relate to the human body.

Benson’s process began by taking photographs of her body, printing them, cutting and folding the images into box-like shapes. This abstraction of the female figure became a way to explore the body in a non-figurative and non-sexualized way. The boxes reference the way we organize and compartmentalize our lives, creating packages for objects and ourselves. Grotesque forms of containment such as prisons, walls, and cages, co-exist with beautiful aspects of the womb.

Benson’s use of the cube engages with the representation of the square throughout art history. The folded images of the female body in the maquettes serve as a reinterpretation of Leonardo di Vinci’s Vitruvian man. Benson studied Ad Reinhardt’s Black Square Paintings, and the influence of his compositions shows in the divisions and foldings of the photographs.

Included in the show are large-scale photographs, paintings, and sketches of the constructed forms. The original box-like maquettes and materials used to make them are on display in a vitrine, along with process notes and sketches. The show is a collection of visual markers and constructed spaces which allow for the immaterial and inspirational aspects of human existence to present itself in new ways.

WDR+G has produced a limited-edition catalog to coincide with the show.  The catalog is 5x7”, 26 pgs., perfect bound with 100 numbered copies. 

Pre-order the catalog here: https://thewomensdarkroom.com/preorders/milliebenson_preorder.html

Lisa Martin WDR+G

PHYSICA

https://www.artsy.net/show/ground-floor-gallery-millie-benson-physica

Press Release

Ground Floor Gallery is very pleased to present a solo exhibition by Millie Benson: a visual artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Benson uses painting to engage with ideas of various origins such as mortality, motherhood, transformation, and metamorphosis.

Artist Millie Benson describes her intention and process:

Using the mediums of painting and photography I’m exploring material and non-material aspects of human existence. I’m interested in the way we inhabit our bodies, move through the world, and the energy we exchange between each other within these two regions.

My image making process tends to begin with the material presenting itself first. Sometimes I might use the technique of registering my body onto the surface of the painting, or I’ll draw structured geometric shapes. The shapes loosely represent the body as a container and they sometimes refer to the womb. They may also signify spaces we create for our bodies to enter into like rooms, bathtubs or beds.

I also create three dimensional versions of the geometric shapes. I begin by photographing myself, printing the image, and folding the prints into box like package shapes. It allows me to synthesize elements of the figure in a non-traditional way.

I’m also looking for ways to explore spiritual components of people in a non-traditional way. In order to generate a fresh starting point I might set up a controlled situation in a space with another person. Using a long exposure, in low light, I’ll photograph us making gestures over an extending period of time. The exposure picks up light and color that the eye can’t. The darkness and the blurring help ease inhibitions it allows us to unfold and interact with each other in a dynamic way. This data migrates back to the paintings.

The immaterial elements present themselves in the paint, the interaction of the color and also the fluidity of the paint and the way it moves in around and through the structures.

This personal iconography and original information informs the larger paintings on canvas . The larger size allows for a more immersive experience for me and the viewer. I’m deliberately orchestrating the elements and I want to avoid hanging paint onto a fully mapped idea. There’s a spontaneity to it which keeps me engaged in a heightened and performative sort way. It’s during this time that I experience my own body and the paint in new ways. It creates new possibilities for approaching the way a painting is made how a painting can function in its static state once it’s on the wall.