Organic and free flowing are two words to describe the work of Simone Benjamin hanging in the Station House Gallery this month, but the work is much more complex than those three words can describe.
The exhibition of Benjamin’s work is intermingled with the work of Mo Hamilton, a Prince George Artist in a joint exploration in abstract expressionism called Repose and Awakening.
The state of repose is revealed through a reduced palette of shapes and colours to convey a feeling of underground stillness, the artists say in the description of their show.
The state of awakening is represented through an explosion and overabundance of colours and shapes, allowing fragments of the visible natural world to coalesce into a chaotic symphony.
Simone works in a variety of media, contrasting the lightness of watercolours with the heaviness of oil and acrylics.
Her work has evolved through deep introspection and a love for organic gardening which she described on opening night.
Living a life close to the wilderness near McLeese Lake, away from city’s built up areas, Benjamin says that her art naturally tends to revolve around organic structures and energy states in nature.
Born in Germany, Benjamin holds a degree in Graphic/Communication Design from the University of Applied Sciences, Mannheim and has worked as a graphic designer in the scientific publishing industry for many years.
Now she is a full-time artist.
She first developed her love of painting as a child moving between Germany and West Africa where she discovered she could create her own worlds as the outside world changed.
Benjamin’s work can be found in collections on Canada’s East Coast as well as in Germany.