Gary Benfield

Gary Benfield was born in Birmingham in 1965. He studied at Stourbridge college of Art and later Wrexham college of Art. He became a professional freelance illustrator in 1986 and joined the Artist Partner Group.

After leaving the academic world he set up his own studio near London and concentrated on drawing figures. within a few years his work was collected throughout Europe and his reputation firmly established.

Benfield has a natural talent for depicting things as seen. His work is spontaneous and is reflected by his drawn lines and dashes of colour. The figures dissolve in and out of their backgrounds and move across the paper. He paints rapidly and disgards most of his paintings and drawings, keeping only those he feels are perfected in their conception rather than overwork those that he feels are not correct.

His pictures represent a discreet world of objects which combine figures, mythology, nature, still life and despite the casual apperance of his compositions, all this imagery is highly organised, after long observation one finds the hidden symmetry of the graphic design.

For Benfield the world around him is a continous sequence of contained casuality. Objects and figures intertwine in his mind, they dance, they fuse, the one adopts the colour and life of the other. We are drawn into an intimate world of his imagery, where sensuality and delight in life's form are combined in flight of frolic and fantasy.