{"id":249258,"date":"2026-01-21T03:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T03:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/249258\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T03:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T03:53:09","slug":"clouds-billow-and-caverns-melt-in-gabe-benzurs-mystical-landscapes-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/249258\/","title":{"rendered":"Clouds Billow and Caverns Melt in Gabe Benzur’s Mystical Landscapes \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Otherworldly riverine landscapes unfold beneath green clouds, and uncanny caverns are dotted with cotton candy-like shrubs in the surreal oil paintings of Gabe Benzur<\/a>. With color forefront in his mind, the Brooklyn-based artist\u2019s compositions teeter between representation and imagination.<\/p>\n

Benzur begins by creating scenes digitally, then transfers the renderings into drawings, followed by canvases. \u201cI use a pretty old version of Midjourney because it\u00a0doesn\u2019t know how to get the right\u00a0answer,\u201d he tells Colossal. \u201cI like surprises.\u201d Then, he transfers multiple images into Illustrator, where he makes crude collages and reassembles the imagery until it begins to resonate with a composition that feels right.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u201cPhersipnai\u201d<\/p>\n

Billowing clouds, mountains, and calderas are rendered in distinctive palettes, some of which are more fantastical than others. Works like \u201cUni\u201d and \u201cMenrva\u201d evoke the transcendental landscapes of Agnes Pelton<\/a>, while pieces like \u201cOrcus\u201d and \u201cMania\u201d take on an almost cartoonish quality in their melting, sticky formations that play with our impressions of reality.<\/p>\n

Benzur is influenced by places he\u2019s been or read about while also incorporating elements of cartoons, the supernatural, mythology, memories, anatomy, and more. \u201cI follow no specific visual lineage,\u201d he says. \u201cI am trying to capture what I see in my head omnivorously to create a world in which I want to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ancient Etruscan<\/a> mythology is something of a metaphorical foothold for his imagination, as he considers how pre-scientific societies interpreted inexplicable natural phenomena, such as \u201cattributing anything unexplainable to the acts of the gods,\u201d he says. To someone confronted by something out in the wild that they\u2019ve never experience before, be it a lenticular cloud or a shooting star, there is a sense of awestruck wonder and \u201cblank slate curiosity\u201d that Benzur relishes. \u201cThe sky or a hill or a river could be a god,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

A few of Benzur\u2019s pieces are currently on view in The Invisible Dog Goes for a Walk at Hashimoto Contemporary<\/a>, which continues through February 7 in New York City. Find more on the artist\u2019s Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u201cNanos\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u201cMania\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u201cTinia\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u201cFold Valley\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u201cAril\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u201cAchrum\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u201cOrcus\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u201cSelvans\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>\u201cUni\u201d<\/p>\n

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