JANA BENITEZ
“My paintings operate at the level of sensation – direct, raw and affective – rather than via representations or stories. Through vibrant color and rhythmic gesture, they aim to intensify visceral felt experience. They begin without a fixed plan and evolve intuitively. Luminosity is achieved through a complex interplay of layered transparencies, heightened by swaths of opacity. Marks vary in speed and intensity registering bodily states: urgent, inquisitive, yearning, trembling. Every line, pour, and pull of pigment across the surface holds a different temperature of feeling. The edge of the rectangle – plus vertical and horizontal lines deliniated with a ruler – accentuate the brimming lusciousness of organic form. They echo the question already inherent in the medium of painting: how can aliveness be expressed and contained within a frame? My practice is rooted in this tension between boundless energy and restraints., surrender and control.” – Jana Benitez