There is something very accessible about Thomas Benjamin’s work. Bright colour, scattered marks, fragments of painted paper, collage, stars, circles and unexpected shapes jostle together across the surface of his creations. At first the paintings and collages can appear spontaneous, even chaotic, but spend longer with them and a sense of purpose and structure begins to emerge.
Thomas describes himself as an intuitive abstract artist, rather than beginning with a tightly controlled image of what a finished painting should look like, he allows the work to develop through painting, cutting, arranging, responding and often intuitively changing direction. Play, experimentation and chance are not simply ways of arriving at a finished artwork they are really what the artwork is about.
His materials are straightforward paint, paper and an eclectic collection of mark making techniques. What gives the work its character is the way these elements accumulate. A painted shape sits beside a scribbled line, something carefully positioned is interrupted by something apparently accidental. The paintings hover somewhere between control and improvisation, a form of visual Jazz.
There is also a distinctly cosmic quality to much of Thomas’s imagery. Stars and planets appear repeatedly as motifs, while dots and floating shapes can suggest constellations, fragments of imagined maps or objects drifting through space. Thomas acknowledges this fascination with the celestial, but the imagery never feels like illustration. Instead, the stars become part of his personal visual language.
Underlying all this colour is a more thoughtful idea about creativity. Thomas talks about bringing together the playful energy of his “inner child” with the guidance and interpretation of his adult self. It is an interesting way of describing what happens in the work instinct is allowed plenty of room, but it isn’t completely abandoned to chance. Eventually the adult artist steps in, looks at what has happened and begins to find relationships and order within it. This helps explain why the work feels accessible. There is little sense that the viewer needs a specialist knowledge of abstract art before approaching it.
His Instagram presence @thomasbcreative, extends that idea by making the process visible. Rather than presenting only immaculate finished pieces, Thomas shares process videos, works in progress and small collectible ACEO’s ( Art Cards, Editions & Originals) This openness on social media suits an artist whose practice is fundamentally concerned with discovery.
Perhaps this is the most engaging aspect of Thomas Benjamin’s work. Beneath the exuberant surfaces is a continuing negotiation between freedom and organisation, adulthood and childhood, chaos and order. The paintings do not pretend to have everything resolved. Instead, they confidently suggest that uncertainty, experimentation and play are themselves perfectly legitimate and honest places from which to make art.
And perhaps, occasionally, getting a little lost amongst the stars is exactly the point.
https://thomasbcreative.co.uk/
Instagram @thomasbcreative
