In Plain Sight
When encountering the work of Elaoise Benson, it’s immediately clear that something is hiding in plain sight. While we may not know what that something is at first, the feeling of an entity lurking within an ever-moving camouflage of color and form can’t be avoided. London-based painter and performer Elaoise Benson allows abstraction to flow naturally over each canvas, coordinating movement without a specific rhythm but with ideas and themes of nostalgia and reflection in mind to keep a steady beat. Benson’s paintings ripple and billow, echoing the coming and going of memories through time. Viewers must wade through Benson’s vision to reach what lies below; what we all have in common. What hides in plain sight is a universal yearning for clarity and pause in a world which continuously lurches forward to no end. Elaoise Benson believes in improvising along, and embracing the motion.
Part One: Who is Elaoise Benson?
Question #1: Who are you?
I’m 21 studying Fine Art at Central Saint Martins in London. In my spare time, I run my youtube channel TheSketchpad Pod, exploring creativity, art and pop culture; and for the past year, I was the president of contemporary dance at my university. Looking after our planet is really important to me, I’m vegan, anti-fast-fashion and my flatmates might say I get quite militant about recycling! If we were to spend a weekend together, I’d probably take you charity shopping, a hunt through some London markets and then we’d go dancing with a g&t.
Question #2: Who are you as an artist?
I often say I’m a painter first, and a poet and dancer second. My practice is always growing and exploring and so I’m always intrigued by new mediums or practices. Moving from calling myself a student to calling myself an artist is sometimes challenging, as it’s easy to self-doubt. But to me being an artist is about the way you look at the world, and how you approach life, not about what age you are, what job you hold, or what type of work you create.
Question #3: What do you think about while creating?
I’m often thinking about old memories, whatever comes naturally to the surface that day. I tend to listen to music too, sometimes pop or jazz, sometimes some nostalgic 2000s tunes. And at the beginning, I try not to worry too much about what the image looks like. I focus on how I’m moving around the painting, how my marks are embodying those memories and emotions. My friends say I often go into a very focused state, it’s almost a meditation. But once the initial image is down, I can open up, chat, and I love hearing feedback as I work.
Question #4: What is something you wish someone had told you at some point in your life?
I guess I wish someone would’ve said to me earlier that it’s okay not to have a set plan of what your ‘going to do in life.’ A lot of the time, someone’s first question is ‘what do you do?’ rather than ‘what makes you happy?’ or ‘what are you passionate about?’. It’s easy living in a capitalist society to feel like our work doesn’t have value unless it makes you money, or is approved by others. This is especially hard when art is so subjective. If you have a love of creating, then create, and enjoy that feeling.
Question #6: Is your artwork for yourself or for others?
I’d like to think my art is for everyone, myself included. My work is inspired by my personal experience and can have almost confessional elements to it. But I think there is a certain relatability to hearing someone else’s story. When it comes to my paintings, one of the benefits I’ve found with abstraction is that it allows people to draw their own conclusions, one that doesn’t have to be too closely tied to my own experience of making it. Yet in seeing a hint of a figure, or object, they may be reminded of that common nostalgia and yearning that we universally share.
Part Two:
How would you describe your work and practice?
My practice is still evolving and more recently I’ve been working with film to combine both spoken word and dance. My work is heavily inspired by childhood memories, nostalgia, relationships, and everyday experiences. My painting process is both choreographed and yet plays with accidental experimentation. Each painting refers back to old photographs or memories; distorted with layers of tissue paper they echo the fracturing of our memories over time. Then with overpainting, and by reversed orientations of the canvas, new images and associations are formed.
In performance, I write poetry and spoken word and translate this back into dance, to explore how my body can convey an experience. Whether exploring narratives of the past or present, my work primarily is centered on the self. I am attempting to carve out space where my body fits, where I call home.
The secret garden, in reference to the 1993 film adaptation I watched as a child, depicts a childhood garden scene. Split into four panels the figures are fragmented and are lost into an overgrown mass of green.
Another garden scene, this time inspired by bluebell walks in the Surrey countryside.
A self portrait whilst apple bobbing at a local garden centre.
This small-scale painting made during lockdown depicts a childhood photo of having tea with my grandmother.
The title of this painting pays homage to my father’s original painting Silver Tears, I Love You by Tim Benson, which is on the other side of this canvas. The painting is a composite of memories between my father and me, and some of his original paint bleeds through onto the ground of this work.
| Where/ How can Vacant Museum viewers see more of your work and where can they purchase it? |
| Instagram: @ebenson_art Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheSketchPadPod/ Email: ebensonart@gmail.com Feel free to message or email me if interested in purchasing any works, prices to be negotiated directly. I am also currently showing work at the Fronteers gallery in Sheffield till the 17th of July, so please do visit if you can! |