Benji Alexander Paulus

The Artist Alison Lowery in Her Studio
Oil on Canvas
6x4 Inches

Benji Alexander Palus is a painter of closeness; intimacy. His work stands out within the genre of figurative realism for the natural, un-posed feel of his subjects. This is because his oil paintings are extensions of his personal relationships with the handful of close friends that he uses as models. He discards the formalities of classical poses and symbolism in order to better speak to who these women really are, without projecting his own ideals and romanticisms onto them.

Palus' work has been lauded for the deep connection that viewers feel with his figures, earning him a place in some of the most celebrated exhibitions and venues of contemporary realism today.

“It's difficult to convey the importance of my friendships with these few women who inspire me to paint. They are my art. They inspire me with the very fabric of who they are, down to their core – the way they love and live their lives, raise their families, overcome hardship and tragedy. There is a lot of romance in our friendships, but in a platonic sense - the romance of dancing in the rain, sharing a bottle of wine on an old bridge over a canal in Venice in the middle of the night, watching the setting sun in lonely desert hills, or drinking wine with cheese until the sun rises, and always just the two of us. No one else is there to dilute the intensity of the meaning we find in each others' existence in that place and time. And then, they go back to their busy lives, and I go into the studio where they basically become my life. As we all get older it gets harder to spend time together but when we do, something just clicks. We talk and laugh and often cry. The camera comes out (I use my photographs as painting references) and magic happens. Each experience, each moment with them means so much to me that I don't know how to express it except through painting, which is my most important reason for being. I used to wonder whether they mean so much to me because of my need to paint them or if I need to paint them because they mean so much to me, but really it's all one and the same. Painting has become such a personal endeavor for me that I can't imagine doing it any other way or for any other reason.”