Studio Artist Program

Paul S. Benjamin was born in Chicago in 1966, and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1988. He has lived in Atlanta since 2005. Benjamin was named the 2008-2009 winner of the Forward Arts Foundation’s Emerging Artist Award. He uses collage and sculpture to express his experiences as an African American as it relates to a world perspective.

In his most recent series, Benjamin’s sculptural works incorporate found and appropriated objects. The uniform black exteriors cause the shapes to converge and create dynamic abstract forms. The pieces are about rebirth and transformation. In the literal sense, the objects are given new life and transformed into sublime sculptural forms. The works speak about duality: past and future, tragedy and joy, abundance and lack. The objects are used as symbols that represent historical and personal events incorporating spiritual and mythological references.