Ashley Benton
Through line, form and space, I investigate the figure beyond traditional rendering. My work seeks to capture the essence, emotion or feeling of the subject / object. I want to visually articulate what is around us all the time, but we do not see or notice until we are reminded. My paintings are that visual reminder and connection back to the self, often emphasizing the unreachable and something that cannot be captured or held like stories, metaphors or memories in a permanent state. Making art is the attempt to make the fleeting more permanent knowing all the while it is not possible. “Less than reality more than a dream” is how the artist describes her paintings. Ashley Benton was chosen as one of only fourteen artists in Colorado as an “artist of influence” by acclaimed Colorado curators including an honorary exhibit at the Arvada Center for Art and Humanities.
