Artist and Gallery Committee member, DePaul Vera chatted with Nathaniel Benjamin about his exhibit with Summer Orr and Rita Salt currently up in the Holland Project Gallery. Check out their conversation below!!

Currently showing at Holland, Where the Shadow Catches You with works by Summer Orr, Nathanial Benjamin, and Rita Salt clashes introspective apprehensions amplified by melodramatic lines and gradients. The exhibition is nothing less than stunning, merging Benjamin’s signature surrealist imagery with Orr’s dismantled animalistic sculptures and Salt’s delicate fabric collages – You all are in for a treat. Since I’ve been a fan of Benjamin’s work for nearly three years now, it’s always a pleasure witnessing his growth as a practicing artist as well as his creative and conceptual development throughout each piece. What has kept me mesmerized throughout Benjamin’s progression are his dynamic, varied line work and attention to marvelous detail. I was able to chat with him briefly via email, to discuss a few questions about the current exhibition.

DePaul Vera:

Hey there! I do apologize for the delay; I’m sure we’re all busy. Therefore, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions for this interview. Starting off with the most important one, what sparked, inspired or motivated you to work together on an exhibition, not only in the sense of showing together but also collaborating on pieces together. I believe that’s right, you both worked on selected pieces together and had your own as well? Could you both talk a bit about that as well as how do you know each other?

Nathaniel Benjamin:

I think we both originally had ambitions to make solo work with Holland’s gallery space in mind. So we started talking to each other about sharing the space, and things evolved from there. I’ve always had an interest and admiration for collaboration, as a way of getting out of my head and having someone to bounce ideas off of and discover new meanings to what we’re making. It becomes more of a conversation, a dialogue rather than my monologues. I’m always looking for new ways to find inspiration, so seeing how Orr thinks and how she makes her work definitely helped with that. We’ve known each other for two or three years through Holland and Francesca (my girlfriend). I’ve always loved her work. I think we have similar ways of building up images and our subject matter has some similarities, especially with how she takes a somber emotional tone but is still playful with solemn ideas.

DV:

Nice, I’m enjoying the intermixing of Reno locals coming together, especially for a Holland show which has had such a lasting mark on emerging artists for more than a decade. You know, giving them a place not only to show their work but also a place to grow with an art community and expand their conceptual thinking. Which brings me to yours, Nathaniel, in your statement you spoke of printmaking quite beautifully relating the carving of negativity and the printing of positivity to your essence as an artist. I’m curious for other young artists, how did you reach that point of succinctness or connection to your medium to manifest such a statement?

NB:

I appreciate that. Well, while I make my work I’m always thinking about how the physical actions involved in making the image relate to my life through metaphor or symbolism. To me making art is all about processing my feelings, taking time to digest my experiences and mood. As for the artist statement in particular, I’ve been reworking the same statement for about three exhibitions now, gradually refining it to find what’s unique and central to the approach I’m taking. I think everyone’s work does something peculiar to the artist, but whatever it is that our work does for us, I know that can only be discovered through the making of the work, being patient with an unfinished product, and seeing it through to the end.

DV:

Yes, definitely. I concur that it comes for artists at different pivotal moments in their lives and the only way to obtain such a connection is by constantly working through ideas to get to your best work. So relatable. Well, as we close here with one last question. How does your work relate to Rita Salt’s and did you have any interaction with her before hand?

NB:

I wasn’t familiar with her work before Orr proposed we share the space with her, but I’m sure grateful to know it now. She’s awesome! Every exhibition is an opportunity to introduce new work to the space, the city, the region, and so on. Bringing in a non-local artist expands the terms we’re using (visual and linguistic) to talk about and make artwork in Reno, which I think is really important for creative growth. Rita’s work definitely provided some inspiration for the materials we used, her sort of fabric collaging and such. Her work meshes really well with what we were making work about too, with the animals, symbolism, and narrative elements. We tried to put together a show that was cohesive but also represented the three completely unique perspectives involved. Hopefully, that comes through.

You can make that decision for yourselves folks, the exhibition runs until August 25th with a closing reception this Thursday, August 17th from six to eight in the evening. Come show these wonderful artists some support and take a moment to wander through their combined memories, experiences, and losses.

-DePaul Vera