Stage II 1958

Karl Benjamin made this painting, Stage II, with clean lines and cool colours that vibrate and hum. Imagine Benjamin at his easel, moving tape around to make perfect edges, carefully filling in each section to create a sense of balance, harmony, and rhythm. I wonder what it might have been like to make this, the material aspects of painting, such as the texture, color, surface, and the physicality of the medium… In this painting the flat, smooth surfaces showcase a real precision, with lines and colors arranged thoughtfully to invite you into its orderly world. It's like looking at a building facade or geometric puzzle, where each color interacts and affects the others. Benjamin was part of a group of artists exploring hard-edge abstraction in California, building on ideas from the Bauhaus and European modernism. These artists are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. Painting is a form of embodied expression that embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.