Mario BENJAMIN
“I begin with a formal sketch, I deconstruct it until it is destroyed….and then it appears…within the light.”
Mario Benjamin was born in Port au Prince, Haiti in 1964 and is a self-taught artist. Recognized as an excellent draftsman, he became a well-known photo-realist portrait painter early in his career. Benjamin then broke away from realism and turned toward the abstract. He added found objects, such as pieces of wood and cloth, to his pictures; cut up his canvases; and adopted dark colors and spare lines that contrast sharply with traditional Haitian painting.
The black tones and darkness of Benjamin’s recent productions reflect the artist’s fear of becoming stifled by a society and a reality that limits his reflections, his expressive needs and his individuality. The works show a will to convey the idea that things that appear to conform, or that assume the guise of acceptability, might in reality be very different. At the same time, Mario Benjamin’s life and works show that the untraditional and controversial can also be a source of beautiful and many-dimensional expression.
Mario Benjamin works and lives in Port-au-Prince, and is one of the few Haitian artists to have contributed widely to major biennales and events in recent years;
EXHIBITIONS
- 2020 : « Le Centre d’Art : 75 ans de Création plastique en Haiti », collective exhibition, Le Centre d’Art, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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- 2019 : Galerie Monnin, Laboule, Haiti
- 2018 : « 2.7.1. Exhibition-Sale of Haitian art », collective exhibition, Le Centre d’Art, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
- 2018 : « Re-vizite », collective exhibition, le Centre d’Art, French Institut in Haiti, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
- 2017 : « (In)visibilité ostentatoire », collective exhibition, Fondation Clément, Le François, Martinique.
- 2017 : Galerie Monnin, Laboule, Haiti
- 2015 : « Carifiesta », collective exhibition, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
- 2014 : « Haiti : Deux siècles de création artistique », collective exhibition, Grand Palais, Paris.
- 2014 : « Mario Benjamin à Saint-Maurice. Œuvres récentes. Dessins et peintures », Maison Revue Noire, Paris, France.
- 2013 : BIAC, Bienniale de la Martinique.
- 2011 : Galerie Monnin, Pétion-Ville, Haiti.
- 2011 : 54th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy.
- 2010: Dak'art, Dakar, Senegal.
- 2010 : Le Museum du Botanique, Brussels, Belgium.
- 2010 : Galerie Monnin, collective exhibition, Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic.
- 2009 : Havana Biennial, Havana , Cuba.
- 2009 : « Kreyol Factory », collective exhibition, Parc de la Villette, Paris, France.
- 2008 : Gwangju Biennial, South Korea.
- 2008 : Galerie Monnin, collective exhibition, Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic
- 2008 : Galerie Monnin,
- 2007 : 52nd Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy.
- 2007 : Galerie Monnin, collective exhibition, Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic.
- 2007 : « Fleurs Canibales », Galerie Monnin, Pétion-Ville, Haiti.
- 2007 : « Afronova », Johannesburg, South Africa.
- 2006 : Institut Français d’Haiti, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
- 2006 : Galerie Monnin, collective exhibition, Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic.
- 2004 : Collective exhibition, Hotel de Ville Paris, France.
- 2004 : « Lespri Endepandan», collective exhibiton, Frost Art Museum, Miami, USA.
- 2004: « Etter Colombus.com», collective exhibition, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway.
- 2003 : Art Miami, collective exhibition, Miami, USA.
- 2003 : Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, USA.
- 2002 : Alliance Française, Jacmel, Haiti.
- 2002: Carmen Rita Pérez, Arte Actual, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
- 2002 : Splash, Bourbon Lally Gallery, Miami, USA.
- 2001 : Halle Saint-Pierre, Paris, France.
- 2001 : 4th Caribbean Biennial, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
- 2001 : 49th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy.
- 2000 : Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC, USA.
- 2000 : Institut of Visual Arts, Fort-de-France, Martinique.
- 2000 : «Haiti : anges et demon», collective exhibition, Halle Saint-Pierre, Paris, France.
- 1999 : Collective exhibition, Art Museum of the Americas,The World Bank, D.C. USA.
- 1998 : Bourbon Lally Gallery, Pétion-Ville, Haiti.
- 1998 : 24th Biennial of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- 1998 : Collective exhibition, Bourbon Lally Gallery, Pétion-Ville, Haiti.
- 1998: Collective exhibition, ARCO, Madrid, Spain..
- 1998: Collective exhibition, Caribe Insular Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Badajoz, Spain.
- 1997 : 7th Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba.
- 1997: 2nd Johannesburg Biennial, Johannesburg, South Africa.
- 1997 : Musée d’art Haitien, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
- 1996 : «The Other Journey », collective exhibition, Kreims, Austria.
- 1995 : « Otro pais », collective exhibition, Palau de Vereina, Barcelona, Spain.
- 1983 : Institut Français de l’Amérique Latine, Mexico City.
PRIZES AND AWARDS
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2010 : Prix de la Fondation Jean Paul Blachere de France / Dakar.
Publications:
- A-Z of Caribbean art, Ed. Robert and Christopher, Trinidad, 2019.
- Haiti, deux siècles de création artistique, Réunion des Musées nationaux – Grand Palais, Paris, 2014.
- Simon Njami, La chambre de Mario Benjamin, Ed. Revue Noire, Paris, 2012.
- collection., 7th Gwangju Biennial, 2008.
- collection., 52th Venice Biennial, 2007.
- collection., Infinite Island, contemporary Caribean Art, Brooklyn museum,New york (USA), 2007.
- collection., latitudes 2004 - Terre de L'atlantique, editions Ocea, Paris, 2004.
- collection., lespri Endependan, Discovering haitian Sculpture, FROST Art Museum, Miami, Florida (USA), 2004.
- collection., Etter Columbus.com, catalogue expo, kunsternes Hus, Oslo (Norway), 2003.
- collection., IVth Caribean Biennial, catalogue expo. Modern Art Museum, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), 2001.
- collection., 49th Venice Biennial, 2000.
- collection., Haiti, Anges et Demons, Halle saint-Pierre, Paris (France), 2000.