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Podcasts Off-Ramp
RIP Karl Benjamin, art trailblazer, "hard-edge" but happy
Off-Ramp with John Rabe Hero Image
(
Dan Carino
)
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.

This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.
Nov 5, 2011
Listen • 2:51
RIP Karl Benjamin, art trailblazer, "hard-edge" but happy
RIP Karl Benjamin, post-war art trailblazer: "I can think of no other artist whose paintings exude the joy and pleasure of being an artist with more intensity than Karl Benjamin."
Stage II, 1958, Karl Benjamin
Stage II, 1958, Karl Benjamin
()
81-year old Karl Benjamin, a "hard edge" abstract painter, who was on the leading edge of California Cool. His work is part of OCMA's"Birth of the Cool" exhibit. With Off-Ramp's John Rabe and Queena Kim.
81-year old Karl Benjamin, a "hard edge" abstract painter, who was on the leading edge of California Cool. His work is part of OCMA's"Birth of the Cool" exhibit. With Off-Ramp's John Rabe and Queena Kim.
(
Julian Bermudez
)
Poster for Karl Benjamin exhibition at the Esther-Robles Gallery in Los Angeles, 1964.
Poster for Karl Benjamin exhibition at the Esther-Robles Gallery in Los Angeles, 1964.
(
Karl Benjamin, Getty Research Institute, Gift of Michael Asher
)

RIP Karl Benjamin, post-war art trailblazer: "I can think of no other artist whose paintings exude the joy and pleasure of being an artist with more intensity than Karl Benjamin."

UPDATE: Karl Benjamin died July 26, 2012, at the age of 86.

Pacific Standard Time is the huge art project that tells the story of Southern California's rightful place as a leader in Modern Art. One of the featured post-war trailblazers is Karl Benjamin, who lives in Claremont and who painted in what came to be called the Hard Edge style.

Hard Edge sounds harsh, but Benjamin's works are riots of colors getting along very well; it's just the borders between them that are hard. One art critic, Dave Hickey, wrote "I can think of no other artist whose paintings exude the joy and pleasure of being an artist with more intensity than Karl Benjamin."

Off-Ramp host John Rabe talked with Karl Benjamin at the Orange County Museum of Art's "Birth of the Cool" exhibit in 2007, where he learned he wasn't just a painter, but an enlightened teacher, too.