Yvonne Benyo

A PEEK IN THE STUDIO WITH YVONNE BENYO

What is your most important tool as an artist?

As a visual artist right now i would say water and my hands are my most important tool especially with the theme I am working on called CURIOSITY. My hands have always been a tool for me because I am so kinesthetic and I get fed up of the brush or spatula and just want to roll up my sleeves and dig in and get messy. I would say I use my hands in pretty much every piece at some point.

As a jewelry maker I would say my Hungarian grandfather's hundred year old hammer. He was a black smith and I use his hammer and anvil to handstamp and distress metal

Is there something you can't live without in your studio?

Music.

I am transformed by it. It is the mood maker for any studio session.

Music is critical to my work because it evokes so much feeling and mood and visual images for me... it becomes cinematic-like and often guides my expression, pace or mood while creating from nine inch nails to something haunting from Sigor Ros

After my father died a year and a bit ago I sat in my studio listening to a play list of all the songs that reminded me of him and just painted and cried and painted. It wasn’t about producing work as much as processing silently what was happening inside of me and the complexity of my feeling. I guess I was working through my emotions on canvas.

What’s the best exhibition you have ever seen?

Visiting MoMA in New York was literally life changing for me because I had researched and loved mid-century artists for so long like Rothko, Frankenthaler, Kline, and DeKooning - abstract expressionist artists.

When I actually sat down in front of Rothko and Kline’s work I was so captivated by the size and depth of colour. People think abstract art is just about putting big globs of awkward marks on a canvas but the composition, colour combinations, depth and choices matched by striking shape and layered staining evokes a feeling and that is what I am after as an artist, not realism, although I respect realism and the skill it takes to produce strikingly life-like paintings.

What is your motto?

“It takes a village” which in my head means on the journey of life it will take many people to raise a child and form who we become on our journey of life. Be part of the village, be open to the teachings of others and choose your tribe wisely.

Do you have any artistic projects coming up?

Curiosity which is a series and a bit of an experiment of acrylic on linen.  It is exploring and getting curious about relationships on the canvas and metaphorically.

“Figure It” is a series of figure paintings which will focus on body image, sensuality and how natural and raw is beautiful.

I often accompany my work with some philosophical rambling and most certainly will do so with these projects.

email:  [email protected]

website: vonnbe.com for jewelry sales

Instagram: @wordsmith_ink and @vonnbeart