Trudy Benson. "Scratchpad". 32.5" x 23". Signed edition of 50. $200. Initially inspired by digital imaging software, Trudy Benson’s unique application of oil and acrylic to canvas references both MS Paint and graffiti while anchored to the tradition of modernist painting. Using contrasting complementary colors and squeezing paint straight from the tube, her sportive yet skillful paintings exhibit a sort of "flamboyant restraint", to quote Hyperallergic. Benson activates a feeling of distance between the foreground and background by overlapping layers of thick paint, the result a tableau of gesture that jumps off canvas. Scratchpad is the first example of Benson's experimentation with airbrush underpainting of ‘doodles and squiggles’, becoming the catalyst for a new body of work which she will present at Lisa Cooley in April.
