Painting the People, One Face at a Time
We're happy to welcome Conde Nast Traveler writer and editor Sara Tucker to the DT. Sara didn't have to go very far for her first post. Read on.
by Sara Tucker
True story: Back when I was running safaris in Tanzania I went over to my friend Buck's house one day and there in Buck's living room was a gi-normous portrait of a Masai warrior that was like nothing I'd ever seen before (and I've seen plenty of Masai-warrior portraits, which are as plentiful in Tanzanian tourist stops as ticks on a hyena). This one was arresting, and not just because it was taking up so much space in Buck's modest little hovel.
Its maker was an amiable American by the name of Stephen Bennett, and he too was taking up a lot of space, mostly vertical, in Buck's living room. We chatted for a while about all the different countries he'd visited in his quest to paint indigenous peeps, then we bragged about all the tropical diseases we'd acquired in our respective travels, and finally we parted company. That was in 2001.
Now for the important part: A few days ago, I walked into Conde Nast's Times Square office building, and there in the soaring lobby were dozens of humongous portraits that could only have been done by the same man. The faces were from all over the world (Namibia, Australia, Papua New Guinea), and the accompanying brochure explained that the painter had spent several months in each of 25 countries while painting them (his eventual goal: 1,000 portraits). "I hope my portraits reveal that every single person of every race and culture is inter-connected, indispensable and radiant with astonishing beauty," the artist was quoted as saying. Apt words, certainly, for the pig-fat-and-charcoal-smeared visage of the Waikondo warrior shown above, whose seven-foot-high portrait I humbly stood before. (It's one thing to see a bitty photo on your laptop and another to encounter the real deal.)
Before getting on the lobby elevator (I was on my way to work), I scrawled a message to the painter in the exhibit's guest book: "Didn't I meet you seven years ago at Buck Tilly's house in Arusha?"
A few days later, Stephen Bennett called me, and we met at 4 Times Square, where the exhibit, Kinship, is open to the public now through June 12.
Go see it, if you possibly can. Bonus: If you're there between 6 and 9 on closing day, you can meet the artist in person. Having done so twice now, I can recommend the experience. Meeting Stephen Bennett, like seeing his paintings first-hand, has a way of making you feel much, much better about the human race. Plus, I'm told there will be free food at the event.
PS: It's worth reading what the exhibit's curator says about "Kinship": "These huge heads, tribal faces that our society considers primitive and 'other,' enter our space with an exuberant, monumental presence. In their piercing frontal gaze we experience the shock of recognizing ourselves . . . even more, they seem to be observing us, peering into our reality as visitors from afar . . . we become the specimens on exhibit. We are the curiosity, they are the norm. . . . Bennets work truly shows us that we are part of the family of man, perhaps as we would be perceived by extraterrestrials, the differences between us little more than quirks of culture."
PPS: I offered to trade my husbands Harley for one of the canvases, but Stephen's assistant just laughed.
Charcoal and Blue Skies: This portrait of a Waikondo warrior (acrylic, 80 x 64) is included in Kinship an exhibit of work by Stephen Bennett on view in New York City until June 12, when a meet-the-artist closing event will take place from 6 to 9 p.m
100 Mile Smile: Portrait of a Barabaig woman,Tanzania, by Stephen Bennett (acrylic, 80x64).
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