Arizona Artists Bring ‘Touch of Pop’ to Scottsdale
Royse Contemporary presents “Touch of Pop,” the joint exhibition of artists Nigel Clouse and Benjamin Goens, showcasing their latest work. The show highlights a selection of pop surrealistic digital composites and multi layered mixed media stencil paintings infused with Pop Art.
“Popular Art was dominant movement in early 1960s American art, widely recognized and is easily accessible with diverse audiences around the world,” says Nicole Royse, curator. “Its use of common household objects, consumer products and forms of media, creates mass appeal not to mention greatly inspired both artists and the overall direction of their work.”
Clouse is a Phoenix-based artist known for his pop surrealistic digital composites incorporating femmes fatales, pop culture references and dystopian themes. He combines graphic elements to form alternate realities where the fabled American Dream exists only in myth. His work is based upon a childhood spent in a section of the American Midwest commonly referred to as the Rust Belt. The rural landscape of his youth is juxtaposed with the urban environments he currently inhabits working for corporate America.
“My work is influenced by classic film, literature, television, science, technology and social commentary,” says Clouse. “I create art to share my misanthropic perspective with the world and to provide social commentary on personal experiences.”
Clouse received his Bachelors of Art in Digital Design from the Art Academy of Cincinnati and he has worked as a creative for over a decade in the American Southwest.
Benjam, Duke, 36 x 24,” aerosol on wood panel
Goens, known as Benjam, is a stencil artist based in Gilbert, Ariz. He creates mixed media original artwork utilizing hand-cut stencils, oil and aerosol paints on canvas. His process includes up to 20 hand-cut stencil layers in a single image, used to apply vast colors of aerosol paints as well as various other mediums to create photorealistic tonal gradations in his imagery. He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree in Art History from Arizona State University and traveled extensively across Europe to study the art of classical antiquity and European masters.
“I have always held a fascination for hip-hop culture, graffiti and the evolution of street art which inspired me to begin cutting my first stencils in 2008,” says Goens. “It wasn’t until 2014 that I began further experimenting with stencils and ultimately production of his own multilayered artwork, learning to cut intricate stencils to create detailed depictions of his subjects.”
In 2018, he was a recipient of the inaugural Carmody Foundation Grant Project and recently participated in the inaugural Phoenix Mural Festival. Benjam has shown his work extensively in both solo and group exhibitions in the Valley and his work can be found in galleries and private collections around the world.
Touch of Pop
Through June 28, 2018
Royse Contemporary, 7077 E. Main St., Suite 6, Scottsdale
For more information, visit roysecontemporary.com.
