Pick of the Month: Benjamin Walls Fine Art Gallery
Silent Steps captures the leopard on the prowl Photos: Courtesy Benjamin Walls Fine Art Gallery
AUTHOR: ARTSY CHOW ROAMER
Pick of the Month:
BENJAMIN WALLS FINE ART GALLERY
A few months ago we found ourselves wondering up and down Broadway in Asheville, NC in search of all things artsy and/or foodie. This hipster city has been a draw for a community of artistic folks that have flocked to it helping to reinvent its downtown storefronts and businesses.
One of those jewels in the crown is the lovely gallery exclusively showing the photography work of Benjamin Walls. Located on the street level of The Windsor Boutique Hotel at 30 Broadway, both the hotel and the gallery exude a level of quality without seeming to be “too too” - if you know what I mean. This post will give you an idea of why a visit just might be in your future.
The exterior of The Windsor Boutique Hotel Photo: Courtesy of The Windsor Boutique Hotel
THE WINDSOR BOUTIQUE HOTEL
Historically preserved and renovated in 2013, The Windsor has upscale accommodations in a perfect location for walking to all the best in shops, restaurants and bars. Fourteen suites offer luxury, charm and character; each with its own distinct artwork and decor.
The spacious floor plans with washer/dryer and fully equipped kitchens have plenty of room to relax for longer stays. An on-site spa provides services like facials, foot and massage therapies while the gallery offers tours and wine tastings.
Asheville is the second location for Benjamin’s work with the first having opened in an historically preserved building in Bristol on the Virginia/Tennessee state lines back in 2010. Both locations have a dark walls meet rustic bricks vibe that is both comfortable and designerly while providing the perfect backdrop for the large black and white and color photographs that Walls is famous for.
Enjoy this short video tour of Benjamin Walls first gallery in Bristol, VA
WALLSabout LUXURY TRAVEL & wine bar
I know I mentioned wine tastings and you probably envisioned the usual gallery opening with the traditional passing of the not-so-expensive wine or champagne in glasses. Meet The Walls Wine Bar where organic, sustainable, and biodynamic wines from around the world are ready to indulge in.
A self-described contemporary renaissance man, Walls brings his environmentalist attitude, love of travel and good taste to his wine selections making the gallery anything but usual or boring. Patrons mix with friends, visitors and hotel guests creating an energy where you might even spot a celebrity like Dolly Parton who just happened to write the forward for Wall’s coffee table book, BEYOND.
Interested in adventures to East Africa, Australia or New Zealand? Wallsabout Luxury Travel company “doesn’t send you….they take you”. Testimonials prove that Wall’s travel team are genius at exotic tours from gorilla trekking to African safari and Kilimanjaro climbing. They’ve established an exclusive list of lodging choices that show how they roll and it’s luxury with a capital L.
An interview with the photographer
LARGE WORKS
But I digress a little since it should really be about the art. Fine art photography that is. Completely self-taught, Benjamin spent eighteen months, traveled 30,000 miles and rationed his food for film money in order to reach his goal of creating a groundbreaking body of work.
Back and broke, Walls borrowed money to frame his works for presentation in three galleries across the Carolinas. His best were submitted to juried exhibits and prestigious museums. Two years later, his pieces had won international recognition by hanging in the Smithsonian and the Natural Museum of London. He was just twenty-three at the time.
Imprint captures a buffalo in winter in stunning detail
Whether in black and white or color, Walls eye for composition and lighting is truly stunning. The photographs are made better by virtue of their size and they are big. Panoramic big. Feeling almost larger than life, they give the viewer a sense of the vastness of the landscape and the size of the animals portrayed whether looking at the zebras in Mother’s Stripes in Africa or the buffalo in Imprint of the American West.
He also appears to have a penchant for the magical lighting of a sunset or right before a storm comes in creating a moodiness to many of the pieces in a still moment of perfection in nature featured in photos like Silk Shores and Kitambo Jaro.
PANoRAMIC & TRADITIONAL FORMATS
There is a playfulness and a little sadness to his portraits best captured in Envisage or Noble. The mighty gorilla and lion look just as curious about the picture taker as the photographer is in them. There is an unexpected gentleness in those stares; one suggesting the near humanity of a wild strong creature and the other a nobility for the ages.
It’s impossible to capture the full beauty of this panoramic shot called Kitambo Jaro
Composition is the strength behind The King’s Throne and Solitudes Companion. His majesty takes a back seat in the one photograph giving the primary space to the view of his vast kingdom while the use of reflections in the water creates a lovely foreground to the other photo as the tiger glances back at us.
The elephant in Tusker stands out more prominently with the simple use of an out-of-focus technique for its background highlighting both the size and prominence of the animal’s tusks while capturing its movement and energy.
new releases
I believe one of the most effective uses of Walls panoramic formats are in his luscious landscape images. The dreamy sequence of panels with subtle coloring in Semblance are photographic perfection pulling the eye along and through the quiet winter setting.
Semblance is sheer photographic perfection
Embellished, uses repetition, texture and strong colors to present another winter scene with a much starker outlook. While Coalescence II, Moon Break and After the Ice Age all use water reflections during different times of the day to capture the beauty of the moment, they also utilize color in different ways to set the tone of the work being presented.
CONCLUSION
Clearly Benjamin’s artistic vision is complemented by his ambitious conservation agenda and interests as he continues to broaden his collectors base that already includes Grammy Award winners, Fortune 500 CEOs, Hollywood producers and politicians.
He has exhibited five times at the Smithsonian and is a winner of seven different international awards. He considers himself an environmentalist and community advocate and has helped raise over $750,000 for charity in those areas of concern.
A brief tour of Wall’s latest collection
I think you can see why I loved my visit to his gallery that day. It was comfortable, well presented and stylish with some truly remarkable wines on offer. The photography left me feeling like a safari must surely be in my future in order to see the wonders of Africa as experienced through the eyes of Walls.
If you enjoyed what you read, you might also like other posts under Artful Ideal. You can find other artists and galleries that I really love that you might want to visit or use to add to your own collection. Look for more upcoming posts on my recent adventures in art, food and travel from this road trip. Until then…
Cheers,
ArtsyChowRoamer
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