Gary Benfield was born in Birmingham in 1965. He studied art at
Stourbridge College of Art (1982 – 1984) and at Wrexham College of Art (1984 – 1986). In 1986, Benfield became a professional freelance illustrator. After leaving the academic world he set up his own studio near London and concentrated on drawing and painting figures. Within a few years, his work was being collected throughout America and Russia and his reputation firmly established. Apart from his major works being highly collected his prints have also become internationally popular.
\"I cannot remember a time without drawing. It was natural for me as a child to use both my hands when painting and drawing and this ambidexterity has remained with me in my adult life as an artist. I love the sensuality of the line and I use these skills to create and transform inert materials into images of beauty.
There are aspects of our lives, our existence and experience which remain as a constant, not subject to historical variation. We fall in love, have children and experience a whole gamut of emotions as people always have. And we have always sought to express these fundamental experiences in an aesthetic manner, through painting and poetry. As an artist it is this imaginative role in transforming materials - paint, graphite, charcoal - to create this aesthetic dimension which I love.\"
Gary Benfield
