Finding Solace in Art A Self-Taught Artist's Story
Initiated and organized by The Bridge Arts Foundation, the 'SOLILOQUY' Open Call Exhibition is currently being held at The Scholart Selection Gallery in San Gabriel, California, and will run until August 17th, 2024.
Bridge Arts Foundation's Art Director, Tia Xu, engaged in a conversation about the exhibition and art with several artists participating in this exhibition. In this interview, we have the pleasure of speaking with artist Michele Benzamin-Miki.
—— Q&A ——
Michele Benzamin-Miki Offering, 2018, Pencil on paper 34 x 28 in (86.36 x 71.12 cm). Photo courtesy of artist.
Tia Xu: Could you please share your background and what inspired you to pursue a career in art?
Michele Benzamin-Miki: My father was a painter and poet, winning a scholarship from the Chicago Institute of art at a very young age, and my mother was versed in many art-forms growing up in Japan. They always nurtured and supported my creativity and passion for drawing and painting, and early on in elementary school the principal and several teachers opened my young mind to a career in art; at the age of nine I was doing commissioned portraits.
My family was poor, so pursuing a degree in art after high school was going to be solely up to me. To my delight at age sixteen I was asked to work as an airbrush artist in a small company that grew to be a profitable business; I became head designer and had 20 people working under my guidance to paint on men’s fashion wear and women's platform shoes. The company moved into designing murals in people’s homes, and album covers, and so much more.
I never looked back, and decided not to pursue a college degree in art. I had an innate ability to create art through observation, and the term self-taught artist is inadequate, as it is in my blood to be a visual artist.
Tia Xu: What does "SOLILOQUY" mean to you, and how does your artwork explore this theme? Can you tell us the story behind your artwork from the exhibition?
Michele Benzamin-Miki: A soliloquy in the theater arts is where the actor speaks their innermost thoughts to an audience; for my part, in the Visual Arts, the image speaks its mind, and we bear witness to that.
In my piece ‘Offering’ a woman's face and hands are highlighted and she is in dark space; you are invited into her innermost thoughts and feelings.
It is a portrait of a friend who had just returned from Iran, a visit with some family members for the first time. While there, she was required to wear a hijab, and take up a practice of prayer.
I asked her when she returned from her trip if she would model for me and wear her hijab while I took pictures of her. My friend, a feminist, activist, and artist, relayed to me how important this trip was for her, and how it brought to the surface many complex feelings, which she was still processing. She agreed, and I took many photographs of her, but this one moment captured — with her hands adjusting the hijab, and her beautiful hair half exposed, spoke loudly to me, and I rendered it in pencil.
I have shown this drawing in many exhibits, and two years later I received a call from my friend; reflecting on the print I gave her of the piece, she had a realization that the position of the hands in the drawing were part of a prayer pose. She changed the way I viewed the drawing! I was focused on her innermost struggle with wearing a hijab.
During the ‘Soliloquy’ exhibit many people approached me saying how much they were moved by this image, and it evoked compassion in them to what is happening in Gaza.
The ‘Offering’ has a new ‘Soliloquy.’
Photo courtesy of artist.
Tia Xu: How does your cultural background influence your art?
Photo courtesy of artist.
Michele Benzamin-Miki: I am Japanese on my mother’s side and European with North African roots on my father’s side.
I spent my early years in Japan and moved to the US at five. I feel in my heart I am Japanese, and I am constantly adjusting to western ways without compromising what is important to me. My art explores and becomes a bridge between Eastern and Western styles and philosophies.
In the 70’s I airbrushed large Pop Art portraits, exploring Western themes and style; soon after in the late 80’s when I left the world of commissioned art and made a commitment to the Fine Arts, my direction and mediums changed. I taught myself to paint in oils working with mostly figurative realism.
In my quest to nourish my Japanese roots in the late 70’s I began seriously practicing meditation and the non-violent martial art called Aikido and have been teaching both disciplines for several decades. In 1991 with the current politics of US engagement in the Gulf war, I began expressing my frustrations on paper using water based paints in a more spontaneous and abstract way. Later this catharsis turned into a meditative art-form using traditional Japanese inks. Since 2002 I have been blending Japanese ink paintings with the figurative Realism. This is my favorite form of expression, as it bridges my Japanese and American heritage in my art.
Tia Xu: What emotions or ideas do you hope viewers will take away from experiencing your artwork?
Michele Benzamin-Miki: My bi-racial family life was one of resourcefulness and complexity, often volatile, so in my late teens I took up meditation; this gave me the space to be reflective and learn compassion. My art too, was a place of refuge from family conflict and drama.
I use the Japanese principle of ‘Ma’ in painting and calligraphy, which emphasizes the importance of the empty space around the object of focus, or brushwork; by creating space in the artwork, you create space for the audience to breathe, reflect and dream, bear witness to, and simply be present, in the presence of art. For me it evokes the experience of being in Rothko’s Chapel, transcending the sense of a separate self, connecting to a larger universe.
Art moves from being ‘useful’ to art that transcends all usefulness.
Photo courtesy of artist.
Tia Xu: Are there any other series that you are currently working on? Would you mind sharing them with us?
Michele Benzamin-Miki: Still working with the title. ‘Women warriors rising’ A personal exploration of my history in the martial arts, alongside historical and archetypal woman warriors throughout time. My lifetime of training in and teaching Aikido, has been a refinement of non-harming values and philosophies; and understanding how I can, especially as a woman, internalize our aggression. My work of the past several years as a Family Systems Constellation facilitator brings to light ancestral and generational trauma, and I have done much personal work in this regard.
This work also gives a broader context to my theme — ‘Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.’ Carl Jung
The Bridge Arts Foundation's "SOLILOQUY" Open Call Exhibition Installation View, Photo: ©The Bridge Arts Foundation / Luna Hao
Tia Xu: Can you share a particular piece of feedback or a comment from an art critic, art professional, or even the audience that has profoundly impacted you?
Michele Benzamin-Miki: There have been many interesting things art critics or artists have said to me about my art, however the most impactful for me, are simple statements that keep coming from my audience.
When I posted ‘Offering’ for the ‘Soliloquy’ exhibit on my artists page, a fellow martial artist on facebook made a comment, “I’ve always loved this piece, it reminds me to meditate!”
I have dismissed such statements in the past, but this one hit the mark for me this time.
Many people have visited my studio and have said similar things. Collectors of my art have created an altar space around the art; in their homes, my art has been an anchor, a reminder to be reflective, contemplative, inspired and present. My motivation for making art is to give the audience the experience of healing, connection, transcendence. This has been my personal journey.
ABOUT OPEN CALL EXHIBITION PROGRAM
The Bridge Arts Foundation's "SOLILOQUY" Open Call Exhibition Installation View, Photo: ©The Bridge Arts Foundation / Luna Hao
Bridge Arts Foundation's Open Call Exhibition Program is designed to provide support for early-career artists. The "SOLILOQUY" Open Call Exhibition has thoughtfully selected 18 talented artists from over 500 submissions, employing a selection process that involves art professionals. "SOLILOQUY" opens from July 13th to August 17th, 2024.
ABOUT ARTIST
Michele Benzamin-Miki
Lives and Works in San Diego, California
Self-taught artist-painter growing up in a family of artists, multicultural, of Japanese, North African and Europea -American heritage. I was drawing and painting from age 3, and started selling portrait work at age 9. I began working in the graphic and commercial arts immediately after high school; at age 18 became head designer of a successful Airbrush company up until 1978 when I started freelancing, doing commissioned art, from branding logos to murals, album covers, Trompe L’Oeil, race cars, into the mid 80’s. In 1985 the choice was made to work solely as a fine artist developing my work, while showing and selling art in numerous Galleries and Shows worldwide.
In the 2000’s working with multiple mediums; and the synthesis of figurative painting and drawing, along with abstract expressionist painting, the integration of my East and West heritage. My studio is in Warner Springs, California.