Benjamin Normand (b. 1992 in Jamestown, RI, USA) is a painter living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Normand studied art in several institutions including the New College of Florida, Community College of Rhode Island, University of Denver, and Santa Fe Community College. While studying and practicing art, he has worked in various fields including education, tech, and non-profit management. Normand’s mother, herself an artist, played a large part in encouraging Normand’s creativity from a young age. His early artistic inspiration came from Calvin and Hobbes, Pokemon cards, Legos, James Gurney’s Dinotopia illustrations, and Quentin Blake’s illustrations in Roald Dahl books. His hobbies include running, reading, and talking to other people’s pets.
Artist Statement:
I use oil paint on stretched canvas to capture my sensory experience of Northern New Mexico en plein air. Having grown up in the northeast, I find the light, earth, and flora of New Mexico particularly alien and awe-inspiring. Having worked on computers, in classrooms, and in countless service-industry roles, I feel rapturous gratitude and joy to be able to make art outdoors as a livelihood. These sentiments permeate my paintings and are most readily apparent in the earnest colors and painterly brushwork.
I cherish the representational qualities that time-restricted plein air painting fosters, and create work that appears true-to-life from afar, but painterly up close.
My practice is a testament to the power of patient observation amidst the technological noise of our digitally-distracted age. I use the recurring motif of passageways to lead the viewer into imagination and embodiment, encouraging a slowdown and disconnection from technology.