Christine Benjamin, Robot Lady Doesn't Fit

I am very happy to include Christine Benjamin in THE MODERN CHIMERA at Sweetart Drawing Gallery this August. Her work is very bright, fun and unexpectedly soft (how do you make a robot soft?) I visited her San Jose studio a couple of weeks ago and encountered a wonder land of pop-culture and a refreshing voice in Bay Area art. -Obi

Obi: Can you describe your inspiration?

Christine: Old Sci Fi and monster movies: The Day The Earth Stood Still, Dracula (Bela Lugosi), Frankenstein (Boris Karloff), etc.Twilight Zone original TV series, Outer Limits original TV series - the odd stories, twisted tales, creatures.The oddities and quirks of the human psyche. 50's style robots and laser guns.Cartoons from the 60's - Underdog, Scoobie-Doo, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Fractured Fairy Tales.Comics: Bone by Jeff Smith, Love and Rockets by Gilbert and Jaime HernandezTime travel, space travel, ghosts, bats, psychic phenomenon.

Obi: We talked about how you get called Robot Lady. If Robot Lady doesn't fit, what does?

Christine: Robot Lady doesn't fit. So I really don't know what would. I don't want to be cast as a particular type of artist, but I like the name of my current show "Girl Power".

Obi: I feel like there is no sinister edge to your work, as if it is free of shadow, do you?

Christine: I feel like my work has a weird, twisted edge more than sinister. I really am drawn to dark, sinister art and images, but they have to have a mysterious bent also. I am getting darker in my sketch books and I know that will translate to my finished art.

Click here to link to Christine's Website and to find more (and better) images, as well as information about Girl Power, which has now ended, darn it.

Click here to link to information about THE MODERN CHIMERA, a group show Christine will participate in at Sweetart Gallery.

Click on all above images to enlarge.