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Benjamin Staker
New Work
Fall 2023
Statement
Little Deaths
Instagram
Benjamin Staker
New Work
Fall 2023
Statement
Little Deaths
Instagram
New Work
Fall 2023
Statement
Little Deaths
Instagram
Wine dark sea / wine eyed wandering / heavy feet / listless sinking / alone in the landscape / but underfoot there lies / a millennia of you. Oil stick on yupo, 30 x 60 inches

Wine dark sea / wine eyed wandering / heavy feet / listless sinking / alone in the landscape / but underfoot there lies / a millennia of you.

Oil stick on yupo, 30 x 60 inches

#1 It is there in the expanse of green, the agoraphobic shudder that wracks my body. It is there in the claustrophobic sky, the shriek that I hold in my mouth. Oil stick and oil pastel on yupo, 24 x 36 inches

#1 It is there in the expanse of green, the agoraphobic shudder that wracks my body. It is there in the claustrophobic sky, the shriek that I hold in my mouth.

Oil stick and oil pastel on yupo, 24 x 36 inches

#2 It is there in the expanse of green, the agoraphobic shudder that wracks my body. It is there in the claustrophobic sky, the shriek that I hold in my mouth. Oil stick and oil pastel on yupo, 24 x 36 inches

#2 It is there in the expanse of green, the agoraphobic shudder that wracks my body. It is there in the claustrophobic sky, the shriek that I hold in my mouth.

Oil stick and oil pastel on yupo, 24 x 36 inches

#3 It is there in the expanse of green, the agoraphobic shudder that wracks my body. It is there in the claustrophobic sky, the shriek that I hold in my mouth. Oil stick and oil pastel on yupo, 24 x 36 inches

#3 It is there in the expanse of green, the agoraphobic shudder that wracks my body. It is there in the claustrophobic sky, the shriek that I hold in my mouth.

Oil stick and oil pastel on yupo, 24 x 36 inches

On the mountain that I now dream of / there is a gash carved through by gentle water / here there are little fires everywhere Pastel on watercolor paper, 44 x 144 inches

On the mountain that I now dream of / there is a gash carved through by gentle water / here there are little fires everywhere

Pastel on watercolor paper, 44 x 144 inches

#1 I'm afraid of crowded places / but I take my fear with me into the woods / and instead I fear tics or bats. / I'm afraid of dying but / I love the smell of moss and fungi / And dead things are a part of this forest / Just as much as I am O

#1 I'm afraid of crowded places / but I take my fear with me into the woods / and instead I fear tics or bats. / I'm afraid of dying but / I love the smell of moss and fungi / And dead things are a part of this forest / Just as much as I am

Oil pastel on yupo mounted to panel, 9 x 12 inches

#2 I'm afraid of crowded places / but I take my fear with me into the woods / and instead I fear tics or bats. / I'm afraid of dying but / I love the smell of moss and fungi / And dead things are a part of this forest / Just as much as I am O

#2 I'm afraid of crowded places / but I take my fear with me into the woods / and instead I fear tics or bats. / I'm afraid of dying but / I love the smell of moss and fungi / And dead things are a part of this forest / Just as much as I am

Oil pastel on yupo mounted to panel, 9 x 12 inches

#3 I'm afraid of crowded places / but I take my fear with me into the woods / and instead I fear tics or bats. / I'm afraid of dying but / I love the smell of moss and fungi / And dead things are a part of this forest / Just as much as I am O

#3 I'm afraid of crowded places / but I take my fear with me into the woods / and instead I fear tics or bats. / I'm afraid of dying but / I love the smell of moss and fungi / And dead things are a part of this forest / Just as much as I am

Oil pastel on yupo mounted to panel, 9 x 12 inches

#4 I'm afraid of crowded places / but I take my fear with me into the woods / and instead I fear tics or bats. / I'm afraid of dying but / I love the smell of moss and fungi / And dead things are a part of this forest / Just as much as I am O

#4 I'm afraid of crowded places / but I take my fear with me into the woods / and instead I fear tics or bats. / I'm afraid of dying but / I love the smell of moss and fungi / And dead things are a part of this forest / Just as much as I am

Oil pastel on yupo mounted to panel, 9 x 12 inches

“There are some feelings that resonate so strongly within me they are like a deep booming echo in my painfully hollow chest. A dazzling celebration of beauty and yet an aching, a sweaty palmed terror. Discordance between within and without. An ine

“There are some feelings that resonate so strongly within me they are like a deep booming echo in my painfully hollow chest. A dazzling celebration of beauty and yet an aching, a sweaty palmed terror. Discordance between within and without. An inexplicable, tremendous, heart rending intensity of feeling that could only be described as such. Pure feeling stripped down to its core and lain bare. A moment in time recognized for what it truly was: a point of no return.”

Oil stick on yupo, 60 x 48 inches

“And he finds these places where he might disappear. He finds things that fill the screaming vacuum at the base of his stomach, at the floor of his abdomen, where instinct lives and drives him deeper, to pursue the night, and to pursue the dark“

“And he finds these places where he might disappear. He finds things that fill the screaming vacuum at the base of his stomach, at the floor of his abdomen, where instinct lives and drives him deeper, to pursue the night, and to pursue the dark“

Oil stick and oil pastel on yupo, 30 x 48 inches

“And on the other side of clearing there is a lamp, and the reflection  in the scummy pond bends the light, and the horizon is turned upside down. And suddenly there is a feeling that overtakes all of me, fills me to my tingling cold extremit

“And on the other side of clearing there is a lamp, and the reflection  in the scummy pond bends the light, and the horizon is turned upside down. And suddenly there is a feeling that overtakes all of me, fills me to my tingling cold extremities…”

Oil stick on yupo, 30 x 24 inches

“…A feeling of Immense appreciation of being where I am, crouched in a bush, overlooking a pond. Of having cold fingers and toes and pink ears and snot running down my upper lip. Of the speck of dirt in my eye and the smell of the loamy earth. Lov

“…A feeling of Immense appreciation of being where I am, crouched in a bush, overlooking a pond. Of having cold fingers and toes and pink ears and snot running down my upper lip. Of the speck of dirt in my eye and the smell of the loamy earth. Love for it all, and the intensity of being here, being now, being everything.”

Oil stick on yupo, 30 x 24 inches

Something I Once Dreamt: Imagined Landscapes #1 Oil pastel on yupo, 14 x 18 inches

Something I Once Dreamt: Imagined Landscapes #1

Oil pastel on yupo, 14 x 18 inches

Something I Once Dreamt: Imagined Landscapes #2 Oil pastel on yupo, 12 x 18 inches

Something I Once Dreamt: Imagined Landscapes #2

Oil pastel on yupo, 12 x 18 inches

Something I Once Dreamt: Imagined Landscapes #3 Oil pastel on yupo, 12 x 18 inches

Something I Once Dreamt: Imagined Landscapes #3

Oil pastel on yupo, 12 x 18 inches

Something I Once Dreamt: Imagined Landscapes #4 Oil pastel on yupo, 14 x 18 inches

Something I Once Dreamt: Imagined Landscapes #4

Oil pastel on yupo, 14 x 18 inches

And I feel something, just beyond my reach. A person lurking perhaps, with salacious intent? A moment of pleasure perhaps to twist my insides? Or something deeper perhaps, something wonderful and horrible and frightening and huge.” Oil stick

And I feel something, just beyond my reach. A person lurking perhaps, with salacious intent? A moment of pleasure perhaps to twist my insides? Or something deeper perhaps, something wonderful and horrible and frightening and huge.”

Oil stick and oil pastel on yupo 24 x 30 inches

The Immense Intensity of Being #1 Charcoal on paper, 41 x 30 inches

The Immense Intensity of Being #1

Charcoal on paper, 41 x 30 inches

The Immense Intensity of Being #2 Charcoal on paper, 41 x 30 inches

The Immense Intensity of Being #2

Charcoal on paper, 41 x 30 inches

The Immense Intensity of Being #3 Charcoal on paper, 41 x 30 inches

The Immense Intensity of Being #3

Charcoal on paper, 41 x 30 inches

The Immense Intensity of Being #4 Charcoal on paper, 41 x 30 inches

The Immense Intensity of Being #4

Charcoal on paper, 41 x 30 inches

The Immense Intensity of Being #5 Charcoal on paper, 41 x 30 inches

The Immense Intensity of Being #5

Charcoal on paper, 41 x 30 inches

#1 Are you lonely down there? / do you wish for the worms to come? / I fear that I will never find a resting place / and as your body has been shriveled by the passing of time / so too has my soul. Oil stick and oil pastel on yupo, 24 x 18 in

#1 Are you lonely down there? / do you wish for the worms to come? / I fear that I will never find a resting place / and as your body has been shriveled by the passing of time / so too has my soul.

Oil stick and oil pastel on yupo, 24 x 18 inches

#2 Are you lonely down there? / do you wish for the worms to come? / I fear that I will never find a resting place / and as your body has been shriveled by the passing of time / so too has my soul. Oil stick and oil pastel on yupo, 24 x 18 in

#2 Are you lonely down there? / do you wish for the worms to come? / I fear that I will never find a resting place / and as your body has been shriveled by the passing of time / so too has my soul.

Oil stick and oil pastel on yupo, 24 x 18 inches