Leon Benn

It’s the final week to view Leon Benn’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑟 at The Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, ME. 🪻✨⁠ ⁠ Stop by the CMCA Wednesday–Saturday, 10 AM–5 PM, and Sunday, 12–5 PM.⁠ ⁠ Head to the link in our bio to learn more and read the Portland Press Herald review.⁠ ⁠ @leonmbenn @cmcanow ⁠ ⁠ Installation images courtesy of The Center for Maine Contemporary Art. Photography by Art Index.⁠ ⁠ Slide 1: 𝑀𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑊𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 2025, oil and oil stick on canvas, 51 x 50 in. (129.5 x 127 cm)⁠ ⁠ Slide 3: 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐵𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑟 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 2023, oil and oil stick on canvas, 50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6 cm)⁠ ⁠ Slide 4: 𝑀𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑙 -𝑇𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑇𝑤𝑜 𝐹𝑖𝑠ℎ, 2025, oil and oil stick on canvas, 39 x 34 in. (99.1 x 86.4 cm⁠ ⁠ Slide 6: 𝐹𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑦 𝐺𝑜𝑑𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟’𝑠 𝑆𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑀𝑖𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 2025, oil, oil stick, and acrylic on canvas, 57 x 43 in. (144.8 x 109.2 cm)⁠ ⁠ #leonbenn #contemporaryart #contemporarypainting #landscapepainting #cmca

Long before we evolved into Homo
Sapiens, all of the animals that we are cohabitants with had prospered greatly here on earth. I have started a new painting series portraying vulnerable animals, whose ancient habitats are threatened by our modern anthropocentric point of view, in the way we have colonized and privatized Earth over time. In honor of the upcoming "big night"@mainebignight (the early springtime mass migration of amphibians that are not always safeguarded on roads) Here is a painting of a Maine wood frog.. Maine Wood Frog 2026 Oil on linen 15 x 18 inches

Thank you to the Portland Press Herald and Jorge Arango for your thoughtful coverage of Leon Benn’s solo show 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑉𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑟 at The Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland. ✨⁠ ⁠ The exhibition is on view through May 10th. Read the full review at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ @leonmbenn @cmcanow @portlandpressherald ⁠ ⁠ Installation images courtesy of The Center for Maine Contemporary Art. Photography by Art Index.⁠ ⁠ Slides 1 & 5: Leon Benn, 𝐿𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑄𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝐴𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑒, 2025, oil, oil stick, and fabric dye on canvas, 64 x 45 in. (162.6 x 114.3 cm)⁠ ⁠ Slide 7: Leon Benn, 𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝐻𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦, 2025, oil, oil stick, acrylic, and fabric dye on canvas, 48 x 45 in. (121.9 x 114.3 cm)⁠ ⁠ #leonbenn #contemporaryart #contemporarypainting #cmca #centerformainecontemporaryart portlandme

A couple years ago I read Cal Flyn's Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape @calflyn , a book which opened my mind so much about the ways nature can overtake what we have destroyed. Many of the works in The Violet Hour currently up in Rockland at the CMCA @cmcanow were inspired by this book. One direct example was taken from the passage about a poppy experiment. Our watershed is always under threat from pollution and certain paints carry "heavy metals" like cadmium , cobalt, manganese, zinc and so forth. So use those mineral spirits thoroughly before washing brushes and store the spirits for hazardous waste removal at your local transfer station and not down the drain :) Metal-Tainted Poppies with Two Fish Oil paint and oil stick on linen 39 × 34 inches mop

The magic men in my life. @grant_wahlquist @cmcanow @david_b_smith @dbsgallery

Moss Wonderland Reclamation 2026 Oil paint and oil stick on linen 51 x 50 inches @cmcanow @dbsgallery

The Violet Hour with Balsam and Cedar Fragrance 2025 Oil paint and oil stick on canvas 50 x 40 inches @cmcanow @dbsgallery

La Place à Gaz, Zone Rouge 2025 Oil, oil stick and fabric dye on linen 58 x 47 inches @cmcanow @dbsgallery

Finally getting around to posting some install shots and individual works from my recent show The Violet Hour at the CMCA. @cmcanow It was truly a memorable and exciting opening on January 31st and I want to specifically thank their chief curator, my friend, and former gallerist: the most esteemed and excellent Grant Wahlquist @grant_wahlquist Your support through the years and in ongoing projects has molded, shaped and tweaked many aspects of my artistic thought process. Thank you! Huge Congrats lastly to the fellow amazing artists also showing alongside in the musuem. Will Sears @will_sears Sachiko Akiyama @woodchip47 and Aaron T Stephan @aarontstephan And a very special thanks to my gallerist David Smith who flew all the way from Denver, CO 🫶 @dbsgallery @david_b_smith More images and posts to follow Also links to the show and my website on the bio.

Ribbit ! Will be installing 12 paintings at The Center for Maine Contemporary Art @cmcanow in a couple weeks🐸 OPENING 3-5 pm January 31st in beautiful Rockland, Maine. ❄️🦞🌲🤘Ribbit ! Detail of Moss Wonderland Reclamation 2026 Oil paint and oil stick on linen 51 x 50 inches

LEON BENN: THE VIOLET HOUR We’re thrilled to announce our Winter / Spring 2026 exhibitions, beginning with Leon Benn’s “The Violet Hour.” Benn’s adventurously colored, materially inventive paintings combine technical virtuosity and art historical awareness with popular symbols in an extended reflection on the relationships between nature and culture, innocence and experience, and childhood and adulthood. Featuring a suite of new works in which chemical and alchemical processes combine, “The Violet Hour” evokes narratives of creative and destructive forces engaging in a pas de deux. Setting post-apocalyptic landscapes alongside primordial forms and wistful bouquets of flowers, Benn acknowledges our ongoing ecological catastrophe while envisioning a future in which nature displaces the harms wrought by humankind. “The Violet Hour” is Benn’s first institutional solo exhibition. Join us as we celebrate all of these exhibitions with the artists on *January 31st, 2026, from 3 - 5 pm*! – Leon Benn Lakeside Charm of the Quarternary Anthropocene, 2025 Oil, oil stic, and fabric dye on canvas 64 x 45 inches - @leonmbenn

Summer