Nils Benson (b. 1966) makes small to medium sized oil paintings on linen.

He is drawn to oil paint for its ancient alchemy — a medium he returns to again and again because of what it is, not only what it can depict. Within this medium, he brings together recognisable objects, places, and figures into surreal, fictional environments, staging and presenting them in a cinematic manner.

His process is one of material experimentation, working with and across the techniques of both old masters and modern painters, testing what the medium itself can still do. Drawing remains central to this process, informing the structure and movement underlying each painting.

The meaning in the work is carried through composition: disparate elements are placed in tension and drama with one another, while light, perspective, and the space objects occupy remain entangled but never fully cohesive. This unresolved relationship between elements is where the work speaks.

Benson’s extensive experience in film production and lighting has shaped his sensitivity to composition and atmosphere, and continues to inform the staging of his paintings. He studied painting and printmaking at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon, and furthered his studies at the Sichuan School of Fine Art in Chongqing, China.

Benson wants viewers to arrive at their own meaning, stories, and symbolism — the work is offered as a site for that, not a fixed statement of it.