Benigna Chilla

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Biography:

Benigna Chilla, born in 1940, began her art studies in her native land of Germany at the Folkwangschule für Gestaltung in Essen and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. She moved to the United States in 1969, completing her graduate studies at the State University of New York at Albany and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has held residencies at Yaddo, the Djerassi Foundation, the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. Benigna now splits her time between Chatham, NY and Kolkata, India. She has had over forty solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally.

 Benigna_Chilla_resume_2021.pdf

 

Statement:

The pastel drawings on view are from the 1960s; they recently resurfaced and reentered my life after nearly 50 years. Together with recent large and small paintings, all works are being exhibited for the first time.

 

The drawings were studies for larger paintings, most of which are all still in Germany, from where I immigrated to the Chatham area in 1969. Both these early drawings as well as my current paintings deal with layered surfaces. The drawings are more organic, fable-like, as if in a theatrical or landscape-like environment. As a student in Berlin, travel opportunities were limited, and I drew from my own imagination or observations in nature. My current paintings take inspiration from geometric patterns found in architecture, textile, and nature. Actual texture and embroidery are embedded onto the canvas, layered with natural pigments like turmeric, saffron and ground minerals. 

 

The meditative and physical process of a painting is just as important to me as the final pieces themselves.

Press Release:

 
PRESS RELEASE
 
Contact:
Thompson Giroux Gallery
57 Main Street
Chatham, NY 12037
518-392-3336
thompsongirouxgallery.com

 

 
-Chatham, NY

 

From West to East to West

Benigna Chilla

Thompson Giroux Gallery

written by: Irene Lyla Lee

 

The material orchestrates its own making. This sentiment resounds in Bengina Chilla’s show From West to East to West at Thompson Giroux Gallery in Chatham, NY. Through the month of July, internationally renowned artist and teacher, Bengina Chilla will show her large scale paintings. The show connects a collection of her early work from the 1960’s, to her most recent pieces, ranging from 2016-2020. The ties between the disparate time periods in Chilla’s work evoke powerful colors, provoking texture, and mazes of pristine geometric patterns. 

 

These vivid paintings are works Chilla created after teaching in Bhutan in 2012. They weave intentionally chosen textile fragments with broad, handmade pigments in durable pieces that are balancing acts of color, shadow, and shape. The show also features lucid pastel sketches from her early work that transform organic material into colorful ecosystems, and her series of Letters and Recipes: collages formed with her mother’s writings.

 

Benigna Chilla, born in 1940, began her studies in Germany at the Folkwangschule für Gestaltung in Essen. As a student of Bauhaus professors, she studied a broad range of skills, from typesetting to drawing, sculpture, and printmaking. She draws on her range of expertise to explore the world through her creative practice. Often she collects fragments of textile which are adhered to the canvas and become the seed from which the painting is constructed. 

 

Chilla moved to America in 1969, completing her graduate studies at the State University of New York at Albany and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has held residencies at Yaddo, the Djerassi Foundation, the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. Chilla has taught at institutions such as Cornell, Brown, Berkshire Community College, RISD, contemporary art at VAST in Bhutan, and National Institute of Fashion Technology in India. Chilla lives half of her year in Chatham, NY, and the other in Kolkata, India. She has had over forty solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Despite the far reaching nature of her practice and travels, her work remains an intimate reminder to create vessels for what has come before. 

 

Thompson Giroux Gallery, 57 Main Street, Chatham, NY 12037. 

Gallery Hours Thursday - Monday, 11 – 5, No appointments necessary. www.thompsongirouxgallery

 

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 Benigna_Chilla_Solo_Press_Release.pdf

 

 From_West_to_East_to_West_Placemaking_and_Ceremony_Benigna_Chilla_Painting_by_Irene_Lyla_Lee.pdf

Additional Information:

Website: https://benignachilla.com/