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Karl Benjamin — #7, 1975
Karl Benjamin

#7, 1975

1975

Composed with the precision and chromatic intelligence that defined Karl Benjamin's mature practice, "#7, 1975" presents a tightly organized field of interlocking geometric forms rendered in oil on a square canvas measuring just over ninety centimeters on each side. The palette is characteristically bold yet disciplined, with Benjamin calibrating his color relationships to generate optical tension across the picture plane. Each hue is chosen not in isolation but in dialogue with its neighbors, producing a surface that seems to pulse with internal energy while maintaining complete compositional control. The square format reinforces this sense of balance, containing the visual activity within a structure that feels both inevitable and carefully considered. Benjamin was a central figure in the California Hard Edge movement, a loose grouping of Los Angeles painters including John McLaughlin, Lorser Feitelson, and Frederick Hammersley who rejected gestural abstraction in favor of clean boundaries, flat fields of color, and rigorous formal relationships. By 1975, Benjamin had spent decades refining this approach into something entirely personal, a visual language built on color theory as much as design. His canvases from this period demonstrate a painter at full command of his methods, moving fluidly between complexity and restraint without sacrificing either clarity or expressive depth. Signed by the artist and offered through Louis Stern Fine Arts, "#7, 1975" presents a strong opportunity to acquire a work from one of the defining voices of postwar California abstraction. Pieces from this decade, when Benjamin's thinking about color interaction was at its most sophisticated, are consistently sought by collectors building focused holdings in American geometric abstraction. The absence of a frame allows the new owner flexibility in presentation, and the work's compact scale makes it adaptable to a wide range of domestic and institutional settings without diminishing its considerable presence.

Medium
Oil on canvas
Overall
Signed
Yes
Location
Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA

For Sale — $40000

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About this work

Karl Benjamin, #7, 1975, 1975

Composed with the precision and chromatic intelligence that defined Karl Benjamin's mature practice, "#7, 1975" presents a tightly organized field of interlocking geometric forms rendered in oil on a square canvas measuring just over ninety centimeters on each side. The palette is characteristically bold yet disciplined, with Benjamin calibrating his color relationships to generate optical tension across the picture plane. Each hue is chosen not in isolation but in dialogue with its neighbors, producing a surface that seems to pulse with internal energy while maintaining complete compositional control. The square format reinforces this sense of balance, containing the visual activity within a structure that feels both inevitable and carefully considered. Benjamin was a central figure in the California Hard Edge movement, a loose grouping of Los Angeles painters including John McLaughlin, Lorser Feitelson, and Frederick Hammersley who rejected gestural abstraction in favor of clean boundaries, flat fields of color, and rigorous formal relationships. By 1975, Benjamin had spent decades refining this approach into something entirely personal, a visual language built on color theory as much as design. His canvases from this period demonstrate a painter at full command of his methods, moving fluidly between complexity and restraint without sacrificing either clarity or expressive depth. Signed by the artist and offered through Louis Stern Fine Arts, "#7, 1975" presents a strong opportunity to acquire a work from one of the defining voices of postwar California abstraction. Pieces from this decade, when Benjamin's thinking about color interaction was at its most sophisticated, are consistently sought by collectors building focused holdings in American geometric abstraction. The absence of a frame allows the new owner flexibility in presentation, and the work's compact scale makes it adaptable to a wide range of domestic and institutional settings without diminishing its considerable presence.

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 91.4 x 91.4 cm
Year
1975
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, CA

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Collected by

Sharrissa Iqbal, Arthur Cohen, Alex Capecelatro