Hans Benda nods to Northern European painting tradition in his captivating portraits of women and landscapes in that the works reveal quiet allegorical connotations. In the dozen small paintings that make up this exhibition, Benda uses tight cropping, focusing on the charm of the miniscule and the transient. In the portrait Zuviel J.S. Bach, he depicts a Vermeer’esque passing glance at an arguably innocent young brunette. In Nozze D’oro he uses a minimal palette of green and peach to magnify the endurance of the diminutive calla lilies in a celadon vase during a stage of decay. In Hostage, Benda plays with still-life tradition and the notion of modesty by juxtaposing powder-pink roses with a woman’s tanned bare breast. Upon closer examination, one realizes that the vase rests on the woman’s thigh not a table.

The artist decided on the exhibition title LODGER after hearing about the 1979 new wave album of the same name by singer-songwriter David Bowie. It is said that during its production, Bowie made the musicians swap their instruments after he grew tired of a too conventional sound. As a result the album has an air of displacement. Setting up plants like newly arrived tenants in his studio, Benda refers to Bowie in LODGER, which as a whole suggests, what he calls, feelings of latent homelessness. Aided by his paintbrush, Benda disproved his self-image as a dependent lodger and challenges viewers both aesthetically and intellectually. It is upon viewing LODGER that reflection turns into a state of meditation. Much like the paintings of small glass bottles by the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, Benda’s subjects leave a lasting impression of melancholy and delicacy.

Born in 1960 in Berlin, Hans Benda divides his time between his homes in Vervier, Belgium and Misakimachi, Japan. He studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Karlsruhe, Germany. His solo and group shows have been held in Germany, Belgium, France, the United States, Japan, and Bangladesh.