The Old Mecca is the New Mecca, 2024
Charcoal on mulberry paper
29 x 41 x 1 1/4 inches, framed
Fair Market Value: $8,250
Starting Bid: $5,775
Buy It Now: $12,375
PAUL STEPHEN BENJAMIN was born in Chicago, Illinois, and lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia. He earned his BA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his MFA from Georgia State University in 2013. Recently Benjamin has exhibited at Hammonds House Museum, Atlanta, Georgia (2023), Blackness at the Montresso Art Foundation, Marrakesh, Morocco, (2023), The Thoma Foundation Art Vault, Santa Fe, New Mexico (2022-2023), and a solo exhibition at the Van Every-Smith Galleries, Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina (2022).
He has been included in solo and group exhibitions at a variety of institutions and art spaces, including Prospect.5 New Orleans, Louisiana (2021-2022). Gavlak, Los Angeles, California (2021), The Dirty South at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, Virginia (2021), David Lusk Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee (2021), Crystal Bridges Museum and the Momentary, Bentonville, Arkansas (2020), The MAC, Belfast, UK (2019), VC Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, Virginia (2019), The Havana Biennial in Matanzas, Cuba (2019), Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, New York (2019), Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington (2018), Telfair Museum Jepson Center, Savannah, Georgia (2018), The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York (2017), Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, Georgia (2017), High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia (2016), among others.
He has received a range of awards and fellowships, including The Hudgens Prize (2019), Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant (2019), Hambidge Distinguished Fellowship (2019), The Southern Art Prize (2018), The State Fellow of Georgia (2018), Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (WAP) Fellow (2017), Artadia Award (2014), Winnie B. Chandler Fellowship, and the Forward Arts Emerging Artists Award.