Positive Defiance: Abiu Daniel Benavides

​“I think that my love of astronomy, nature, logic and science in general drew me to surrealism,” says Abiu Daniel Benavides. “I love how you can defy the laws of physics and motion and shape anything to arrange it any way. Perhaps my own difficulty in moving and an unconscious wish to be able to move freely without pain also played a part in this.”

​Benavides began drawing as a small child in Laredo, Texas, where he still lives today. Art was a good outlet for a little boy with a severe disability, who couldn’t run and play outside with the other kids. Benavides was born with polyostotic fibrous dysplasia, a rare and painful disorder in which fibrous, scarlike tissue replaces normal bone. “It was difficult for my parents and me, because it’s hard for a child not to be able to walk and to make him understand that he just can’t because of the increasing bone degeneration. Living through many ongoing surgeries and fractures became part of my life,” he says.

“I think that my love of astronomy, nature, logic and science in general drew me to surrealism,” says Abiu Daniel Benavides. “I love how you can defy the laws of physics and motion and shape anything to arrange it any way. Perhaps my own difficulty in moving and an unconscious wish to be able to move freely without pain also played a part in this.”
​Benavides began drawing as a small child in Laredo, Texas, where he still lives today. Art was a good outlet for a little boy with a severe disability, who couldn’t run and play outside with the other kids. Benavides was born with polyostotic fibrous dysplasia, a rare and painful disorder in which fibrous, scarlike tissue replaces normal bone. “It was difficult for my parents and me, because it’s hard for a child not to be able to walk and to make him understand that he just can’t because of the increasing bone degeneration. Living through many ongoing surgeries and fractures became part of my life,” he says.

“It affects my imagery and symbols, but in an indirect way. Many of my ideas do not come to mind through active thinking. They arrive in a flash or when I am in a state halfway between being awake and sleep. When this happens, I immediately make a very rough sketch of it so I don’t lose its essence. I then later on refine those ideas,” Benavides explained. “I have noticed that my art tends to be symmetrical most of the time. I don’t know if it is because my bone condition causes asymmetrical bone deformities and my artwork’s arrangement expresses an unconscious desire to have a normal skeleton. There are also things that I portray that directly deal with what I am experiencing at the moment, but do not realize I did so until much later, usually when someone else points it out.”

​One artist Benavides admires—and that he sees as shaping his view as an artist—is M.C. Escher. “When I was in very young, I remember being just amazed by his artwork when I discovered his books at the library. I truly really believe that Mr. Escher is an artist who is underappreciated by the art world.” He also cites Pablo Picasso’s work and work ethic as influences. 
Of course, the pairing of surrealism and physical pain naturally leads to Frida Kahlo. While Benavides does not feel directly influenced by Kahlo’s work, he notes that “our lives have many parallels that give some convergence to our artwork. Such parallels include being bedridden for extended periods and having to use a wheelchair often. My surgeries often involved internal metal bracings, screws, and other hardware, having to wear an almost full body cast on several occasions for extended periods of time—and both of us had our right leg amputated at the knee. I even had the same unibrow, before I plucked that sucker out many times until it stopped growing.”
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Benavides notes several ongoing themes in his work. One is a sense of balance. The other is defiance: “defiance not as a negative trait, but as a focused intention to overcome great obstacles and adversity.”
 
At one point, worn down by his physical condition and disillusioned with the art world and negativity from other artists, despite enthusiasm from viewers, jurors, and critics, Benavides took an eight-year break from his painting career. He worked as a computer technician and did some graphic design, as well. His health had improved during his teen years, but later took a turn for the worse. Many people might see that as a reason to retreat, but Benavides reacted differently.

​“I’ve always been a very positive and strong-willed. When my health and mobility worsened, instead of getting depressed, I realized that I should take this as the turn in the road that gets me back on the path of taking painting seriously. Since then, I have studied art and its concepts and really searched into finding ways to improve many of my mistakes to eventually produce my top work. One thing that I realized was that my themes were interesting but were all over the place, so I decided to break my work into continuous series that have cohesion and direction.”

​His latest series is called Enigma–Abstract Geometry. “In this new series, I am placing an emphasis on movement, and portraying a changing and flowing state of shapes that go from solids to liquids and into a series of in-between states. While my previous work was more direct in its portrayal of subjects and feelings, even if it was constructed out of utensils, rock, plants, etc., my new work takes a different step towards abstraction and the use of shifting geometric shapes. I consider it a journey into further abstraction, even if it has definite defined shapes. The abstraction is one based on subject. I deal with a concept that I attempt to make universally appealing to all viewers across age, gender, culture, occupation, or beliefs.”

​See more work by Abiu Daniel Benavides at www.theartof thetiger.com

Abiu Daniel Benavides at work in his Laredo studio.

Through It All by Abiu Daniel Benavides, oil on canvas, 20" x 16" from the Utensils series