Roberto Benavidez, born in 1973 in Beeville, Texas, USA. Lives and works in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Roberto Benavidez uses traditional piñata materials and techniques to create meticulously-crafted forms that draw inspiration from sources such as the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch and medieval illuminated manuscripts. (See the meaning of piñata in the comments).
Roberto Benavidez was drawn to art at an early age but was raised in rural South Texas, where there was little access to visual arts education. He pursued his secondary interest in acting, and earned his BFA from Texas State University. After a few years of moderate acting success, Benavidez found himself returning to his original passion for the visual arts and headed west to California. After taking classes at Pasadena City College in sculpting, drawing and painting, he trained in the art of bronze casting, working in an abstract, figurative style.
An important development in Benavidez’s career was his shift to paper as his primary medium—specifically, making fantastical and whimsical piñata-based sculptures using traditional piñata materials and techniques. He received notable acclaim for his series, Piñatas of Earthly Delights, based on the fanciful creatures and figures that roam Hieronymus Bosch’s epic painting, The Garden of Earthly Delights. This series was the subject of a solo exhibition at the AD &A Museum at the University of California, Santa Barbara, focusing on the underlying theme of “sin” in both the piñata, and the painting from which it draws inspiration.
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