Art, and artists, can be influenced by all sorts of things — even by what Rod Benson refers to as an incident of “brutality” at a nightclub on the Strip.
The experience is part of the lineage of Benson’s most recent exhibition, “Neon Black 2,” which runs through July 17 at The Herbert, 801 S. Main St., Suite 130, in downtown Las Vegas.
The paintings in the exhibition use Black hairstyles as a jumping-off point for celebrating the colorful diversity of Black culture and identity.
“There is a huge cultural thing with Black hair,” Benson says. “For one thing, beauty and barber shops are very communal. I think we spend most of our time in those spaces. So you can actually feel a sense of community.”
Also, he says, “there is a lot of pressure on Black people to groom their hair in a way that fits white culture.”
In the paintings that make up the exhibition, silhouettes of five men and five women, all friends of Benson, appear against colorful backgrounds that suggest various places — New York City, an anime-inflected Japan, even Mars. Each painting is intended to tell a story, sometimes overtly and sometimes subtly, with sly references and the occasional Easter egg.
“Neon Black 2” is a sequel of sorts to “Neon Black,” a series of portraits of iconic Black figures Benson created three years ago. It was his first exhibit and, before creating the pieces in it, he hadn’t thought of himself as a serious artist, only as someone who enjoyed…
