This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Anderson Benally is best known for his paintings of Indians in what he
refers to as "natural settings, colored with a deeply historic
overview." His art reflects his beliefs in the Native American
spiritual experience. His impressionistic landscapes, a blend of
realistic and surrealistic images, are filled with the mysticism of
dreams, and include totems, bear brothers and shaman visions. He
uses a sprinkling of snowy color on the textured and swirling
landscapes. Most of his paintings include a circle, a depiction
of the round shields of the hunters and the hunted. His use of
shades of blue or earth tones, rawhide, leather and feathers reflect
his concern with the environment and the products of Indian life.
Benally's most recent achievement is the illustration of the book She Who Watches,
published by Binford & Mort Publishing in 1997. These
paintings capture the spirit of the stories of Coyote and a woman
chief, Tsagaglalal, based on the petroglyphs along the shore of the
Columbia River near Dallesport, Washington.
Anderson Benally was born in 1954 in Crownpoint, New Mexico. He
was raised in the Rough Rock, Arizona region of the Navajo
Nation. He attended the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa
Fe, New Mexico and the Academy of Arts, San Francisco. He
received a degree from Eastern Oregon State University. He also
attended graduate school at Rutgers University, working toward a degree
in anthropology.
He now resides in Albuquerque, NM and can be found most weekends at the
Albuquerque Flea Market where he welcomes visitors to hear his stories
and talk about life and art.
Awards include The Collectors Award, Calgary, Canada. He is listed in Who's Who in American Art, 17th Edition. He has also been reviewed in New York Art Review, 1990, 4th Edition. His 1990 painting won the Inter-Tribal Ceremonial Poster award in Gallup, New Mexico
Submitted May, 2010 by Velvet Vieira, friend of the artist.
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