CLMA Exhibition Explores the Complexities of Abstraction to Mark Karl Benjamin’s 100th Birthday

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For Immediate Release

June 12, 2025

Press Contact: Catherine McIntosh

909 626-1386, cell 713 829-9338 cmcintosh1011@gmail.com

Complications in Color

August 2–November 16, 2025

Claremont Lewis Museum of Art, 200 W. First St., Claremont, CA

Opening Reception: Saturday, August 2, 6-9 pm

The Claremont Lewis Museum of Art exhibition Complications in Color will mark the 100th birthday of Karl Benjamin (1925-2012), legendary Claremont painter and visionary of the 1950s hard-edge abstraction painting movement. The exhibition will celebrate the beauty of abstraction while revealing its deeper complexities in the work of Florence Arnold, Karl Benjamin, June Harwood, Rachel Lachowicz, and Terry O’Shea.

Generously sponsored by Gould Asset Management LLC, Complications in Color will open with a reception on Saturday, August 2 from 6-9 p.m. and will remain on view through November 16, 2025. The Museum is open Thursday through Sunday in the historic Claremont Depot at 200 W. First Street next to the Metrolink Station. For hours and more information visit clmoa.org.

THE EXHIBITION

Traditionally, abstract art has been discussed in terms of pure form, often overlooking its psychological and political dimensions. While Benjamin and his fellow Abstract Classicists (as they became known following a 1959 exhibition at LACMA) were celebrated for their innovative approach to painting, talented women artists faced roadblocks to recognition in this male-dominated canon. Florence Arnold and June Harwood’s contributions to the genre demonstrate excellence in this field that has been too often overlooked. These three painters are masters of distilling relationships between colors and forms down to a vibrational dynamism. Rachel Lachowicz introduces a feminist lens to geometric abstraction and Terry O’Shea expands the parameters of abstraction through his sculptural work in resin. Direct link to the web page: https://clmoa.org/exhibit/complications-in-color. More information about the artists will be added soon.