PRESS RELEASE
Nick Benfey: Openings
Feb 27 – Mar 22, 2025
New York, NY— Sears Peyton Gallery is pleased to present Nick Benfey: Openings, the artist’s debut solo exhibition in New York City featuring recent oil paintings by the Brooklyn based artist.
The artist describes “Openings” as having two relevant meanings for him. “The first is more obvious: a painting as an opening, a window or portal onto another plane, another world. Of course that’s nothing new. The second meaning is more relevant and less obvious. An opening is a psychological state, which these works spring from and will hopefully encourage. It’s a specific kind of contemplation, of drawing inward with attention upward. George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, repeatedly refers to his revelations in prayer as “great openings,” by which divine insight enters. Simone Weil cryptically describes the process of accepting a “void” in oneself for grace to fill. Emerson says, slightly more concretely, “We lie open on one side to the deeps of spiritual nature.””
In these paintings, Benfey uses visual metaphors to give form to the mysteries of being, perceiving, and living. He gives the compositions and colors room to allow them to become alternate worlds.
“Life is a project of becoming a window. We must ourselves become openings.” – Nick Benfey, 2025
Nick Benfey: Openings is on view from February 27 – March 8, 2025. An opening reception for the artist will take place on Thursday, February 27th from 5-7pm. Exhibition hours is Tuesday-Friday 11am-5pm and Saturday from 12pm-5pm. For more information or to request further images or information, please contact the gallery at info@searspeyton.com.
Nick Benfey was born in Amherst, MA. He received his BA in studio art and art history from Bowdoin College, and his MFA from Hunter College. He has taken part in solo and group exhibitions including at Moss Gallery, Portland, ME; 1GAP Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; 11 Newel Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME; Able Baker Contemporary, Portland, ME; Annarumma Gallery, Naples, Italy, and others. His eclectic paintings of cityscapes, rural landscapes, and animals filter his surroundings and life experiences through his imagination. He lives and works in Brooklyn.