Reno artist Nathaniel Benjamin mostly works in screen-printing, block-printing and mural-painting. He has lived all over the U.S. and has been in Reno for a little more than 10 years. He started studying forestry—before the creative community here inspired him to take a detour into art. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada, Reno, and now runs the community nonprofit printmaking studio Laika Press (136 Vesta St., in Reno) where people can learn and practice printmaking. Nathaniel did the phantasmagoric illustrations for this year’s Best of Northern Nevada issue. You can see more of his work at www.nathanielbenjamin.com.
What makes you unique as an artist?
I think that different artists explore different subject matter, and I’m always looking into things that are not necessarily the mainstream iconography that you usually see. … So, I try to talk about things that are really going on right now that are constantly shifting. Technology is evolving every day, and right now, I think it’s important for me to maintain and highlight my imprint on my work. Handmade art has the thumbprint of the artist in every line, and that’s something that AI doesn’t have, at least not yet anyway. I try to use this and bring in imagery that speaks to that difference to critique our culture.
You did the cover and inside illustrations for this year’s Best of Northern Nevada for the RN&R. There are things and places all over Reno that are being menaced by terrifying insects, and the cover has intensely vibrant colors. What inspired these illustrations?
I chose to use local icons. People are very familiar with landmarks and the monuments that we have around here. And I thought about: What if local bugs mutated and turned into monsters that were invading our landscape? Because it’s just, like, a wild idea, and I thought it would be a lot of fun. Godzilla Minus One came out recently and was a big inspiration. I thought that the movie was great, and the idea of monsters being mutated by human activity and then coming back to haunt us is interesting to me. These are things that we deal with every day, or we’re around all the time, but I wanted to make it fun. In the illustration of the Gold ’n’ Silver, the Gold ’n’ Silver is now the Dust ’n’ Rubble, because that’s a reference to the owners of the J Resort just obliterating downtown, basically, and it’s something that’s ongoing and continues to happen, and it’s hard to know what to do about that, because it is like a very large, overbearing organization just taking over a town and doing what it wants.
How do you feel about the state of the world today?
It’s a little chaotic. I think that imperialism and U.S. domination of the world have led the world to a dark place. We’re not adjusting to current circumstances very well. I think money and politics often get in the way of coming to constructive solutions for the problems we’re facing.
Do you have any shows or events in the future?
I will have an exhibition for these illustrations at Pitch Black (700 E. Fourth St., Suite A, in Reno) on Sept. 14, and those prints will be up and available for sale. As for my next project, I got a grant from the Nevada Arts Council to do three large linocuts. I might end up doing a few more, but I’m going to be doing an exhibition of those block prints after they’re completed.
Will you be making any prints about the impending election?
I don’t know yet. The printing press has been a historically political thing. It was originally a way to get the word out about things, and a lot of that is motivated by politics and local issues, so I think … we’ll probably be doing something around that. I can’t say what, as we don’t have anything specific planned yet. No matter how the election goes, we’re still going to face most of the same issues.