Working in virtual isolation, creating a large volume of ever-changing work, T Benton Brooks’ paintings reflect fifty years of self-development rarely seen in contemporary artists.

T BENTON BROOKS created his first painting at age five. That first painting has long since been lost in the shuffle of life's journeys; however, the remainder of his life’s work has been well documented.

Ever since that first lost painting, his life has been embroiled by great artistic frustrations and creative challenges. Brooks has spent his life searching for who he is as an artist, refusing to merely reproduce the past as so many of his contemporaries do. His life has also been filled with great joys. It would seem, when speaking with him, that he has always led two different lives. One, the driven, creative spirit seeking his artistic path, and the other, a young man wanting so much to have a wife and children to love.

Over the past 35 years, he has struggled to satisfy and nurture both lives--never willing to give up one for the other. Ultimately, both lives have, at times, suffered for the betterment of the other. As Van Gogh had longed to have a family with whom to share his life and art, and as Gaugin longed to flee his family because of his art, T Benton Brooks finds himself somewhere in the middle, demanding the right to enjoy both.

AS IT BEGAN
Thomas Benton Brooks was born in Southern California on November 16, 1949. His father was a hard-working man who performed the same job for 35 years to support his family, rarely thinking about what he’d rather be doing. His mother was a loving, free spirit with her own unfulfilled artistic dreams. Brooks seems to have inherited these qualities from his parents--the family values and artistic passion.

His early years in Hollywood, California exposed him to a wide range of creative temperaments and personalities. The 1960s, and all that they represented in America, fueled the creative passions that lay quietly in Brooks. By the time he finished high school he had found art as a way of life and a means to express himself in an ever-changing world. He began college as an Art major but found the structure of the classroom assignments too stifling. He finished the next two years of college primarily because it was expected of him.

At that point, Brooks met the woman he had been longing to love and start a family with-Carol. In his own words, “I was lucky enough to find the string to my kite”. With his creative future ahead, Tom and Carol moved to Santa Barbara, California so she could complete her art degree at the university. Carol went on to graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Art, whereas Tom enrolled at the famous Brooks Art Institute. He took the advice of a couple of young teachers who felt that to really learn to be an artist one need only to get out and do art. “Go to other artists' studios, galleries, and museums--just observe and find your art within yourself.” This would prove to be a very difficult path for Brooks, yet at the time it was the answer to his wanderlust personality.

Through the 1970s Brooks made a living in the craft world while he searched for his artistic language. He was a jeweler, a woodworker, a glass blower, a silkscreen clothing artist, and finally, a portrait artist. He traveled extensively throughout the country while creating and selling his wares. He, his wife, and young daughter were gone for nearly a year. When they concluded that journey, they began to look for a fresh approach to life outside of Southern California. They arrived in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1978.

The 1980s were a time of major artistic growth for Brooks.
In the midst of a bounty of artistic expression, his home life became more stable and "normal". Tom and Carol obtained jobs as apartment managers, thus acquiring a spot in the basement of the apartment complex to set up as an art studio. This created an environment conducive to the next stage of his development. He took every advantage to experiment with new ideas. He painted on what was available and with what he could, but the work took much longer than he wanted to complete .

As the 1980s progressed, his family’s life improved. They moved into their own house and Brooks rented a studio downtown to allow more space for his work and creative ambitions. He occasionally showed his work, but his concern was not to sell it. Rather he chose to concentrate on creative growth and development. Over the next several years he began to see four distinct styles in his work which had been developing since the 1970s; bringing balance to his creative and spiritual concepts. He focused on those diverse styles and developed them independently with clarity and confinement. During this period of growth came a new graphic style combining newspaper, black pen, and paint; resulting in a fresh abstract series. As Brooks approached the 1990s he had outgrown his studio and found the need for an alternative space to hold his impressive volume of work.

The 1990s were a time of coming together--of ideas and styles. Brooks was in control of his art and what he wanted to say. Now more than ever he needed to be in his studio to bring ideas to completion. Once again, he moved his studio back into his home.

This was a very productive time for Brooks due to an explosion of creativity. He produced a vast amount of work, yet he could not put his art ahead of his family. He made his living at things he did not want to do. In exchange, he worked in his studio as often as possible. He produced more artwork in these small amounts of time than before. He felt that the works nearly painted themselves and he was merely an observer. He would, at times, step back, in awe of what had been created.

Even if Brooks had wanted to go out and begin to sell his work, he simply did not have enough time. His choices were to either paint or sell, and he chose to continue with his creative progress. Brooks now found it necessary to find an even larger space to house his work.

In the 2000s he chose, over everything else, to work in his studio and to produce as many paintings from each concept as time might permit. Presently Brooks has a large volume of some 300, mostly undisplayed, paintings that show incredible growth and creative power. His frustration lies in seeing so many unfinished projects and a large storage space full of several hundred finished paintings waiting for a home and a life of their own.

With encouragement from his family, Brooks has decided to put three decades' worth of painting, including current works, up for sale. It has been a difficult decision for him. This work represents a lifetime of effort and development. He finds it wrenching to part with his works but is now ready to share them with those who would appreciate and enjoy them.

For those of us who understand the creative, free spirit and love to collect one-of-a-kind, original art, we are fortunate to finally be able to view and purchase a truly unique volume of work, reflecting 35 years of the artist’s life in progress, which will surely have its place in art history.

To see T Benton Brooks’ volume of work, please click here.

HIS FOCUS

To T BENTON BROOKS, “progressive, creative originality” is what art should always represent. That is to say, art is a journey, taken in isolation; a journey of discovery ending in an original piece of self-expression which represents the artistic moment for the artist. For Brooks, the true value of any object is in its uniqueness, as it has always been since the beginning of time. As he has said, “No one can ever be as good at being me as me,” and “No one can ever do what I do; only what I've done.” Therein lies the core of what he is as an artist. “I will always be the creative sum total of my artistic past.”