Benbow Bullock is a San Francisco Bay Area steel sculptor who has been sculpting for over 30 years. Some of his most recent work is a 12' high abstract sundial in the geometric constructivist tradition using water-jet cut silicon-bronze. He has just completed his dragon, Medusa and semaphore series of sculptures. His work is in many public, private, corporate and museum collections worldwide.
In 1989, Bullock received the Royal Ueno Museum Purchase Award, during the 6th Annual Henry Moore Exhibition, from Fuji Sankei Corporation for his painted steel triptych, "They Laughed at Columbus". The following year the Hakone Open-air Museum purchased "East is East" also for their permanent collection; a steel sculpture inspired by visits to Buddhist and Shinto shrines near Kyoto. "We are most fortunate to be on the Pacific Rim in terms of information flow between Eastern and Western cultures. My sculptures have become very simple in design, while retaining a sense of mystery and the whimsical, since visits to Japan." Bullock said in a recent interview about influences on his work.
Sculpture has always fascinated him, Bullock says, because you can walk around it and through in some cases. There is no beginning or end; you are free to come and go as you please. Shadows cast by a sculpture are a very important part of received impressions, giving a sculpture a life of its own during the course of a day, and changing seasons. Of course, the tactile and visual aspects of a sculpture are equally important. In contrast to the don'ts of museum guards, Bullock encourages viewers to touch his work.
He has travelled worldwide to visit and experience archeological, architectural and historic sites such as Knossos and Delphi; Hadrian's Wall; Megalithic dolmens and Menhirs in the Carnac Region of Brittany, and Hattusas, a Hittite city on an acropolis in the Anatolian plains of Turkey that predates the Cyclopean stone structures of Mycenae and Argolis. Last year he cruised the Nile to see the Pyramids at Giza, The Valley of the Kings and Abu Simbel. Spring 1998, he was in Bilbao, Spain to see the new Guggenheim Museum designed by Frank Gehry.
Benbow's bronze cast sculpture,"Hello Central Give Me Heaven" is in the lobby of AT&T headquarters in San Francisco. "Meknes" a painted steel triptych 9'H X 15'L X 5'D is in the permanent collection of the Oakland Museum of California; and "Chimayo" a painted steel Zia sun symbol is on the grounds of the Governor's Mansion in Santa Fe.
In August, 1992, he journeyed to Schiller University in Strasbourg, France, for the installation/reception of his aluminum sculpture "Xanadu" in their 70 acre sculpture on the grounds of the Chateau de Pourtales. Other sculptures in the park include: Barry Flannagan's "The Bowler", a jaunty 15 foot high bronze rabbit; and "La Foret Regarde et Ecoute" by Claudio Parmigiano, fifteen bronze ears scattered among trees and bushes in the park, each a meter high, and "Aborigines" ethylene life-sized figures climbing trees.
Selected from among 85 sculptures done by 75 international sculptors, his painted steel blue hoops, "Rainmaker", won 2nd prize at "Les Festival des Arts", at Beaulieu-sur-Mer fifth annual international competition. It is permanently installed in a palm-studded park across the street from and overlooking the Mediterrean in downtown Beaulieu-sur-Mer.
Benbow, and his wife, Jean, flew to Vilnius, Lithuania August 1996 for the installation and dedication of his painted steel "Upper Quadrant", part of his semaphore series. It is located in the new Sculpture Park of Europe at the geographical center of Old Europe.
Open to the public since March 1997, the collection of the Veronica and Rene di Rosa Foundation owns five of his sculptures including: his aluminum "A Rocket's Red Glare" and "Terra Incognita" on the entry road at the Gatehouse; and "Hyperboreans, a painted steel triptych directly across Winery lake from the Gatehouse. "Promonory Point" a steel sculpture made from railroad track crew tongs and spike lifters graces the circular entry courtyard, and celebrates the joining of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads in May 10, 1869.
Bullock's work can also be seen at the Auberge du Soleil and the Rutherford Hill Winery (Courtesy I. Wolk Gallery, St. Helena), both in the Napa Valley, above the SilveradoTrail. The following galleries also have his work on display: Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley,CA; The New Leaf Gailery, Berkeley, CA; Quietude Garden Gallery, East Brunswick, NJ; Design Consortium, Cincinnati, OH and Kouros Sculpture park, Ridgefield, CT. And by appoinment at his Valiejo, CA studio (707) 557-2974.
Through February, 1999, his triptych "Pillars of Hercules" will be on display at the Grounds for Sculpture, a new sculpture park near Princeton, New Jersey. It is located on the former State of New Jersey 22 acre Fairgrounds purchased and landscaped by Seward Johnson as a sculpture park and gallery to show the work of international sculptors in changing sculpture exhibitions.
Recent Exhibitions
Art Gallery
Address
Benbow Bullock
12 Sandy Beach Road
Vallejo, CA 94590 - USA
tel. ++1-(707)-644-6872
fax ++1-(707)-554-1234
