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Now Gathering for an Opening August 2nd!
The Gift of a Lifetime
The Life and Work of Sculptor Al Bensusen (1930-2024)
It’s a story that’s as unique as it is beautiful. The TCC Gallery will be exhibiting the extraordinary work of the late New York artist, Albert “Al” Bensusen, from August 2 to September 21. It will showcase 350 remarkable figurative terracotta sculptures, 12-15 contemporary stone sculptures, a few small bronzes, and dozens of drawings, as part of a benefit for the non-profit Taos Ceramics Center (TCC) to help raise funding for the building of a dedicated educational facility on our existing campus. The work to be shown represents only a fraction of the more than 1300 figurative pieces and 25 stone works that have been donated to the TCC by his estate.
Remarkably, in all the years that Bensusen worked in clay and stone, he never sought to show his work. Only a handful of close friends and family members ever knew what he was doing for decades behind closed doors in his Bronx studio.
Bensusen passed away in April of 2024 at the age of 94. His career of 40 years was as an illustrator/art director for New York’s McCann Erickson Advertising until retiring in the mid 1990’s. Upon leaving the advertising world, he pursued what was to become his real passion, sculpture. He attended the Art Students League of New York for years and years to utilize the hundreds of live models that his 1300+ ceramic sculptures were inspired by. Each clay figure is gestural but considerably detailed and emotionally charged because of his insistence in getting to know every model to understand who they were. As he finished each piece, he would place it on shelving that he had erected in his studio. While he continued his work in clay, he took on stone carving with a more contemporary approach.
Al's son, Samuel, along with Al’s first wife and Sam’s mother, Kitty, approached the TCC last summer to share with us what Al had left behind and his father’s desire that it be donated to support art education. Albert was also a life-long NPR listener with a radio in his studio and every room in his home. As a result, a portion of the sale proceeds will also go to public radio.
Our exhibit and tribute to Al Bensusen, The Gift of a Lifetime, will open on Saturday, August 2 at the TCC Gallery in Taos, NM. Until then, enjoy the photos and 11-minute biographical video, by British videographer Harry Borden, about Bensusen that was shot ten years prior to his passing when he was 84, and recently final-edited. The video will give you a look into this man's soul as well as a glimpse of some of the work, clay and stone, that we will be exhibiting: Just Make Something
Examples of the figurative work to be exhibited. Each piece is emotionally rich, engagingly gestural, yet unrefined by design.
We, and 350 or so others, look forward to seeing you at the TCC Gallery!