Benjamin Lussier is a landscape painter currently based on the New Hampshire Seacoast. Lussier discovered his love for painting at an early age through the influence of his father, David, who provided instruction in the basics of value, color, and composition throughout childhood and adolescence. A native of New England, Lussier draws on his love of rural landscape for his choice of subject matter, and is especially inspired by coastal and maritime imagery.
Lussier shows promising talent very early in his career. He has exhibited in several national, juried exhibitions, and his paintings have been honored with multiple awards from the Salmagundi Club in New York City. Lussier’s work is available through Grenning Gallery in Sag Harbor, New York; Roux and Cyr International Fine Art Gallery in Portland, Maine; and the Lupine Gallery in Monhegan, Maine. When he isn't painting, Lussier continues work on his doctoral dissertation in Russian literature at Columbia University.
The Grenning Gallery discovered Lussier painting on Main Street, Sag Harbor in the Autumn of 2016, and immediately struck up an agreement to exhibit his work in our annual winter exhibition, GEMS. Lussier has since been featured in group shows at the Grenning Gallery.
Artist Statement
"Painting is a philosophical study of visual perception. If in the course of day to day life we are concerned principally with seeing objects, the task of the painter is to recognize—and elucidate —the perceptual phenomena that make these objects visually present for us. Light, shadow, depth, atmosphere, reflection: these aspects of sight are casually neglected because (in both senses of the word) we see through them. The task of the painter is to render these usually invisible phenomena visible in paint. In this sense, the painting shows not just what is seen, but how it comes to be seen. A trace of visible being, it leads the viewer towards recognition of the infinitely varied and miraculous ways in which the world offers itself to the eye.
As a plein air painter, I choose to make my studio out in the world because I revel in the opportunity to serve as a witness to this visible being of things. As I am continually in thrall to the unexpected nuances of the landscapes which I paint, the most rewarding experiences I can have as a painter are those moments when I am surprised by my own work. There is nothing more exciting than getting home after a long plein air session, hanging up a fresh painting and realizing: Oh, I didn’t know it looked that way. I sincerely hope that my work invokes in others a similar sense of wonder at the world, and at the privilege of our participation as witnesses to its miraculous unfolding."
EDUCATION
Columbia University : New York, NY
- Ph.D: Russian Literature: ongoing
- Dissertation: Literary Playgrounds - Ludic Communities in the Context of Russian Letters
- Readers: Irina Reyfman, Cathy Popkin, Boris Gasparov
- MPhil in Russian Literature : May 2017
- MA in Russian Literature : February 2015
- Thesis : “Zhizn’ v svoem nelepom proyavlenii”: Alfred Jarry and the Pataphysics of Daniil Kharms
- Readers : Boris Gasparov, Rad Borislavov
Oberlin College : Oberlin, OH
- BA in Philosophy, Russian Literature and Language : May 2010
ART EDUCATION AND RESIDENCIES
David Lussier : private instruction in oils : 2006-present
Emerson Landing Artist Residency : Wye Mills, MD : June 2016
AWARDS
Andrew and Kathleen Brennan Memorial Award : “The Washerwoman”: Salmagundi Club, 2018
Gamblin Materials Award : “Little Whitehead” : Salmagundi Club, 2017
Winsor & Newton ColArt Americas, Inc. Material(s) Award : “Rooftops Over Yerevan” : Salmagundi Club, 2016
AFFILIATIONS AND GALLERY REPRESENTATION
Elizabeth Moss Galleries : Artist : Falmouth, ME : August 2019 - present
Todd Bonita Art Gallery : Artist : Ogunquit, ME : May 2018 - present
Lupine Gallery : Artist : Monhegan, ME : May 2018 - present
Grenning Gallery : Artist : Sag Harbor, NY : December 2016 - present
Salmagundi Club : Member : January 2017 - present
COMMISSIONS
ULBANDUS Columbia Graduate Journal of Slavic Studies : “Cathy Nepomnyashchy” : 8.5x11” : paper-cutting : November 2016
Mary Missarian : “Church of the Holy Archangels, Etchmiadzin” : 9x12” : oil on linen : March 2016
William Hanlon : “Autumn Harbor” : 11x14” : oil on paper : February 2016
Overstate, Understate, Tell the Truth— Paintings from Saint Petersburg, New York, and Yerevan : Harriman Institute at Columbia University: New York, NY : March 2016 - May 2016
GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND AUCTIONS
My Best Work : Roux and Cyr International Fine Art Gallery : Portland, ME:October 2019
Monhegan, Etc. : Sunny’s Bar : New York, NY: July—August 2019
Spring Sensations : Roux and Cyr International Fine Art Gallery : Portland, ME: April 2019
GEMS Annual Group Exhibition : Grenning Gallery : Sag Harbor, NY: November 2018—January 2019
SCNY 2018 Spring Auctions : Salmagundi Club : New York, NY : May 2018
Capturing Light : Roux and Cyr Gallery : Portland, ME : April 2018
SCNY Junior/Scholarship Exhibition : Salmagundi Club : New York, NY : January 2018
SCNY Landscape Exhibition : Salmagundi Club : New York, NY : January 2018
SCNY Centennial Thumb-Box Exhibition : Salmagundi Club : New York, NY : December-January 2017
Annual Members’ Exhibition : Salmagundi Club : New York, NY : November 2017
Sag and the City : Grenning Gallery : Sag Harbor, NY : October 2017
SCNY Nautical Exhibition : Salmagundi Club : New York, NY : July 2017
SCNY 2017 Spring Auctions : Salmagundi Club : New York, NY : March 2017
2017 SCNY Junior/Scholarship Exhibition : Salmagundi Club Lower Gallery : New York, NY : January 2017
2017 SCNY New Members’ Exhibition : Salmagundi Club Upper Gallery : New York, NY : January 2017
Miracle on Madison Street : Grenning Gallery : Sag Harbor, NY : December 2016
American Artists Professional League 88th Grand National Exhibition :
Salmagundi Club Upper and Lower Galleries : New York, NY : November 2016
Salmagundi Club 38th Annual Juried Non-Members’ Painting and Sculpture
Exhibition : Salmagundi Club Upper Gallery : New York, NY : July 2016
Hudson Valley Art Association 83rd Annual National Juried Exhibition :
Salmagundi Club Upper Gallery: New York, NY : March 2016
