A cultural detour to the Benz Gallery

If you peel off from a leisurely stroll downtown, and head over to Adelaide and Cheapside, you can find another local culture spot. Between the Metro supermarket and Churis Bread, you can find The Benz Gallery. Independently run by its namesake Greg Benz, his coastal landscape paintings take prominence. Richly panoramic, Benz captures the pallid luminosity of rolling waves on an overcast day. Placid and opalescent waters spread into the distance, locating the viewer in a place of meaningful contemplation, a solitary relationship with the primordial ocean. 

While these are dreamy, this is not all the gallery has to offer. Daumante Stirbyte’s ceramic insects stir up whimsy and delight. Beetles and moths of otherworldly colours are formed in clay carapaces, wildly tangible. 

Also of note are Mary Philpott’s corvid sculptures. Like Stirbyte, these crows are in the ceramic medium. They’re familiar but uncanny, lifelike and dramatic.

If you’re in the Old North, take a little time to support the arts. It’s a worthwhile divergence off the beaten path of downtown destinations.