Benjamin Hawley is an emerging artist living and working in Boston, Massachusetts. He received an MFA in painting from Boston University in 2022 and a BFA in painting from Barton College in North Carolina in 2017. His paintings are the result of mulling over familiar and beloved sources layered with ephemeral phenomena in hopes of elevating and transforming them from their original states. He returns to the same forms again and again: a cherished little bowl; a mysterious mound of snow; an ornamental column seemingly made from pure color. These forms continuously reveal something new, whether it is a new way of altering their identity, unearthing a buried memory, or drawing a strange connection between two things that seem unrelated. By reducing and adapting the forms, they begin to serve new functions or ask new questions. These ever-evolving sacred forms are combined with subtle color gradients taken from observed fleeting moments. These gradients create an atmospheric and ethereal quality to the liminal spaces inside the paintings. He strives to make quietly seductive work that demands a long look and invites the viewer to question what they are seeing.