LATONJA DAVIS-BENSON FINE ART
My art rises from the quiet between thought and feeling. Color speaks, texture remembers, and each piece becomes a reflection of what I sense—more than what I see.
Artist Statement
Life and Inspiration
Latonja is a planner in many areas of her life, but in her art, she is driven by emotion and vision while often taking risks. Once she has decided on a material of choice, Latonja is known to allow a natural, spontaneous revelation that the material has to offer, as each piece progresses to its finish. While working with oil, acrylic, pastel, wax, dye, latex, pencil, and/or found materials, she realizes that her mission was not only to produce unique art, but also to advocate and revalidate the discards of our environment into a greater purpose – art. Latonja’s ceaseless motivation to create visually inviting works on panels, paper, and canvas dares to be overlooked.
Latonja’s journey as an artist began in childhood, sparked when an owl she drew in elementary school won local recognition and went on display at the neighborhood shopping center. That golden owl bank, a talisman of early promise, was just the beginning. Bolstered by her mother’s unwavering encouragement—supplying drawing paper, pencils, paints, and canvas at every turn—Latonja began to hone her skills, copying the antics of the Flintstones and exploring the boundaries of her creativity. Artistic influence in her family also ran deep, with her father’s playful doodles quietly shaping her own creative instincts.
In the quiet, sunlit expanses of rural Beaumont, Texas, where she was raised, Latonja’s earliest memories take shape like brushstrokes on a blank canvas. Childhood days were filled with ditches instead of sidewalks, pockets of untamed wilderness beckoning exploration, the fresh scent of damp earth after rain, and the sweet fragrance of wild berries. These surroundings invited dirty hands, well-worn clothes, and a child’s limitless imagination. It was among these hidden forests—climbing trees, gathering berries, and collecting insects with her brothers—that Latonja first began to experience the world through multiple senses: sight, sound, touch, and smell.
Latonja’s practice is fueled by the natural world—organic materials, discovered textures, and the serendipity of found objects. She brings together bark, twigs, reclaimed paper, cardboard, and even construction scraps, assembling them into dynamic, energetic abstractions that resist easy categorization. “I do not choose a subject matter—it chooses my canvas,” she says, her process guided by instinct rather than conscious design. The result is assemblage work that vibrates with vitality, often on a large scale and always inviting the viewer to experience what one admirer once described as downright captivating.
Latonja knew that the practice of “seeing” and understanding simple forms, line, and tone at an early age was paramount in art-making. Upon moving to California with her family at the age of 12, Latonja’s talent began to bloom while in her pre-teen years, as she attended “art-promoting” schools where new avenues to interesting ideas and processes that would later shape her artistic ingenuity.
Today, Latonja Davis-Benson is a mixed media painter, assemblage artist, and graphic artist, showing her work in numerous private and public venues throughout Riverside, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles Counties; much of her artwork lives in the homes or companies of numerous collectors. Latonja has earned a Bachelor's and Master's of Arts degrees, and works as a teacher of higher education in Riverside County. She also holds a degree in Radiologic Sciences and works as a Mammographer on occasion.
Latonja is not afraid of taking risks in the exploration of new ideas, uncommon territories, and fruitful business opportunities. She is driven to succeed artistically and professionally through exhibition of her works-of-art; as a teacher of higher education in arts, and as an entrepreneur in business - thus accomplishing what she loves - showing and teaching art.
For 3 decades, Latonja turned to teaching and sharing her passion with new generations as a college art instructor. Her commitment to art education now extends beyond the classroom through Paint Hive Studio, her sip-and-paint business, and Paint Hive Studio, NP, the nonprofit afterschool art program where she brings the magic of creativity to children. For her, art and community are inseparable—a philosophy that has underpinned her entire professional life.
"My Artwork does not describe any one particular style, but rather my general attitude towards certain subjects. My paintings, combines, and drawings convey my individuality, spontaneous thoughts, and ideas. It is like a journey into many of my muses. Nevertheless, art is "shared" by all, and with that being said, I consider myself lucky to be inspired by some of the great artists of our past - Raushenberg, Rothko, Pollock, and Picasso, to name a few."
Her passion also embraces the business of art and the art of business through the development of my website. Visit my online portfolio that exhibits spectacular art concepts. LatonjaFineArt.com."
Latonja Davis-Benson
Latonja Davis-Benson considers herself to be a mixed media, multi-process artist, making art that convinces her viewers that the art comes from her soul and her material. Latonja is a breast cancer survivor who ardently considers her artwork practice to be therapy through her recovery. Continued creative curiosity focused her attention on nature and its effortless waste as a prudent catalyst in fine art. Keeping our worldly recycling and reclamation effort in the forefront, Latonja understands the environmental sensitivities of our culture and uses that knowledge to create largely tactile and thought-provoking art with many re-purposed materials to introduce a new dimension in her art making. This movement in her art parallels with the rediscovery and spiritual rebirth in her life after cancer.
Her style includes realistic drawing, figurative-abstract painting, and abstract combine assemblage paintings. Her realistic work finds pure detail of her subject matter while using graphite and charcoal; her figurative-abstract creates a connection with representational painting and innovative distortions of color, shape and line while it pushes the boundaries of “ordinary”; and her abstract combine paintings relies on the inclusion of many non-art materials throughout the work that reveals unique distinction, which is her signature.