A selection of work from painter Benjamin Styer. Styer was born in Boston and is currently based between Massachusetts and California. His work explores magical realism, folk art, and visionary painting through a modern lens. Drawing from art historical contexts such as Renaissance manuscripts, German Fraktur, and illustrated music scores, Styer replaces their religious mysticism with a whimsical sensibility, arranging compositions from doodles, segments of calligraphic textile design, collage, and scrap poetry. Styer’s practice celebrates desktop clutter as personal treasures—plastic souvenirs, cartoon figurines, rubber stamps, and other junk-drawer material—items with hidden connections, reminiscent of children’s book illustration.

All images courtesy of the Artist and Moskowitz Bayse.