Roberto Benavidez: Bosch Beasts

Roberto Benavidez was drawn to art at an early age but was raised in rural South Texas, where there was little access to visual arts education. He pursued his secondary interest in acting, and earned his BFA from Texas State University. After a few years of moderate acting success, Benavidez found himself returning to his original passion for the visual arts and headed west to California. After taking classes at Pasadena City College in sculpting, drawing and painting, he trained in the art of bronze casting, working in an abstract, figurative style.  

An important development in Benavidez’s career was his shift to paper as his primary medium—specifically, making fantastical and whimsical piñata-based sculptures using traditional piñata materials and techniques. He received notable acclaim for his series, Piñatas of Earthly Delights, based on the fanciful creatures and figures that roam Hieronymus Bosch’s epic painting, The Garden of Earthly Delights. This series was the subject of a solo exhibition at the AD &A Museum at the University of California, Santa Barbara, focusing on the underlying theme of “sin” in both the piñata, and the painting from which it draws inspiration.

A self-described ‘Halfbreed, South Texan, queer’, with a focus on impeccable craftsmanship. Benavidez subtly weaves in elements that reflect the commonality between the history of the piñata and his mixed-race, queer identity, through his empathetic sculpting of hybrid creatures and couplings. His work is represented in museum collections including the Detroit Institute of Art, The Museum of International Folk Art, and the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.