Profile: Lloyd Benjamin

A vital ingredient in Castleberry Hill’s cool energy is Lloyd Benjamin’s Get This! Gallery. Its cast of young, emerging artists makes it a must-see venue. Benjamin lives above the gallery and is almost always on hand to talk about the work in his quietly enthusiastic manner.

A self-taught artist, his work has been shown at galleries such as Young Blood and Ty Stokes. The Little Rock, Ark., native’s refined, subdued aesthetic is reflected in his gallery and his own stencil-based artwork.

A real renaissance man, Benjamin plays bass in the All-Night Drug Prowling Wolves and is “mildly involved” with the online magazine Dry Ink.

Benjamin has been riding trains since he was 19. “It is my preferred way of travel, if I got the time.” His gallery is 200 feet from the railroad tracks, “with about 50 trains going by a day. There is a nice green spot back there that I go and sit every morning to read and plan my life with a cup of coffee.”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)