Instagram Stories: Sally King Benedict's Southern Renaissance
Glimpse the evocative inner life of the Atlanta-based artist and darling of the design world
Sally King Benedict’s smile is just as contagious as the memorable canvases that bear her signature. Energetic, colorful, and anything but ordinary, the graphically compelling works have captured the attention of seasoned collectors and novice art lovers alike. A peek into the charismatic Southerner’s Instagram account provides a glimpse into a modern aesthete’s work-life balance as a wife, mother, and creative talent—a woman whose breezy lifestyle often mirrors the art she creates.
THE ARTWORKS
"I approach each painting by considering the size and medium I feel like working with first. The rest follows with palette and subject matter. I create a base landscape with different strokes of mediums and marks, then sculpt it into something greater than just the exercise of a brush or piece of charcoal. It becomes what it is in just that way—solving a problem through composition, line, color, and balance."
THE BEGINNING
“My best friend’s dad— who's a great artist and photographer and is always on the pulse with the newest photo apps and technologies—told me about Instagram. I post what I feel is relevant to my day or what I’m currently thinking about. Winging it, yes. Deleting some, yes. Planning in advance, no. It's pretty much identical to my creative process in the studio."
the AESTHETIC
"I love super-clean and curated Instagrams because I can appreciate the restraint and dedication it must take to operate such beauty. [But] I also love the opposite end of the spectrum, where there isn't as much fuss over the appearance or content of the picture. I like to 'gram a combination of my work in the studio, my personal life in moderation, travel bits, and overall surprising and humorous real moments."
the faces
“I grew up believing that there was someone extra-special watching over me. The faces [that I draw] are combinations of people and places that all share a spirituality and protectiveness about them. I want them to find homes and families that they can watch over while making a space beautiful at the same time.”
