Anderson Art Collective Opens Benjamin Anderson Show Just Add Water

Feb. 1, 2010 - PRLog -- Santa Barbara, CA - Anderson Art Collective (http://www.andersonartcollective.com) will soon be awash with Benjamin Andersons (http://www.benjaminanderson.com) vibrant, large-scale contemporary oil paintings depicting a universe where water immerses and transforms the world we know. The solo show Just Add Water opens on Saturday, February 27 with an artist reception from 6-9pm and will continue through May 9. The reception is free and open to the public.

One of the largest pieces in the show is Spitfire a 5 ft by 14 ft oil on linen.

Trained in Florence, Italy and the SF Academy of Art University as a sculptor, Benjamins work was first presented in the De Young Museum of Fine Arts Emerging Artists Exhibition of 2001. He has been creating monumental oil paintings since 2002 and has been recognized for his portraiture by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. He was selected by Converse for a national ad campaign as their All Star artist and his work was the subject of a presentation on Londons Channel 4 TV. He has shown in San Francisco, New York, Europe and a variety of venues in California. In addition to his collaboration on MEYK (http://www.m-e-y-k.com) he is also a co-owner and co-curator of Anderson ART Collective.

As with all the Anderson Art Collective shows, we will donate a percentage of each sale to support non-profit endeavors. For Just Add Water , we are very proud to be associated with and donate 10% of our sales to NIKA Water, states Leigh-Anne Anderson, Director of the gallery.

NIKA Water (http://www.nikawater.org) uses water to create clean water. By that I mean that they sell premium, bottled water and donate 100% of their profits to support clean water projects in impoverished countries. As you can read on their website, 1.1 billion people on the planet lack access to safe and affordable drinking water. Thats 20% of the global population. Over 2 million people will die this year due to unsafe drinking water and 90% of them will be children under the age of five.

NIKA Water invests in water projects in Kenya, Nicaragua, Uganda, Sri Lanka and most recently Haiti through Free the Children (http://www.freethechildren.com) Millennium Promise (http://www.millenniumpromise.org) and Project Concern International (http://www.projectconcern.org) which we will be supporting through the arts. Its a win/win situation as clients will receive a tax deduction while championing human rights.

The Anderson ART Collective shows on the 2010 Santa Barbara Art Calendar will each contribute a percentage of sales to non-profit organizations. In 2009, the gallery donated to Unity Shoppe Santa Barbara, United Way, Surfrider Foundation, Talhado Childrens Home of South Africa and the Rio Beni Health Foundation of Bolivia.

The next show is Rogue Wave II which will open on May 29, 2010 presenting surf related artwork by local, national and international artists.

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About Anderson ART Collective (http://www.andersonartcollective.com) is located at 410 Palm Avenue, A2, in Carpinteria, CA in the historic Henry Fish Seed Company building at the entrance to Carpinteria State Beach and is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon until 5pm or by appointment. The gallery features contemporary artwork by Ron Anderson, Benjamin Anderson and Sean Anderson and is a platform to promote the arts, to protect the environment and to support human rights. For more information go to www.andersonARTcollective.com or call 805.684.8783.