The way Ben Fenske’s brushstrokes dance across the canvas, the eye can’t help but follow along, through the tall wavy grasses of a vineyard, up into swirling cloud-dotted skies, and around the eddies in the sea. Even a still life of lilacs is alive with the dynamic movement of lively brushwork and flickering light.
Some paintings beg the comparison to van Gogh, but Fenske’s work is distinctively contemporary, while remaining rooted in the fundamental characteristics of impressionism: an overall looseness more concerned with capturing the fleeting light and atmosphere of a scene than a realistic depiction of it; short, unblended brushstrokes of vivid color, and a focus on vignettes of daily life, often painted in plein air.
Dering Harbor Sailboats, oil on canvas, 39½ x 55 in.
“I used to paint almost exclusively from life, though in the last couple of years I started painting from sketches or life or memory or photo reference, or any combination, which is a new challenge for me,” says Fenske. “When I am painting from life I generally just react to what I’m painting, and a lot of times I let my natural intuition drive the painting process. I am drawn to paintings that look like paint and have marks and texture. Blending things smooth is not in my nature.”
Walking in the Vineyard, oil on linen, 47 x 63 in.
Classically trained at the Russian Academy of Fine Arts and deeply influenced by mid-20th century Soviet impressionists like Sergei and Aleksei Tkatchev, Arkady Plastov and Nikolai Timkov among others, painting looser has never been a challenge for Fenske. “[But] there is a long list of things I’d like to improve upon and experiment with—vision, composition, color purity, color harmony, subject matter, it’s really endless,” he says. “I have different goals for each painting. Early on it was just capturing a feeling or moment; now I’m more focused on making a completed composition.”
Window, Spring, oil on canvas, 47¼ x 39½ in.
Fenske’s painting Walking in the Vineyard was selected as a finalist in the New Salem Museum and Academy of Fine Arts’ 2026 International Painting Competition, from an impressive list of contenders. The painting features a long-limbed figure striding through a vineyard in what I imagine lies in Tuscany, where the Minnesota-native has lived for nearly 20 years.
“I was trying to capture the landscape and the sense of scale and the feeling of walking through it,” says Fenske. “Also the moment when the first leaves appear in the vineyard and spring is exploding, changing everything. It is also a scene from daily life—I live there; I was trying to capture that too.”
Lilacs, oil on linen, 35½ x 43 in.
His piece Dering Harbor Sailboats captures a fleet of Herreshoff sailing boats in a harbor on picturesque Shelter Island, off Eastern Long Island. He started the painting on location and finished it in Italy, allowing him more freedom with the final composition.
Window, Spring was painted in Fenske’s kitchen and, as with with Lilacs, he felt the familiar “sense of urgency to capture the changing seasons, in this case the transition of winter grey violets to spring greens.” As for Lilacs, the flowers evoke childhood memories for Fenske, and are challenging to paint because their vitality is so fleeting.
Fenske’s new work will be on display in his 19th annual solo show at Grenning Gallery in Sag Harbor, New York, from August 20 through September 13. A reception will be held on opening day from 6:30 to 8 p.m. —
Grenning Gallery 26 Main Street • Sag Harbor, NY 11963 (631) 725-8469 • www.grenninggallery.com
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