ABOUT THE ARTIST

Derek Bencomo was born in Los Angeles, California and raised on the southern California coast. He spent many days on the beach, surfing and bicycling. Derek’s interest in woodworking did not develop until he started buying restorable antique furniture for his own use. Derek appreciated the workmanship and beauty of the natural grain of the woods.

In 1984, the congestion of Los Angeles and the crowding of the beaches no longer suited Derek’s low- key life style. He and his wife moved to Hawaii. In Hawaii his exposure to exotic woods and the quality of the Hawaiian craftsmanship convinced Derek to become a woodworker.

He is a self-taught wood turner who values freedom from strict form. He finds great joy in the integrity of each individual piece of wood as he builds into it, new life. It is a delicate transformation, a synthesis of the creative energy of a man and the indigenous energy stored in the trees.

ABOUT THE WORK

Derek Bencomo has a unique “hands on approach” with his work. He purchased a lathe and then simply figured it out one step at a time. As he works, he follows the dictates of the wood; he “never fights the wood because it has too loud a voice.”

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Honolulu Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, MH de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA
Texas State Bank Corporate Collection, McMallen, TX
The Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
The State of Hawaii, The Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Hawaii
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
Bishop Museum, The Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts, Honolulu, HI

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2003 “One Step Back, Two Steps Forward,” Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2001 “Come to Me Dancing,” Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2000 “Studio Wood/The New Frontier,” Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2000 “Derek Bencomo, Solo Exhibit,” Maui Crafts Guild, Paia, Maui, HI
1999 Hawaii Craftsmen: “Turn of the Century,” Academy Art Center, Honolulu, HI
1999 “Transformation: Contemporary Works in Wood,” The Society of Contemporary Crafts, Pittsburgh, PA
1999 “The Art of Craft: Works From the Saxe Collection,” MH de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
1999 SOFA New York, del Mano Gallery, New York, NY
1998 Expressions in Wood: Masterworks from the Wornick Collection, American Craft Museum, New York, NY
1998 Hawaii Craftsmen, Academy Art Center, Honolulu, HI
1998 The 2nd Annual Wood Art Collectors Conference, San Francisco, CA
1998 SOFA Chicago, IL
1997 “Renwick at Twenty-Five,” Smithsonian Institution, Renwick Gallery, Washington D.C.