• Lou Benesch: The Magician's Room

    August 1st - August 22nd, 2026
  • detail image of painting by artist lou benesch

    For some, the spiritual and unconscious realms exist only as conceptual spaces, intangible and inaccessible in waking life. In The Magician’s Room, Lou Benesch reveals a place where the two realms meet.

    For her inaugural solo exhibition in San Francisco, the artist consulted her dreams and tarot cards to understand and inhabit the character of The Magician.

  • detail image of painting by artist lou benesch

    Benesch writes: “The Magician is a trickster and lover, channeling what is above and below. He is a maker of wonders, and Spirit is never far from him.”

    Functioning as a representation of outer doing, he is an active participant, bringing forth manifestation and enabling action in our world.

    Through divination and a series of fantastical characters, the exhibition explores the Magician’s personal cosmos, finding comfort in the unknown of an alternate reality where physical and spiritual worlds converge.

  • detail image of silence and lullaby by lou benesch

    In this new series of works, Benesch confounds time by transforming found antique objects into portals, revealing the intimate interiors or “rooms” of the creatures that inhabit the Magician’s world. 

    Silence and Lullaby offers a glimpse into the Sphinx’s domicile amongst the stars. On all fours before a green bed, she is flanked by tulips stood upright. Her face is half obscured by a blue semi-transparent mask, revealing a hidden self.

  • detail image of painting by artist lou benesch

    Within each piece are moments of convergence between Benesch’s creature amalgamations. In Channel, an ouroboros is tucked behind the rib of a deer while florals bud and bloom between two twin fish in Eternal Love.

    The Magician’s Room invites viewers to discover these moments of worlds overlapping, where the Magician’s power is unveiled and a depth of inner being can be found.

  • Photo of a painting by lou benesch (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Photo of a painting by lou benesch (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Photo of a painting by lou benesch (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Photo of a painting by lou benesch (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Photo of a painting by lou benesch leaning against a wall in an artist studio (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
  • portrait of artist lou benesch in her studio

    Paris based artist and illustrator Lou Benesch grew her artistic practic from a foundation of blending cultures, after spending her childhood between France and America.

    Inspired by her adoration for nature and folk tales, Lou’s creations are an enchanted mix of plants, animals, anatomy, and mythological creatures. The vivid water-coloured surreal compositions give an insight into her mystical imagination, expressing the duality of universal themes and personal ideas of the world. With images coming to her almost as visions and an indescribable pull to record them, the uniqueness of her art speaks to the instinctual process in which they are formed.