Know the World, Know Thy Self: Art Reveals All

By Michelle A. McLemore

Benjamin Joseph Suydam isn’t the typical hawker, wheeler and dealer. At festivals, he hangs back unobtrusively — approaching only when the looker is intrigued with a specific work. (Having seen his booth at various fairs, I can attest that something inevitably catches the eye and draws you in for a closer look. It’s then you find your spirit subconsciously crooning in recognition of kinship to a particular print or painting’s motif.)

After a visitor becomes intrigued with a piece, this tall, thin, young man casually saunters over to tell the story—not his story, per say, but the story of the piece’s becoming. (Or peace’s beginning, as Suydam would internally pun.) And more often than not, the art will go home with its new-old friend.

Over the course of emails and an interview, Suydam, 34, shared openly about his own, ongoing “Becoming” and in that time, I was grateful to be reminded there are people like him holding on and coming up in the world with perspective, wisdom, and inspiration ringing true for us all.

Entering his home studio outside Adrian, I was immediately aware of art hung on every wall space possible—but delightedly, a mix of his own and his friends’. (It is rare to find a young artist who can encourage his peers in his own space, ego-muted.) Humble but practical, one space leads to the next and different-sized pieces lead to the shelves stocked with finished canvases—some awaiting Suydam’s hand-built frames. Small succulents in original nature-designed pots take in the sunlight from the window and sliding doors. And be prepared, suddenly Flower (a black and white cat named for the Disney skunk) will also assist in the tour. Down the center are worktables for Suydam’s creation time and where once a week local friends gather for art nights.

He seemed quietly excited to share about his work and life. I observed his fedora, patient eyes, untamed beard, co-exist tattoo, casual pants, bare feet, and mother earth turtle self-designed t-shirt. (Yes, his style is that recognizable that I didn’t have to be told it was his.)

Suydam explained, “Growing up, my favorite thing in the world was drawing, but when I picked up a camera for the first time (when I was a senior in high school) I was immediately hooked. A good photograph was like instantaneous art. While a good drawing can take up to eight hours or more, a good photograph can be done in the click of the shutter and maybe 5-10 minutes of photoshopping to get the colors popping. I did an associate degree in photography, but at art fairs and festivals I often call it my ‘doctorates associates’ because it took me eight years to get my degree….” His voice dropped explaining part of him was fighting against the societal notion that to be qualified, one has to have a piece of paper saying so.

Still, Suydam finished it and roughly six years ago inspiration led him to his current unique style of Water Colored Photos (WCPs). In contemplating the texture of the photo paper, “It felt as if a light bulb turned on in my head and recognized, this is matte paper. This is not glossy. I should get out my watercolor paints that I had since I was little—the little hard pucks that you add water to. So, I got the paint out and started coloring in my photo, quite abstractly I might add.”

Suydam recognized he needed to personalize the piece, else he might as well keep the original picture. “I splattered paint all over it; I put any and every color all over the photo.” After some consideration, he carefully used markers to trace back around the photo along with several of the paint splatters. “Then I saw it. I felt like I had performed magic. The end result had me very excited about the finished ‘peace’ I was holding in my hands.”

This was the start of reviewing his archive of photos amassed since age 18. “With my new excitement, I would paint two to four new ones a day. Also, around the same time, I got really interested in acrylic on canvas, as well as just water coloring on watercolor paper. I even found time to draw my own stencils and custom spray paint t-shirts. I enjoy ceramics and making little succulent planters out of hollowed out tree knots and colorful rocks that I have gathered by Lake Michigan.”

From there, it was time to share to a larger audience. “One of the first open house art events I ever held was hosted in a coffee shop in Ann Arbor. Most of my aunts, uncles, and cousins showed up and all left with arms full of framed prints.” With support and growth, Suydam eventually began making the art festivals circuit. One of his favorites is the mid-September Art-A-Licious festival in downtown Adrian. He also exhibited at the 2022 Belle Isle art Fair. At one point he did commercial work for Saugatuck Brewing company.

I wondered. What is it about art? What did he enjoy about it so much that it seems infused everywhere from his clothing, his home, to his very presence. His answer? “Everything.” Suydam continued, “The freedom it offers my mind, how you can create something from nothing. How much it helps when you are having a bad day. I have often loved breaking down the word ‘painting’ in my mind… if you look the word ‘pain’ is right there in front of you: ‘pain’ting. It has always been a place I can go within my mind to set myself free.” And there have been some heavy topics on his mind for a long time.

We sat amid the ebb and flow of colors, questions, and plants, Flower curling up nearby. “From a young age my mother would often tell me that the human mind is the happiest when it is being creative and while I was growing up there was a lot of a pain that was present in my household, so anything to make me feel ‘happier’ was welcome in my life.”

Suydam shared a tragedy that occurred early in his awareness. “When I was five, I had a brother named Daniel that passed away at age four. It indirectly had a large impact on my life because I was so young, and my body was absorbing the world around me, and I now had a very sad mother. I didn’t understand death or missing someone, but I became a sponge, absorbing all around me, becoming ‘ultra-sensitive.’ I have lived in to it. I can sit in a room full of people and I will find the pain. I can feel the actual physical pain in others.” I noted, this was probably the beginning of his later understanding that he articulated as, “If even one person is suffering, then we are all suffering.”

“Drawing and being alone in the woods were both things that took me away from the pain; so needless to say, I did both as often as I could.” As a Michigan native, Suydam shared, “I love being outside. I often say, ‘anytime spent in the woods is time well spent.’”

Suydam’s affinity for nature and the healing found in the wide-open expanse has remained with him through the years. “A week after I turned 21, I moved to Lake Tahoe, California. I also have had extended stays in Guatemala, Washington, New Mexico, Texas, and most recently spent a month living in Maui on an organic farm. I feel very blessed that my family lets me return home in between all of these adventures; I would not be able to live the lifestyle I do without a loving, supportive family.”

“It took a little while to get them to understand me, but I explained one day to my father that I would probably never live a normal life and that I wasn’t sure if, or when, I would get married or buy a house, a minivan, or a golden retriever. I explained to him that I wasn’t cut out for that life, and that the thought of it made me very uncomfortable and even a bit scared. I feel as if I owe them my life.” A smile broke the seriousness. “I have had itchy feet for as long as I can remember.” Suydam’s other hobbies include hiking, camping, mountain biking, kayaking, running, and spending time with his family.

Salvatore Dali, Andy Goldworthy (naturalist), and Vincent Van Gogh have all been inspiration for Suydam along with intuitive guidance. “Guidance in artwork may come in specific suggestions such as to do the work upside down or by a seemingly random impulse to pick up objects found along a walk. There is usually no pre-formed plan for what will be communicated on the canvas.” Rather it is after a piece is finished, that as a whole, it will reveal its messages, motifs, or ideas to him. And because it is a discovery or revelation for him, pieces go through several working titles—word play showing the duality of life and nature as often as possible.

We pause our walk about the studio for him to point out pieces in a Jesus series representing his ongoing coalescence of spiritual understanding, readings, and heart’s quest for truth. Then, he chuckles about the co-exist “bumper sticker” he has on his arm. He shakes his head about the hypocrisy behind the famous design and relayed the story that two different groups went to court over owning the design concept, basically violating the art piece’s essence.

What else? Ideas poured from him like a burst damn, waters bitter-sweet and urgent coursing along finding the paths that yield and accept. What other ideas and philosophies inspired his work?

“The war will be won when we are one.”

“We are more the same than we are different.”

“I like the idea of using my art to show how connected we all are as humans. I feel like for far too long the majority of our focus as a human race is what separates us—what makes us different. I want to help people to focus on what makes us similar, what makes us family. What makes us all one—united.”

At a sit-down with a business owner interested in helping Suydam display his work at their coffee shop, he explained that there is more to his art ambition than simply sales: “My goal is to change the world. I feel as if many of the pieces of art that I have made have deeper meanings and back stories that help with this mission. My favorite part of the deeper meanings is that I don’t know what they are prior to making the art. Oftentimes, I look at a piece (sometimes months after I have made it) and then the deeper meaning of the art dawns on me.” One example of such a piece is his work titled, “The War Within.”

A week before going to Guatemala, Suydam saw the famous Vietnam-era picture of a hippie handing a flower to a soldier. “I knew I wanted to recreate this image, but that I wanted to be both people in the photograph. I set up my camera with a tripod and I had tape on the floor, mapped out where to stand. I used a 10 second timer and a make-shift studio in front of a bedsheet. I shaved off my beard between photos. It was a huge commitment and it felt weird without my beard. I tucked my hair up, put on a helmet, painted ‘MP’ on a rifle and took the second shot.”

The revelation came a few weeks later. At an art show, he was handing out samples—glorified business cards with different art pieces on the backside. “I let people pick out one that they liked. A lady picked the recreated photo. When I explained to the lady, that I’m the hippie and I’m also the soldier, I felt an energy rush down my arms and across my body. I felt my head split. I am also the soldier. Everything looked a little bit different after that moment. I knew that I was deeply entwined to everything that is good in the world, but also to everything bad or that I disagreed with. In the past I wanted to blame the government for everything bad, believing we are pawns being manipulated. It’s normal at the point of recognizing badness, that we want to be separate.”

He continued, “We are far from getting past an eye-for-an-eye mentality. Until we do, we will continue to reincarnate and get put back on earth. We need to learn ultimate compassion—love everyone and judge no one. Then we can delete the rest of the book. I do get it. It’s so much easier said than done. Things will make people angry, and you probably will want to get even. Yet, Einstein said, you can’t create or destroy energy. If you murder someone, that energy reincarnates somewhere. You can’t kill evil out of the word. You have to transmute evil. You have to get that thing help! If we don’t change, we’ll never evolve as a human race.”

The hours had drawn on unnoticed except for the moving shadows across the wall. The interview must be concluded for the day, but I knew Suydam’s wishes for humanity would breathe again in the article and perhaps be at least briefly entertained by each reader. I asked, “Any final thoughts that you want people to know?”

Suydam took a slow breath, nodding. “I want people to know that they are loved, and that they ‘matter’ both spiritually and scientifically. You matter as you are important, and you matter as in you are literally made of matter. It connects with my philosophy on unity and oneness.”

Any patron will take home Suydam’s main philosophy home with them, subtly infused in the art. He explained, “I have never been a fan of signing my work and often felt as if art was a gift from the universe and therefore it wasn’t really mine to put my name on. But upon popular request, I started putting ‘STIL’ for Spread the Inner love.” It is a mission worth entertaining daily.

Suydam’s work is currently on display at Simply Found Creations at 991 Stoddard Road in Adrian, as well as his home studio in Adrian. Work offered on consignment will soon be viewable at Tecumseh Brewing Company. For more information, browse his website at spreadtheinnerlove.com.

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