McArthur Binion (b. 1946) masterfully blends collage, drawing, and painting to create autobiographical abstractions. His works feature painted minimalist patterns overlaid on an “under surface” composed of elements, such as pages from his address book, and photographs from his childhood. These foundational images, concealed and abstracted by grids of oil stick, form the intricate base of his works. Unlike his contemporaries who focused on materiality and abstraction, Binion’s works are laboriously hand-drawn lines and intimate details of his identity and personal history.

Binion was born in Macon, Mississippi and earned his B.F.A. from Wayne State University in Detroit and M.F.A. from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, MI. He began his career as a writer and draws significant influence from language and music, evident in his titles and his method of layering information to be “read” rather than simply seen. His recent solo exhibitions include those at the Library Street Collection in Detroit (2023), Museo Novecento in Florence, Italy (2020), Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (2018). His works are also held in numerous public and private collections, including the Denver Art Museum in Colorado, Detroit Institute of Art in Michigan, Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Institute of Contemporary, Miami, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and Whitney Museum of American Art, among others.