Billy Al Bengston (June 7, 1934 – October 8, 2022), the quintessential LA “bad boy,” is best known for his Chevron paintings of the 1960s. Bengston was born in Dodge City, Kansas, in 1934, and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1948, where he attended Manual Arts High School. The chevrons placed in the center of the painting, sometimes described as sergeant stripes, conjure the look and feel of heraldic imagery, reflecting militaristic overtones and a distinct male sensibility. What has been overlooked in Bengston’s art is the overt female imagery and references in his iris paintings from the "Dracula" Series.
The IRIS was a central motif in Bengston's art of the 1970s. Its use was inspired by his fascination with the logo on sugar packets produced by the Iris Sugar Company. When a fellow artist saw the works, he commented that the fully extended petals of the flower resembled bat wings and recalled the figure of Count Dracula. It is because of this association that Bengston's renditions of the iris are called "dracula." The images of the iris fluctuate between familiarity and abstraction in the viewer's consciousness, confirming Bengston's lifelong adherence to art derived from reality, as well as his conviction that "the mystery of art is real."
Working in both painting and sculpture, Billy Al Bengston is known for his psychedelically colorful works. He is also a motorcycle racer, surfer, and has a penchant for the sublime rather than perfection.
He studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts where he developed a radical aesthetic, which, combined with his already highly developed skills, taxed the faculty to such an extent that they asked him to leave after only one year. After moving to Los Angeles, Bengston began showing at the famed Ferus Gallery and established himself as part of a group that rejected the stereotype of the artist as a tormented individual.
Bengston is represented in many important public collections including The Museum of Modern Art, NY; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France.