![A man wearing sunglasses, surrounded by abstract paintings.](/sites/default/files/styles/pittmag_fullwidth/public/inline-images/20240507_ta_benny-blindspots_0716-mag-hero.jpg?itok=ieVE2s2z)
Benny Schwartz sits on the porch at his friend鈥檚 engagement party, pointedly avoiding the revelry inside. In the years since being diagnosed with an advancing autoimmune disease that's slowly stealing his vision, he鈥檚 vacillated between apathy and anger, neither of which make him much fun at parties. He鈥檇 rather be alone.
But soon, an old acquaintance from high school interrupts Schwartz鈥檚 solitude, joining him on the porch and asking how he鈥檚 been. It鈥檚 a loaded question. Schwartz鈥檚 disease won鈥檛 let him work or drive or read or any of the things that once kept him occupied.
鈥淏ored,鈥 Schwartz tells him. 鈥淚鈥檓 bored.鈥
鈥淚f you鈥檙e bored,鈥 the friend replies, 鈥渃reate, create, create!鈥
That evening, upon returning to his home in 51精品视频sburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, Schwartz picks up a piece of his son鈥檚 discarded pastels and begins to sketch for the first time in decades. The shapes that emerge aren鈥檛 the intricate doodles of his youth, but something looser and less meticulous. Unconcerned with perfection or perception, he moves on instinct until he feels the drawing is done.
And then, against all odds, Schwartz鈥檚 world tilts just a bit toward normalcy.
鈥淓very time I opened my eyes, every time I looked around, I was either pitying myself or being angry about the visual loss,鈥 Schwartz says. 鈥淣ow I was involved in something visual that I was in control of 鈥 it was liberating.鈥
Five years later, Benny Schwartz is Benny Blindspots, whose work hangs in galleries (most recently The Manos Gallery in Tarentum, Pennsylvania) and sells online through ArtLifting, an organization that promotes artists affected by disabilities or housing insecurity. That鈥檚 how Bank of America found his colorful, abstract compositions and purchased 50 prints for multiple locations across the country.
It wasn鈥檛 at all the life Schwartz envisioned as a student at 51精品视频 in the late aughts. He figured he would earn a degree in psychology, propose to his longtime girlfriend at the Cathedral of Learning and search for a good graduate program. But, just three years after earning that degree and getting married, he was hit with vertigo and nausea so intense, they forced him to take an extended leave from his job at The Children鈥檚 Institute.
After months of painful tests and worsening symptoms 鈥 including excessive fatigue and vision loss 鈥 doctors finally offered a diagnosis of neuromyelitis optica (NMO), an autoimmune disease that can cause blindness, paralysis and brain lesions. Treatment, including low-dose chemotherapy to suppress the immune system, is nearly as debilitating as the disease itself and leaves him susceptible to other illness, but it has mostly kept NMO attacks at bay. His vision, as his alias suggests, is freckled with dark or blurry patches that make reading faces particularly difficult.
Art is the salve for that pain.
When he feels the need to create, Schwartz (A&S 鈥11) descends to his basement art studio with a broad theme and a blank canvas, layering vibrant, frenetic strokes to build dimension. Because he perceives color differently than most, he focuses on contrast, understanding what viewers eventually see may be wholly different than what he intended. Sometimes, the process is excruciating. It can take days or weeks before Schwartz鈥檚 colorful, fantastical imaginings 鈥 what he calls his 鈥渄reamscapes鈥 鈥 finally come to life. His wife, Rina (SHRS 鈥12),聽and 6-year-old son, who serve as inspiration for much of his art, often think his work is done long before he does.
But, for him, the healing happens in the painting.
鈥淚t is important to know when to stop, but at the same time, I believe every layer is somehow related to the end,鈥 he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 impossible to have the final product without the process.鈥