David Richard Gallery is pleased to present, Surly Puppet, an exhibition of new collaborative paintings by Todd Arsenault and Kristopher Benedict. Their process of collaboration is similar in spirit to how improvisational musicians take cues from each other, melding creative impulses that may lead to divergent combinations of familiar rhythms and chords and resulting in a new melody. Extending that same logic to painting, the two artists have created over 50 collaborative works that go beyond a mere hybridization of their respective painting styles to create aesthetically distinct imagery with a unique evolutionary development. The resulting body of work encompasses a range of styles, attitudes, and approaches, as the two artists create in dialogue toward the development of a singular new image.