Press
San Francisco Gate: Editor's Pick March 10, 2021
"The old timers of Big Sur swear by it," painter Benjamin Brode, who co-authored a book on the watchers with Thomas Steinbeck, told the Monterey County Weekly in 2017.
If you are a believer, the centuries of sightings are probably enough for you. But if you are skeptic, you no doubt need to know what is actually causing these visual anomalies.
https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/dark-watchers-santa-lucia-range-stories-steinbeck-16012812.php
CASA Magazine Review 2016
In Search of the Dark Watchers by Mark M. Whitehunt PhD
The intriguing beauty of Big Sur has given birth to many stories, drawings, and paintings. A rich tradition to this oeuvre was recently introduced in the book In Search of the Dark Watchers (2014) by artist Benjamin Brode and author Thomas Steinbeck. It’s divinely simple narrative of field notes, sketches and paintings capture the landscape and lore of this pristine portion of California’s unique and stunning coastline.
Sacramento Bee's Review of the Book
By Sam McManis January 07, 2015
This may be the trippiest – and most beautiful – coffee-table book on the market this winter. It’s the combination of Steinbeck’s words (yes, he’s related to that Steinbeck) and the sketches and oil paintings of 77-year-old Santa Barbara artist Ben Brode. The subject is Big Sur, which launched many a tall tale (see Kerouac and Henry Miller). Specifically, it’s about the legend of the “Dark Watchers,” said to be diminutive hominids who haunt the landscape. The only thing haunting are Brode’s gorgeous paintings.
https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/travel/article5295363.html#/tabPane=tabs-7856609c-1
Santa Barbara News Press Reviews Dark Watchers Book
Ben Brode was hiking on a breezy day at Big Sur, a quiet, forested fantasy land on the Central California coast.
Suddenly, he heard voices.
"It sounded like two women having a conversation. I looked all over the place, but there was no one there," the 77-year-old artist told the News-Press in his Santa Barbara home studio full of his Big Sur oil paintings. "I decided it may have been the wind, tree trunks rubbing together. But I swore there were human voices."
They might have been the mysterious little people who, according to an ancient legend, live only at Big Sur: the Dark Watchers. They're California's counterpart to Leprechauns.
The legend inspired Mr. Brode, who heard about the Dark Watchers from his friend, Montecito author Thomas Steinbeck. The two — the soft-spoken Mr. Brode and the enthusiastic Mr. Steinbeck — went on to collaborate on "In Search of The Dark Watchers: Landscapes and Lore of Big Sur" (Steinbeck Press, $40), which was released in September. Mr. Steinbeck wrote the book. Mr. Brode illustrated it with his paintings, as well as color sketches that he did while hiking in the area.
Simple Life Radio Interview with Thom and Ben 2015
Simple Life Radio Interview of Dark Watchers Book
SB Independent Review of Dark Watcher's Book
They live in the misty hillsides of Big Sur. The early Spanish explorers and Mexican ranchers and their vaqueros who followed, called them “Los Vigilantes Oscuros.” The Dark Watchers, as they came to be known, are migratory beings, possessed of incredible hearing and impeccable eyesight. Like crows they can sense the presence of gun oil and the smell of plastics and weatherproof coatings, therefore they are immune to high-tech detection and only reveal themselves to trekkers simply equipped with sticks and hats. Who or what the Watchers are, no one knows. Where they came from and where they go is a mystery. They leave without a footprint.
Discover their meaning in an exquisite new book that is part adventure, part history, party legend, filled with illuminating sketches and lavish oil paintings that are flush with mystery, shadow, and light. In the process you may learn more than you ever expected about the legendary Dark Watchers as well as the origins of landscape painting itself.
Press Reviews
Review of the Art Book by Benjamin Brode and Thomas Steinbeck
Recommended Reading Donovan’s Literary Services
By Diane Donovan, Editor
September, 2015
Benjamin Brode illustrates In Search of the Dark Watchers: Landscapes and Lore of Big Sur, a celebration of Northern California's Big Sur area which takes the form of a sketchbook of field notes complimented by over twenty color paintings.
Who are the Dark Watchers? Steinbeck grew up hearing of the mythical Watchers who roam Big Sur and live among its trees - but when he told his family's stories to artist Brode, it sparked a search that involved walking the wilderness trails, sketching impressions of the dark woods, and absorbing the area's history and feel.
This powerfully gripping series of images and discoveries promises (and delivers) reader involvement in the sights, senses, and mystique of the Big Sur wilderness like few others achieve in a quietly-building visual celebration that should be in every California library.
Review of the Art Book In Search of the Dark Watchers Santa Barbara Independent
By Mitchell Kriegman
November 14, 2014
They live in the misty hillsides of Big Sur. The early Spanish explorers and Mexican ranchers and their vaqueros who followed, called them “Los Vigilantes Oscuros.” The Dark Watchers, as they came to be known, are migratory beings, possessed of incredible hearing and impeccable eyesight. Like crows they can sense the presence of gun oil and the smell of plastics and weatherproof coatings, therefore they are immune to high-tech detection and only reveal themselves to trekkers simply equipped with sticks and hats. Who or what the Watchers are, no one knows. Where they came from and where they go is a mystery. They leave without a footprint.
Discover their meaning in an exquisite new book that is part adventure, part history, party legend, filled with illuminating sketches and lavish oil paintings that are flush with mystery, shadow, and light. In the process you may learn more than you ever expected about the legendary Dark Watchers as well as the origins of landscape painting itself.
Review of Benjamin Brode's San Julian Art Show Santa Barbara News Press
BY JOSEF WOODARD
June 18, 2010
Rancho San Julian -- A Year In Paint
"More than just a random group of paintings, "A Year in Paint" comes together in macro and micro ways. Images of singular scenes on this property are diverse and continuous enough to add up to a grand visual essay on the sense of the lay of this particular land. To an appropriately lesser degree, he makes passing acknowledge of the ranch's modest structures. As a whole, the set of paintings is filtered and given focus through one artist's vision and semi-impressionistic style."
Review of Poetry in Paint Art Show Santa Barbara Independent
October 11, 2007
"Ben Brode’s seascapes convey a waterman’s sensibility. With their careful attention to the interactions of light and water, they read like the observations of a fisherman looking out to sea to predict the next day’s weather. Brode captures in paint that fleeting moment at sunset when the sky and sea cannot be ignored as they take over the horizon with a dynamic performance in color. High-gloss varnish and smooth surface textures reflect a surfer’s aesthetic, giving his oil paintings the bright gloss of a surfboard. In 'Low Tide,' 'Evening Color,' and 'Lavender Sea,' Brode addresses the paradox of the ocean sunset -- that place where fire and water meet, light and color are mirrored, and time is momentarily suspended."