Charles Benefiel went through a difficult adolescence, marked by alcohol and drugs. Homeless for a long time, he squatted abandoned houses on the road from Los Angeles to Seattle. In 1993, he moved into a small room in the heart of the mountains of New Mexico. He began drawing when he was a child. While his first productions were the size of a postage stamp, they have become gradually larger. He is very meticulous – his drawings are rare – it can take several months to create a single one. The numbers that punctuate his drawings are a kind of secret code reflecting his identity. Many of his works depict old dolls that he inherited from his grandmother. He draws by multiplying ink dots, which makes the images resemble photographs, with a texture of old paper or parchment.