A longtime Claremont resident, Karl Benjamin taught at Pomona College and Claremont Graduate University. He created tightly balanced compositions that seem to shimmer, vibrate or explode in space.

Every one of the 12-by-12 works – “Vector,” “Enfolding,” “Summer Journal,” “Renegade” and “Duende” – vividly conveys a different mood that speaks, through the tightness and ...