Benedict Michael Tatti was born in New York City on May l, l917. At an early age, he demonstrated a marked talent for art. While attending Haaren High School, he studied stone and wood carving under Louis Slobodkin at the Roerich Museum. He later attended the Leonardo da Vinci School of Art studying under Attillio Piccirelli. In l939 he taught adult classes with the Teachers Project of the W.P.A. and attended the Art Students League for three and a half years on full scholarship. He studied under William Zorach and Ossip Zadkin and became Mr. Zorach’s assistant

He began to exhibit his early works at the ACA Gallery, Puma Gallery, Weyhe Gallery and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art under the Artists for Victory Show in 1942. During the early years of World War II, he worked at the Brooklyn Navy yard as a welder until he was drafted in 1943 into the US Army Air Force where he spent more than three years in a variety of assignments. He won first prize for his sculpture, Soldier, in the National Soldier Art Competition, which was exhibited at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. and the Chicago Art Institute. While in the Army, he found other artists with whom he would sketch and watercolor in off duty hours.

He continued to direct carve both wood and stone into the decade of the fifties. He also developed his watercoloring techniques during summer visits to Monhegan Island, Maine, where many of his friends summered. He exhibited his work and was handled by Roko Gallery for several years. In the early 50’s, he studied at the Hans Hofman school. This proved to be very fertile exposure for aestheic and conceptual development. He worked for Raymond Loewy Associates, NYC, industrial designers with a worldwide reputation. As a sculptor, he executed many models, both architectural and consumer/industrial end products. During this 10-year association, he became a color design consultant.

During the decade of the 60’s, with the development of Abstract Expressionism, he began to work directly in bronze metal. In l963, he was appointed to a teaching position at the High School of Art & Design, teaching sculpture for the next 15 years. He actively exhibited and executed several commissions. His work was exhibited in Paris, Tokyo, New York City, Northeast Harbor, Munich, London, Finland, Amsterdam, Belgium, Santa Fe, individually and in group showings.

In l970, he was awarded Artist-in-Residence with the National Center for Experiments in Television at KQED in San Francisco. This started a period of experimentation with video imaging that lasted some 10 years. After acquiring the technology, he became an associate member of the “Kitchen” at the Mercer Street Art Center exhibiting video sculpture along with other early innovators of this new art form. He received two CAPS awards and his electronic imagery was shown nationwide and throughout Europe. He retired from teaching.

During the decade of the 80’s he experienced ill health, but he continued to work and exhibit. On July 30th, l993, he suffered a fatal heart attack. His work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institute, American Numismatic Society, USDAN Center for Performing Arts, Arts Students League, Monhegan Museum and Dunbarton Oaks.