Paul Bennett
Biography

Paul Bennett is an international contemporary Fine Artist specializing in exceptional semi-abstract seascape/landscape paintings and also unique portraiture. The two themes are very different in mood and style, but both are made from using a mix of traditional techniques and more unconventional painting methods. Both rely on drawing from memory to create finished work that is abstracted and more expressional than representational. Paul Bennett endeavors to generate a sense of intimacy and isolation while leaving the subject open to interpretation.

With the digital age well and truly with us, the advances of visual media means that almost anything is possible within the boundaries of our imagination. It has been Paul Bennett’s aim to create work that is most definitely a painting; accomplished by using rich textures, multiple layers, poured paint and brush/palette knife marks. This becomes a way of escaping the everyday, mass produced visuals that we are constantly exposed to and the way in which we now digest and assimilate our visual world. Paul Bennett is a great admirer of photography and photorealism and appreciates the technical ability to produce such works. However, his approach is to record and comment on things that are more than visually apparent: to tease out more than the eye can see, to draw people in and invite them to experience – not just consume – an image.


Born: 1975 Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK
Education: 2013 Artist Residency, Shenzen, China, 2001 Bachelor of Arts with Honors, Fine Arts, Surrey Institute of Art and Design

Artist Statement

“The seascape / Landscape paintings created are inspired by memory and experience and are developed using artistic intuition. They are not tied into any specific region or time; they are an eclectic synthesis of place, weather and season. I choose to capture and communicate my experience this way as it reflects life with its unceasing process of observing, experiencing, interpreting, storing – and ultimately – reflecting. The result I strive for is a unique and original visual experience that has captured not only the sense of somewhere/sometime, but also the more subtle notion of recollection.

Occasionally I refer to photography as a starting point and as a way to engage with the surface and begin the initial mark making process. After this point it is all an abstract interpretation of the memories I have and places I have experienced. This is all brought together with constant experimenting and I find the works are continuously evolving and influencing the next.

Oil paint is the medium that plays a big part in capturing the essence of a faded memory and lends itself nicely to the way I paint. It works well when applied thickly and can create great depth when worked into the surface sparingly, which leaves previous layers partially exposed. The paint is applied in this way to give the artwork itself a narrative and history, where the process of its creation can be glimpsed at in places – not dissimilar to the way in which the memory deals with the hazy recollection of a place once visited.” – Paul Bennett

Exhibitions

Select Exhibitions

2018
Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London, UK
Seascapes, Gallery Different, London, UK
The Light and Darkness
September– Padstow Gallery, Cornwall, U.K.
October – Gallery Different, London, U.K.
November – Gormleys, Belfast, U.K.
September – Arkley Fine Art, Hitchin, U.K.
October– International Art Acquisitions, New York State, U.S.
Edinburgh Art Fair, Edinburgh, UK

2017
Portrait Exhibition, Degree Art, London, UK
Sackville Street, Degree Art, London, UK
Seascape Exhibition, Dublin, Ireland
Tower 42, Modern Art Buyer, London, UK
2016
Abstract, Scotland Art Gallery, Glasgow, UK
Two Perspectives, Comme Ca Art, Manchester, UK
Corte Real Gallery, Algarve, Portugal
Jarfo Gallery, Kyoto, Japan

2015
Cloud Gallery, Joint show, Chester, UK
La Galerie 1940, Edinburgh, Scotland
Athol Gallery, Dunkeld, Scotland
The Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, London and Woodcote, Surrey, UK
Winter Show, Gallery Different, London, UK

2014
The Royal Automobile Club,Pall Mall, London, UK
The Brewery, Kendal Cumbria
Point of View, Gallery Different, London, UK
At The Creggans, Tighnabruaich Gallery, Scotland
Paint, Gallery123, Lancaster, UK
Lowry Hotel, Comme Ca Art, Manchester, UK
Affordable Art Fair, Singapore
Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London, UK
Winter Show, Gallery Different, London
Comme Ca Art, Lowry Hotel, Manchester

2013
Rochester Museum of Fine Arts, Rochester, New Hampshire, USA
Galerie “In de oude school”, Stroe, Netherlands
Affordable Art Fair London, Battersea & Hampstead, England UK
Scotland Art, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Off the Wall Gallery, Cardiff, Wales, UK
View Gallery, Bristol, England UK
Comme Ca Art, Manchester, England UK
Du Wang Centre, Shenzhen, China
Claremont Gallery, Sevenoaks, England, UK
Oxford Art Fair, Oxford, England, UK
Whitehouse Gallery, Kirkcudbright, Scotland, UK
Affordable Art Fair Bristol, Bristol, England, UK
Green Door, Lake District, England, UK
Corke Gallery, Liverpool, England, UK

2012
Lowry Hotel, Manchester, England, UK
Gullane Gallery, Gullane, Scotland, UK
Affordable Art Fair London, Battersea & Hampstead, England, UK
Off The Wall Gallery, Cardiff, Wales, UK
Whitehouse Gallery, Kirkcudbright, Scotland, UK
Harvey Nichols, Manchester, England, UK
Courtyard Gallery, Bristol, England, UK
Gallery Q, Dundee, Scotland, UK
Art at Five, Brighton, England, UK
Affordable Art Fair Bristol, Bristol, England, UK
View Gallery, Bristol, England, UK
Corke Gallery, Liverpool, England, UK
Weston Park, The Granary Gallery, Shropshire, England, UK

2011
“Gifted”, Marburae Gallery, Cheshire, England, UK
VZ Gallery, London, England, UK
Edinburgh Art Fair, The Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Affordable Art Fair London, Battersea & Hampstead, England, UK
Affordable Art Fair, Singapore
Tighnabrauaich Gallery, Tighnabruaich, Scotland, UK
Manchester Art Fair, Quay House, Manchester, England, UK
The Architects Gallery, Middlesex, England, UK
The Lighthouse Gallery, Cornwall, England, UK
“Coast to Coast”, The Wey Gallery, Surrey, England, UK
“Uninvisable”, The Lowry Hotel, Manchester, England, UK
“Desire” at The Portman Gallery, Chelsea Town Hall, London, England, UK
Chelsea Art Fair, Chelsea Town Hall, London, England, UK
F.A. Gallery, Taipei City, Taiwan
Debut Contemporary, Notting Hill, London, England, UK
“Hidden Portraits”, View Gallery, Bristol, England, UK
86 St. James’s Street, Pall Mall, London, England, UK

2010
RAC Winter Show, Pall Mall, London, England, UK
Affordable Art Fair London, Battersea & Hampstead, England, UK
Manchester Art Fair, Manchester, England, UK
Edinburgh Art Fair, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Tighnabruaich Gallery, Tighnabruaich, Scotland, UK
Zuma, Brighton, England, UK
“Bays and Beaches”, The Lighthouse Gallery, Cornwall, England, UK
Open Space Galleries, Cornwall, England, UK
Bristol Art Fair, Bristol, England, UK
Artspace 2010, Henley-on-Thames, England, UK

2009
Granger Gallery, Whitstable, England, UK
Chameleon Gallery, Brighton, England, UK
Lauderdale House, Archway, London, England, UK
“Human” at The Art Lounge, The Mailbox, Birmingham, England, UK

2008
New Blood Art, Chiswick, London, England, UK
Diesel House, Kew, London, England, UK