LandE scape
CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW
LandEscape meets
Paul Bennett
An interview by Katherine Williams , curator and Josh Ryder , curator landescape @ europe . com
Exploring the expressive potential of oil , Cumbria based artist Paul Bennett ' s work considers the vital relationship between direct experience and abstraction , to draw the viewers through a multilayered journey . In his works that we ' ll be discussing in the following pages he encapsulated both figurative and unconventional contemporary sensitiveness , to trigger the viewers ' perceptual parameters . One of the most impressive aspects of Bennett ' s practice is his successful attempt to create from memory , to produce finished work that is abstracted and more expressional than representational : we are very pleased to introduce our readers to his stimulating and multifaceted artistic production .
Hello Paul and welcome to LandEscape : we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your multifaceted professional background . You graduated from the Surrey Institute of Art and Design in 2001 , with a Ba ( Hons ) in Fine Art Painting : while you have a solid formal training you have remarked once that you see yourself as a self taught artist : How much of your technical expertise do you attribute to art school , and how much would you say is self-taught ? And in particular , how does your cultural substratum inform the way you relate yourself to the aesthetic problem in general ?
I would say I was 95 % self-taught , but it doesn ’ t mean that art school didn ’ t have anything to do with where I am now . Art school gives me , if nothing else , the confiendence to be an artist , regardless of the fact that half the tutors were drunk after lunch . Probably learnt more from being with the other art students . The tecnical skill came after I graduated and was a result of costant experiemntation and hard work . I would say that my cultural background has played an imporatant role in the way I work and address the aesthetic problem . I tend to not see art as being romantic or whimsical or spiritual . I ’ ve worked in a few industries before I got to this point in time , so for me there is no aesthetic problem . I know what needs to be created so I get on with it . 9 til 5 .
Your visual language seems to be the
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