LandEscape Art Review | Page 54

LandE scape

CONTEMPORARY ART REVIEW

Paul Bennett

Lives and works in Kendal , Cumbria , United Kingdom
An artist ' s statement

T

he 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 . Paul choose ' s to capture and communicate the experience this way as it reflects life with its unceasing process of observing , experiencing , interpreting , storing – and ultimately – reflecting . The result he strives 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 Paul refers 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 he has and places he has experienced . This , is all brought together with constant experimentation . The paintings are continuously evolving with the process directly influencing the next work . 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 he paints . 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 was born in a non-descript town in Berkshire in 1975 . He graduated from the Surrey Institute of Art and Design in 2001 , with a Ba ( Hons ) in Fine Art Painting , but sees himself as self taught . He now lives in Cumbria , after having spent nearly two decades in West London . With global representation , international fine artist Paul Bennett specialises in contemporary semi-abstract seascapes and landscapes . The mood and style endeavours to generate a sense of intimacy and isolation while leaving the subject open to interpretation . The intention is to create from memory to produce finished work that is abstracted and more expressional than representational . It has been Bennett ' s aim to create work that is most definitely painted ; 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 . 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 . His work is in private and public collections worldwide .
22