Press Release
| STUDIO FACE |
| EXHIBITION DATES | Friday 06 April - Saturday 12 May 2018 |
| CHARLIE SMITH LONDON is delighted to present Kiera Bennett’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. Bennett continues her exploration of making paintings about the practice of painting, and the actions and emotions that accompany the process. Beginning by making repetitive line drawings, and then repeating the process when making the paintings themselves, Bennett relentlessly seeks to hone her line and form in order to arrive at an essence. This distillation replicates the process of depiction to abstraction that was so well refined by early 20th century Modernism, which in turn referenced perceived notions about early non-Western art. Bennett’s paintings contrast the Modernist dictum of objectification, however, in being highly personal abstractions (to varying degrees) of life in the studio or working en plein air in imagined landscapes. They might refer directly to artwork or artists that have influenced her, or with which she is preoccupied – Munch’s sun paintings being a prime example. From cave painting to postmodernism via Picasso, Matisse, de Kooning and Guston, Bennett’s reference points are broad, but are employed in a manner which can be unique only to her. Singular formal elements are appropriated, or transcribed, and worked into an expansive composition. This is in combination with an emotional response to seeing and feeling the original work; making and digesting her own work; and re-imagining and depicting the process of making. And as a female artist working in a post-postmodern arena, Bennett is embracing, inhabiting and deconstructing the tradition of linear, white, male dominated Modernism. “The work usually turns into conversations with other paintings by other painters. Painting for me is ultimately about creating structures within which I can try to paint in all the ways I want to and establish an ongoing dialogue with the history of art; the behemoth of art history to the present.” This relationship is affirmative and autobiographical. Whether presenting us with a first or third person view, and therefore inviting us to at times be acting within the scene, and at other times to be observing the scene, there are always references to Bennett’s personal thoughts, feelings and experiences during making work: urgency; futility; meaning; humour; repetition; trance; mania; insomnia; obsession. Ultimately the painted plane becomes a threshold through which the artist and audience might access the history of mark making; shift identities; and touch upon the escapism, nostalgia and delusion that accompanies making paintings. Please contact gallery for images and further information |
Biography
| EDUCATION | ||
| 2000-2002 | MA Painting | Royal College of Art, London |
| 1990-93 | BA (Hons) Fine Art | Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford |
| ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS | ||
| 2018 | Studio Face | CHARLIE SMITH LONDON, London |
| 2013 | The Making of an Anthropologist | CHARLIE SMITH LONDON, London |
| 2007 | Bad Moon Rising | Rockwell, London |
| 2004 | Cocheme Fellow Show | Byam Shaw School of Art, London |
| SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS | ||
| 2019 | 10 Years | CHARLIE SMITH LONDON, London |
| 2018 | Context: Gallery Artists & Collaborators | CHARLIE SMITH LONDON, London |
| 2017 | In Memoriam Francesca Lowe | Old Truman Brewery, London |
| 2017 | Part III: Interiority (curated by Zavier Ellis) | CHARLIE SMITH LONDON, London |
| 2016 | The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: 22 Painters (curated by Alex Gene Morrison & Kiera Bennett) | CHARLIE SMITH LONDON, London |
| 2015 | Die English Kommen! New Painting from London (curated by Zavier Ellis) | Galerie Heike Strelow, Frankfurt |
| 2014 | Saatchi’s New Sensations and THE FUTURE CAN WAIT (curated by Zavier Ellis, Simon Rumley & Rebecca Wilson) | B1, Victoria House, London |
| 2014 | A Comfortable Man - Cathal Smyth | Wilton’s Music Hall, London |
| 2014 | Summer Saloon Show | Lion & Lamb, London |
| 2014 | Strange Meeting | Canal Projects, London |
| 2014 | Speaking Space | Collyer Bristow, London |
| 2013 | Art Britannia | Lion & Lamb @ Art Basel Miami |
| 2013 | London Abstrakt | BRAUBACHfive, Frankfurt |
| 2013 | Saatchi Gallery & Channel 4’s New Sensations and THE FUTURE CAN WAIT (curated by Zavier Ellis, Simon Rumley & Rebecca Wilson) | B1, Victoria House, London |
| 2013 | Summer Saloon Show | Lion & Lamb, London |
| 2012 | Saatchi Gallery & Channel 4’s New Sensations and THE FUTURE CAN WAIT (curated by Zavier Ellis, Simon Rumley & Rebecca Wilson) | B1, Victoria House, London |
| 2012 | The Hair of The Dog (curated by Reece Jones) | Block 336, London |
| 2012 | The Perfect Nude (curated by Dan Coombs & Phillip Allen) | CHARLIE SMITH LONDON, London |
| 2012 | Polemically Small (curated by Zavier Ellis & Edward Lucie-Smith) | Orleans House Gallery, Twickenham |
| 2012 | The Perfect Nude (curated by Dan Coombs & Phillip Allen) | Wimbledon Art College Space, London |
| 2011 | Saatchi Gallery & Channel 4’s New Sensations and THE FUTURE CAN WAIT (curated by Zavier Ellis, Simon Rumley & Rebecca Wilson) | B1, Victoria House, London |
| 2011 | Polemically Small (curated by Edward Lucie-Smith) | Klaipeda Culture Communication Centre, Klaipeda |
| 2011 | THE FUTURE CAN WAIT presents: Polemically Small (curated by Zavier Ellis, Edward Lucie-Smith & Simon Rumley) | Torrance Art Museum, Torrance |
| 2011 | The Beard (curated by Kiera Bennett & Alex Gene Morrison) | CHARLIE SMITH LONDON, London |
| 2010 | THE FUTURE CAN WAIT (curated by Zavier Ellis & Simon Rumley) | Shoreditch Town Hall, London |
| 2009 | New London School | Galerie Schuster, Berlin |
| 2009 | THE FUTURE CAN WAIT (curated by Zavier Ellis & Simon Rumley) | Old Truman Brewery, London |
| 2008 | THE FUTURE CAN WAIT (curated by Zavier Ellis & Simon Rumley) | Old Truman Brewery, London |
| 2008 | The London Book of the Dead Show | St. Pancras Church Crypt, London |
| 2008 | Precious Things | High Lanes Gallery Drogheda, Ireland |
| 2008 | The Past is History | Changing Role Gallery, Naples and Rome |
| 2008 | Golden Record | Collective Gallery, Edinburgh |
| 2007 | Hung Drawn Quasi Stellar Object | Portman Gallery, London |
| 2007 | THE FUTURE CAN WAIT (curated by Zavier Ellis & Simon Rumley) | Old Truman Brewery, London |
| 2007 | Nature and Society | Dubrovacki Muzeji (Dubrovnik Museums), Dubrovnik |
| 2006 | Fuckin’ Brilliant! Maji Yabai! | Tokyo Wondersite, Tokyo |
| 2005 | Acid Drops and Sugar Candy | Transition and Fosterart, London |
| 2005 | Real Strange | Lounge Gallery, London |
| 2005 | Art and Sausages | Somerton Rd, London |
| 2005 | Heaven and Earth | The Hackney Empire, London |
| 2005 | Into the White | The Hat Factory, Luton |
| 2005 | Under the Bridge | The Castleford Project, Castleford |
| 2005 | Sixteen | rb&hArts, London |
| 2005 | '...if you go down to the woods today...' | Rockwell, London |
| 2004 | Cocheme Fellow Show | Byam Shaw School of Art, London |
| 2004 | John Moores 23 | Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
| 2004 | First Assembly | The Ragged School, London |
| 2004 | Collage | Bloomberg Space, London |
| 2004 | Model Village | The Old Shoe Factory, London |
| 2004 | Cut Up | James Colman, London |
| 2004 | One Night Stand | Pearl Projects, El Montan Motor Hotel, San Antonio, Texas |
| 2003 | Snow | Transition Gallery, London |
| 2003 | Portrait of the Artist as an Exquisite Corpse | 39, London |
| 2003 | Full English | MOT, London |
| 2003 | Reel | 83 Culford Rd, London |
| 2003 | Drawing Room | The Union, London |
| 2003 | The New Topography | Geoffrey Young Gallery, Massachusetts |
| 2003 | Into the Grey | Cover Up, London |
| 2003 | Rockwell | Rockwell, London |
| 2002 | New Contemporaries | Static, Liverpool & Barbican, London |
| 2002 | Full House | FNR Projects, Camden, London |
| 2002 | Gatsby | The New Lansdowne Club, London |
| 2001 | At Home | Lennon, Weinberg Inc, New York |
| 2000 | Preface: International Biennale for Emerging Artists | The Hatton Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne |
| 1999 | The Big Warm Open | Cambridge Darkroom Gallery, Cambridge |
| 1999 | Vistas | Wigmore Fine Art Gallery, London |
| 1998 | The Whitechapel Open | The Whitechapel Art Gallery, London |
| AWARDS & RESIDENCIES | ||
| 2005 | British Council, Diawa Foundation and Tokyo Wondersite Funded Trip to Tokyo | Tokyo, Japan |
| 2004 | Cocheme Fellowship | Byam Shaw School of Art |
| 2002 | Parallel Prize | RCA Final Show |
| 2001 | Amlin purchase prize (1st prize) | RCA interim show |
| BIBLIOGRAPHY | ||
| 2008 | Paintings to be seen in the flesh, Aidan Dunne | The Irish Times |
| 2008 | THE FUTURE CAN WAIT | Ellis Rumley Projects |
| 2007 | Nature and Society, text by Richard Dyer | Dubrovacki Muzeji (Dubrovnik Museums), Croatia |
| 2007 | Bad Moon Rising, Jessica Lack | Pick of the Week, Guardian Guide |
| 2007 | Issue 4 | Fash n Riot Magazine |
| 2006 | Handmade to the extreme, Fuckin' Brilliant! Maji Yabai! | PingMag Tokyo |
| 2005 | Heaven + Earth | Exhibition Catalogue |
| 2005 | Issue 3 | Fash n Riot Magazine |
| 2004 | MOT Full English, Andrew Hunt | Frieze (January Issue) |
| 2003 | Issue 2 | Fash n Riot Magazine |
| 2003 | Friends in High Places, Jessica Lack | Art Review |
| 2002 | Bloomberg New Contemporaries | Exhibition Catalogue |
| 2002 | The Best of the Graduate Shows | Art Review, ArtGraduate |
| 2002 | Issue 1 | Fash n Riot Magazine |
| 1999 | Vistas | Flash Art |
| 1999 | Hot Tickets | The Evening Standard |
| 1998 | Postcards on Photography: Photorealism and the Reproduction, Ronne Simpson & Naomi Salaman | Cambridge Darkroom Gallery |
| COLLECTIONS | ||
| Amlin PLC | ||
| David and Serenella Ciclitiras | ||
| Graham Crowley | ||
| Julian Opie | ||
| Cornelia Parker and Jeff McMillan | ||
| Arthur G Rosen | ||
| Mario Testino | ||
| Frank Williams | ||
| Private collections in France, Greece, United Kingdom & United States | ||
Text | John-Paul Stonard
| John-Paul Stonard | Sixteen Sentences for Kiera Bennett |
| Exhibition: Studio Face |
| Exhibition Dates: Friday 06 April – Saturday 12 May 2018 |
| Plein air says the title, world-evoking, Yet the image, A brush poised on canvas, A lush hilly landscape beneath a radiant sun, Speaks more about the fullness of art. Another brush is already at work, Cresting a hill, Scudding a cloud, Circling a sun, Weaving notes and gests. Irradiant colours drenched in a painted past, Of Munch’s dazzling suns, Klee’s strange contraptions, The sounding lines of Matisse, The earthy alla prima of Vanessa Bell. Nostalgic evocations, old models dissolved In a world conjured in thin pigment. The images, one could say, are really image-propositions, Ideas suspended in air, Yet anchored in real rhythms — Of the artist’s hand Or her head, staring, Baffled by the futility of it all, Or the massive trunk of a broken tree Come crashing down by the house. ‘I morph it’, she says Of her springboards, Drawings swift and distracted, ‘To give it rhythm’. Now a softer palette, a delicate balance Of arcs, curves, squiggles Hatched patches of colours, A studio in yellow and black — Like Picasso’s portrait of Fanny Tellier, The girl with a mandolin. Graphic lines make the jaunty humour, Holding brushmarks as if in quotation, Holding the whole curious thing, — Art — At arm’s length. Painting is only half seeing, yes, But here both eyes feel, A loving ocular caress of the canvas Until the image falls just right. Around the edges paint gathers, Politely declining to touch the frame — A gentle reminder that, Despite the seduction, This is after all only art. In the making, she says, an urgency mounts, From the drummed-out drawings, To the waiting rectangle, Erasing and layering until the thing is found, Variations set down at speed Bang bang bang Thrashing out the image. Next though the thing is skewed and quirked, A spanner tossed in, A good bit wantonly destroyed, She draws finger loops in the air Her ideas circling crazily around, An unpredictable swerve, Rising from atoms. The swerve from a stately dance Of wandering night thoughts To the knot pattern of an ancient buckle, Charred in a fire, a puzzle. I see all of this, yes, but still the Urgency of it — What is it, This urgency, why this relentless drive To set things down? Never feeling enough time, she says, So much to do So many books on the shelf So much to be painted All the things in life (then a low voice from across the room, With the gallows-humour truth of the matter — ‘death’). Galloping onward, time is the challenge For the painter, painting, Standing in the studio, Staring at the world. |