‘Surface Tension’ is the latest solo exhibition from Australian born, Berlin-based artist Michael Bennett.
Consisting of a series of all new paintings and a companion installation the exhibition focuses on time and space in the context of artistic process as well as an exploration of surface and its value / signi cance in contemporary art.
The abstract paintings are created using a mix of mediums, including; acrylic, enamel, oil stick and lead pencil. These are applied, adjusted and adapted intuitively and without hesitation, resulting in broad and bold gestures and mark making. Serving as a visual record of emotions past, whilst also maintaining strong evidence of the artists interaction with the work, they become frozen moments of time, eternalised in a state of genuine vulnerability. This visible honesty and personality scribed into each piece offers an approachable and engaging entry point to the work.
The tension and visual friction created between the materials and surfaces of the three-dimensional works in the exhibition, highlight and conceptually mirror those same contrasts and notable milestones within the painted works. Fast paced gestures of the painted work, coupled with the stillness and mundane materials that make up the sculptures, create a more thorough, balanced and spatially considerate viewing environment in which calmness and chaos can co-exist.
Additionally this provides an opportunity for the audience to explore and deliberate, both the works and themselves within. This continues Bennett’s on-going and underlying interest in self-exploration and inner discovery.
Produced by combining a selection of found and ready-made objects and common construction materials, alongside speci cally produced and deliberately altered ‘artistic’ elements, the installation elements exemplify and physicalise themes of time, space and surface.
When unified these paintings and installations produce scenes which recall a ctional time or moment. Components which existed uniquely and separately in the world prior to their marriage, have now been re- born/re-purposed and harmonised in the eyes of the artist.
Immortalised imagery in a temporary space for a limited time…
