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March 2008 Solo exhibition: "Face Out"
Highlighting the progress made by the Australian government towards the recognition and apology to the Stolen Generation
Elliman Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, USA
March 2008
Solo exhibition: "KINSHIP"
Sponsored by the Durst Organization
Lobby Gallery, 1155 Avenue of the Americas @ 45th Street, New York, USA
November 2007 Solo exhibition: “FACE to FACE, Uniting Humanity”
An exhibit of Stephen Bennett's large-scale (5'x7') portraits of indigenous peoples. This previews an exhibit to be featured at the United Nations in 2008. To encourage corporate sponsorship to benefit Faces of the World Inc. a non profit educational organization.
James Gray Gallery, New York, USA
July 2007 Solo exhibition: “Into Their Eyes”
This exhibit celebrates International Day for the Worlds Indigenous People being held at the United Nations Headquarters.
Planet Thailand, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, USA
July 2007 Solo exhibition: Indigenous Portraits
UNITED NATIONS, New York
In recognition of the powerful beauty of Stephen's portraits, the Exhibits Committee requests 12 portraits to be exhibited as part of a Celebration of Indigenous Cultures and Identities. This exhibit was sponsored by the UN Department of Public Information and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
United Nations Visitor’s Lobby, New York, USA
July 2006 Solo exhibition "Portraits of the World"
Exhibit of international paintings, "Portraits From My World" at the Sarawak Museum, Kuching, Sarawak, East Malaysia. Stephen also spent time teaching many Portrait Painting Workshops at schools and cultural centers in Kuching.
Sarawak Museum, Kuching, Sarawak, East Malaysia.
November 2005 Solo exhibition: "Portraits of the World"
Brunei, Empire Hotel and Country Club,
Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
April 2004 Solo exhibition: "Portraits of Australia and Namibia"
Toledo, Ohio The Wolfe Gallery, Toledo, Ohio, USA
Comment by: Stephen Bennett on Friday 05/02/08 at 09:42 PM
Review of Artist Stephen Bennetts show, " KINSHIP "
Since the advent of photography made documentation relatively easy, fast and reproducible, the art of portraiture has undergone radical transformations. Our brains are hard wired to recognize faces and interpret their intentions, so the primacy of the face in our visual cortex is forever. Now, after 150 years of photography’s’ dominance as reality check, painting is once again revealing new aspects of the portrait. The art of Stephen Bennet is a powerful example of the potency of painting as a medium of communication.
These huge heads, tribal faces that our society considers primitive and “other”, enter our space with an exuberant, monumental presence. In their piercing frontal gaze we experience the shock of recognizing ourselves…even more, they seem to be observing us, peering into our reality as visitors from afar…we become the specimens on exhibit. We are the curiosity, they are the norm.
Unlike Chuck Close, whose portraits are dominated by and subsumed to the painting process,
Stephen Bennets’ portraits, while always aware of the formalisms of mark making, composition, color balance, and the ultimate reality of the picture plane, never lose touch with the humanity and character of their subjects. By shifting the color palette and emphasizing the paint application, the image is lifted from mundane ethnographic documentation to achieve a more expressive and insistent presence.
The sheer size of many of these works seems to invite us to scrutinize the intimate details of these faces. But their gaze invariably reminds us that this is family and only style differentiates us.
Bennets work truly shows us that we are part of the family of man, perhaps as we would be perceived by extraterrestrials, the differences between us little more than quirks of culture.
Comment by: Stephen Bennett on Wednesday 04/30/08 at 07:52 PM
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