Having recently relocated to London after spending time in the Pacific Northwest, visual artist Julia Bennett, an otherwise reticent California native, is far from quiet on the canvas. Currently exhibiting some of her largest painted works to date (along with a sculpture), Bennet uses spiralling, empowered strokes to form unresolved abstractions on unprimed materials, creating works in which destruction and reconstruction hang in a delicate balance. Actively sourcing ideas from humans' role in ecological and social destruction, creation, and subsequent disintegration, Bennett works to channel both visceral and intellectual modes of appraisal, resulting in a frenetic but highly intentional style.
No Prospect of an End, 2021, Oil, Pastel, Pigment on Linen, 180 x 180 cm. Photo by Ollo Weguelin
Natural Horror, 2021, Oil, Acrylic, Pastel on Canvas, 160 x 170 cm. Photo by Ollo Weguelin
Duality of Ongoingness and Futurelessness No. 1, 2020, Oil, Acrylic on Canvas, 205 x 135 cm. Photo by Ollo Weguelin
Duality of Ongoingness and Futurelessness No. 2, 2020, Oil, Acrylic on Canvas, 205 x 135 cm. Photo by Ollo Weguelin
Dancing in a Room on Fire, 2021, Oil, Pigment on Cotton, 140 x 480 cm. Photo by Ollo Weguelin
Future Ruins, 2021, Recycled Cardboard, Shipping Plastic, Plastic, Oil Paint, Liquin, 15 x 63 x 4 cm. Photo by Ollo Weguelin
Julia Bennett (b. 1995, USA) is a contemporary artist who works to examine creation, erasure, and recreation within the Anthropocene. Recognising the inherited, biological, and violent nature we possess, Julia’s work seeks to provoke to the ends of dismantling this behaviour. Emotional in form, yet intellectual in composition - lived experience, research and reflection accumulate onto the “rag on the wall” in repetitive, instinctual movements. She has recently begun pursuing her MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in London.
