2019-2022 Long Overdue Studio Newsletter

Iconic Works: Inspiration – National Museum of Sweden and National Museum of Norway
CLICK ON PHOTOS FOR EXHIBITION DETAILS
photo: Paul Benney’s ‘Pieta’ Oil on Canvas. (Next room in photo 1: Jeff Koon’s ‘Mona Lisa and reflecting ball’)


2020. Travelled to Copenhagen to attend the opening of ‘INSPIRATION – ICONIC WORKS, the great travelling museum exhibition curated by James Putman and Suzanne Pettersson at the Swedish National Gallery and later that year to the Finland National Museum, Helsinki. I was very happy to have my work alongside Marina Abramović, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Nancy Fouts, Mark Karasick, Ola Kolehmainen, Jeff Koons, Joseph Kosuth, Sara Masüger and Yinka Shonibare CBE among others.
My gallery Anima Mundi Gallery continues to be very supportive of my work. Please follow the links to the online and gallery exhibitions starting with ‘Scrying Mirror’ 2016, ’Protected by Alarms’ October, 2019, ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ April 2020, ’Beyond Ourselves’ November 2020 ’Castles of Sand’ June 2021, ‘Thresholds’ December 2021,‘Mabon’ September 2022 and ‘Samhain’ October 2022.
December, 2020. My answer to the ‘lockdown’ gathering restrictions was to hold a winter outdoor installation; NIGHT PAINTINGS-WINTER PROJECTIONS at Snape Maltings. This projection event included large scale digital/painting, hybrid video projections on the exterior walls of the Snape buildings. All credit to artistic Director Harry Young for making it happen.

October, 2021. Viktor Wynd invited me to exhibit some small works at his The Museum of Curiosities in Hackney, London. The dark, sepulchral interior of the museum perfectly suited my work. Sounds gloomy but it worked well.
December, 2021.BUCOLIA, a group show at Colmena House. Renata and I curated this exhibition of stellar contemporary artists, which we plan to repeat as a regular fixture here.
March 2022 Seven Portraits. Surviving the Holocaust. Buckingham Palace, Queens Gallery. Honoured to be asked to paint Holocaust survivor, Helena Aronson by the then Prince of Wales for the Royal Collection.
May, 2022. ‘Once Upon a Time’, group show. Big crowds for the opening reminded me of the East Village openings in the 1980’s. Curated by Flora Fairbairn and Katie Heller at 23, Chiltern Street, London.

June, 2022. ‘Remains to be Seen’ PAUL BENNEY, KIKI SMITH, LAURENCE EDWARDS at Britten-Pears Arts, Suffolk. A major, three person exhibition, two years in the making and scheduled to coincide with the recent Aldeburgh music festival. I asked two artists I admire greatly to join me in populating several familiar and less familiar (semi derelict) spaces around the Snape Maltings campus. I’ve been informed by the Britten-Pears arts director that this exhibition drew the greatest attendance figures of any exhibition at Snape Maltings.
October, 2022. Catch this Channel 4 documentary, Antiques Yard. In episode 3, @ 30 mins. I am resurrecting or conjuring up a C17 painting of the famous Milanese hairy girl Antionetta Gonzales that’s hidden under a later Madonna and Child. This is a fascinating account and turns out to be the origin story for Beauty and the Beast!
Paul Benney- artist interview, mostly talking about ‘Speaking in Tongues’ and the Dark Mirror Series

Currently on show at the BYU Museum of Art, Utah. CLICK https://moa.byu.edu/monumental-matters Very pleased to be included in this 6 person show, including Anselm Kiefer, Georg Baselitz, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Mike Kelley UNTIL AUGUST 2023 |