ZOE BENBOW
“My paintings aim to communicate a sense of awe and enjoyment in landscape. They reference the European genre as a means of questioning our cultural construct of wilderness and our relationship to the natural world . The images are developed from drawings made ‘in the field’ yet by an intense engagement with the processes of painting and studio practice, the resulting canvases become as much a meditation on a geology of association and memory as of actual place.”
Zoe Benbow was born in 1963. She lives and works in London and the Tarn Valley, France. Having graduated from The Royal College of Art in 1989, she has held several artists residencies including at Delfina Studios and research periods in Switzerland, Andalucia, Finland and South India. She is represented in many public and private collections including, Queen Mary University London, Manchester City Art Gallery, The British Council and The Royal Palace of Jordan.
When looking at Benbow’s paintings things are never as they first appear. What is perceived as foreground can easily switch to background and vice-versa. In the shifting nature of the image, the spatial position we occupy as an observer is questioned. The paintings throw the viewer headlong into the landscape, whilst challenging any pre-conceived sense of separateness from the environment.
Tarn Trees
Oil on canvas
183 x 213 cm
Edge
Oil on canvas
210 x 185 cm
Western Sea
Oil on canvas, 183 x 244 cm
Of Rocks Remote
Oil on canvas, 120 x 175 cm
Red Seascape
Oil on canvas, 122 x 183 cm
Cliffs Of North Mayo
Oil on canvas, 122 x 158 cm
Small Island Oil on canvas
91 x 110 cm
Stony Vale Oil on canvas
183 x 213 cm
Flint Like Oil on canvas
91 x 110 cm, 2013
Wild Wave Oil on canvas, 183 x 244 cm, 2012
Irish Seascape Oil on canvas
92 x 107 cm, 2011
Tree Shadow Oil on canvas
92 x 103 cm, 2014
Two Trees Yellow Oil on canvas, 122 x 158 cm, 2014
Yellow Copse Oil on canvas, 122 x 158 cm, 2015
Forest Floor
Oil on canvas, 122 x 183 cm, 2015
Amber Forest Oil on canvas
178 x 214 cm
Hampstead Tree
Oil on canvas
148 x 178 cm
Coast Path
Oil on canvas, 92 x 137 cm
River Trees Contra Jour Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm, 2015
River Trees
Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm, 2015
Riverside Tree Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm, 2015
Selected Exhibitions
2014
Shifting Light, Moorgate Exchange- VJB Arts Project EC2, London
2014 REDHANDED, Cromer Street, London WC1
2013-14 Where we begin to look, Landscape and Poetry 2014
Touring exhibition commissioned by The Poetry Society –
Small World Theatre Cardigan, Hebden Bridge Poetry Festival, Glass Tank, Oxford Brookes University, Norwich Arts Centre and Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, UK
2012
Western Seas, Hammerson Project, Threadneedle Street, UK
Western Seas, Hammerson Project, Gresham Street, London
Wild Wild Waves- Hay Hill Gallery, London
2010
Wild Path, Hay Hill Gallery, London
Wayfarer, Hammerson Project, Grosvenor Street, London
2009 Sentier Sauvage, ANPQ Foundation, France
2008
Solo Exhibition, La Galeria, Barcelona
August Art, Wenlock Basin, London