Introducing New Associate Member of the ROI Chris Bennet

The ROI Blog would like to welcome Chris and congratulate him on his election to AROI

A bit of background

Chris Bennett was born in London in 1957 and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in the early ‘80s under Euan Euglow, Geoffrey Camp and Philip Sutton.  He has exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters at the Mall Galleries, London.

In 2004 Chris signed a publishing contract with DeMontfort Fine Art who license selected works as open and limited editions in the UK, Japan and the USA.

His paintings are exhibited and sold in prestigious galleries around the UK.  A notable commission is a portrait of Sir William Hawthorne, now in the collection of Churchill College, Cambridge, who, with Sir Frank Whittle, designed the first jet engine.

Here's a very arty  picture of Chris's studio

And here's a lovely painting by Chris entitled All on a Summer's Day. It's followed by some thoughtful comments from Chris about the painting.

"An idea popped into my head regarding tarts that have fallen onto the floor. The tarts were like draughts or game pieces on a chess board. This suggested a game being played whilst also involving an event in the real world.

This encouraged the idea of the Queen of Tarts and a more complex image started to form in my mind. Perhaps an indiscretion has taken place? She seems to crawl or stalk the floor as if recovering from a mishap yet also redolent of a small child. The electric ribbons in her hair speak of suddenness. She is suggestive of an 18^th century ‘tart’ and a Queen yet the limbs emerging from her dress and sleeve speak of the delicacy of a fuchsia. What game is being played here, a world where squares of green oppose circles of crimson? An adult world set in a nursery rhyme world. A nursery rhyme set in an adult world.

Thus the painting, ‘All on a Summer’s Day’.  "

There are plenty of wonderful images of Chris's  highly imaginative work on his excellent web site: www.chrisbennettartist.co.uk