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Paul Benney

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Paul Benney (born London, 30 May 1959) is a British artist who rose to international prominence as a contemporary artist whilst living and working in New York in the 1980s and 1990s in the UK as an portraitist.[1]

Benney's work is held in the 20th century collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art,[2] The Brooklyn Museum,[3] The National Portrait Gallery, London,[1] The National Gallery of Australia,[4] and many prominent corporate and private collections around the world. Paul Benney's portraiture and contemporary work have been featured in news, radio and documentaries on the BBC and Channel 4.[5][6]

Paul Benney exhibited his multimedia installation, 'Speaking in Tongues' during the 57th Venice Art Biennale in 2017.[7][8]

As of 2019 Benney had been collaborating with the multi-instrumentalist Nitin Sawhney to compose and produce individual soundscapes for the digital artworks that Benney has recently released with online digital gallery Sedition. The works are a digital hybrid.[9]

Career

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Paul Benney is a self-taught painter. He moved to New York in 1982 and was a member of the N.Y. downtown Neo-Expressionist group in the 1980s.[10][11] He was first taken by the P.P.O.W. Gallery in 1984[12] where he created immense monochromatic painting depicting mysterious dream imagery with surfaces built up of layers feather twigs, dirt and gel.[13]

Benney's East village contemporaries while living in New York included Kiki Smith, David Wojnarowicz, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ross Bleckner, Richard Hambleton, Adam Fuss and Craig Coleman.

Paul Benney moved back to the United Kingdom in 1988 where his portrait practice grew rapidly by word of mouth.[14] He has since exhibited in eight BP Portrait Award Exhibitions and twice won the BP Visitors’ Choice Award in 1996 and 1997 and received a commendation for the portrait ‘My Daughters' in 1999.[15][1] In 2003 Benney was commissioned by the Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery to paint Jack Dellal in recognition of his support of the gallery. He exhibited at the Birch & Conran in 1988,[16] the Nigel Greenwood Gallery in 1991, the Long & Ryle Gallery in 1995.[17] In 2013 he was asked to judge of the Threadneedle Prize at the Mall Galleries, UK.[1]

Benney's portrait subjects have included HM Queen Elizabeth II,[18] Sir Mick Jagger,[citation needed] John Paul Getty III, Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, Lord Weidenfeld,[19] Baroness Amos,[20] The State Portrait for Israel, Lord Rothschild, Ben Barnes (for the portrait in the feature film Dorian Gray in 2009)[21][better source needed] Fergus Henderson, Adam Fuss, Justice Stephen Breyer, Sarah Lucas, The Duchess of Bedford, Jerry Hall, Nitin Sawhney,[22] The Viscountess of Weymouth, Sir Paul Hamlyn, and Lord Sainsbury.[23] In 2015 Benney was commissioned by HRH Prince Charles to paint WWII veteran Brian Stewart for the Royal Collection.[24]

Benney was invited to be a resident artist at Somerset House in 2010. During his five year residency he held the show ‘Night Paintings’ in 2012 which explored themes that deal more with the subconscious and metaphysical world and drew over 15,000 visitors.[25] In 2017 Paul Benney exhibited his multimedia installation 'Speaking in Tongues' in the Church of San Gallo during the 57th Venice Art Biennale.[26]

For the event of the coronation of Charles III and Camilla in 2023, Benney was selected by Queen Camilla to paint her state portrait.[27]

Early life and family

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Benney was born in Chelsea but spent the majority of his childhood in Beenham in West Berkshire. His father, Gerald Benney [1930 – 2008], was a notable silversmith who created gold and silver flatware and jewelry for private and public collections around the world including for the British Royal family.[28][29] His younger brother, Simon Benney (born 1966), is also a silversmith and goldsmith.

Notable exhibitions

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  • 57th VENICE ART BIENNALE. 'Speaking in Tongues'. Curated by James Putnam and Flora Fairbairn. 2017.
  • SOMERSET HOUSE. London. ‘Night Paintings’. Curated by Flora Fairbairn. 2012.
  • THE MALL GALLERIES. London. ‘Retrospective of 20 years work: Just Looking’. 2001.
  • CHRISTIE’S Exhibition & Auction. London. ‘Baby 2000’. Curated by Kay Saatchi. 2000.
  • NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY. London. ‘State Portrait for Israel: Group Portrait with Associated Sketches’. 1995.
  • NIGEL GREENWOOD GALLERY. London. 1992.
  • P.P.O.W. GALLERY N.Y. 1985.

Selected Public and Corporate Collections

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  • BP. UK.
  • BROOKLYN MUSEUM, Brooklyn, USA.
  • CHRIST COLLEGE. Oxford, UK.
  • ELI BROAD FOUNDATION. Los Angeles, USA.
  • JESUS COLLEGE. Oxford, UK.
  • HOUSE OF CONGRESS. Washington DC, USA.
  • HOUSE OF LORDS. UK.
  • HOUSE OF COMMONS. UK.
  • METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, 20th Century Wing. N.Y, USA.
  • MUSEUM OF MODERN ART. Catanzaro, Italy.
  • NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY. London, UK.
  • NATIONAL GALLERY. CANBERRA, Australia.
  • ROTHSCHILD FOUNDATION. UK. Israel.
  • ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND. UK.
  • SUPREME COURT. Boston, USA.
  • SUPREME COURT. Jerusalem. Israel.
  • WORLD BANK. Washington DC, US.
  • ZIMMERLI MUSEUM OF ART. New Jersey, USA.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Paul Benney | Threadneedle Prize". threadneedleprize.com. Archived from the original on 21 August 2013.
  2. ^ "Heretic Healers: 1987". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Brooklyn Museum". www.brooklynmuseum.org.
  4. ^ Benney, Paul. "Untitled". Item held by National Gallery of Australia.
  5. ^ Benney, Paul (12 May 2000). "Painting Jerry Hall". the Guardian.
  6. ^ "BBC One - Songs of Praise, Pentecost Sunday". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 May 2016.
  7. ^ "Paul Benney 'Speaking in Tongues' at The Venice Biennale | Artsy". www.artsy.net.
  8. ^ "Paul Benney exhibits "Speaking in Tongues" during the 2017 Venice Biennale". artdaily.com. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  9. ^ "Sedition: New Artist: Paul Benney". Milled.
  10. ^ Greenfield – Sanders, Timothy. ‘The Art World’. Fotofolio / Artpost, 1999. P.14.
  11. ^ "Two faces of society painter". The Telegraph.
  12. ^ Carter, Holland. ‘Paul Benney: Paintings, 1983 -1986. PPOW Inc, 1996.
  13. ^ LLC, New York Media (25 March 1985). New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC.
  14. ^ Clerk, Honor. ‘Just Looking’. Fine Art Commissions, 2001. P.2
  15. ^ "Search - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk.
  16. ^ Catalogue ‘Paul Benney. Paintings 1988’. Birch & Conran, London. 1988.
  17. ^ Catalogue. ‘Paul Benney, Long & Ryle’. Long & Ryle Art International, 1995.
  18. ^ "Queen unveils Jockey Club portrait". Belfasttelegraph – via www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk.
  19. ^ "Arthur George Weidenfeld, Baron Weidenfeld - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk.
  20. ^ "Portrait of Baroness Amos - UK Parliament". Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  21. ^ "Dorian Gray". 9 September 2009 – via IMDb.
  22. ^ "Nitin Sawhney – Home".
  23. ^ "Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover, KG | Art UK". artuk.org.
  24. ^ "The Last of the Tide: Portraits of D-Day Veterans". www.rct.uk.
  25. ^ "Night Paintings by Paul Benney : Somerset House". www.somersethouse.org.uk. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012.
  26. ^ "The synergy of sound: Paul Benney at La Biennale di Venezia". 2 May 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
  27. ^ "Coronation Artists". royal.uk. 5 May 2023. Archived from the original on 6 August 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  28. ^ Hughes, Graham (24 July 2008). "Obituary: Gerald Benney" – via www.theguardian.com.
  29. ^ "Gerald Benney: Distinguished goldsmith". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022.
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