You know what I like about Bennett? He tells tells it like it is.  There’s no pretext,  no artistic pretension, just a guy who can create art and wants you to visualise it on your own terms. 

His latest show “ORANGES & LEMONS” named in reference to a nursery rhyme whose central theme is that “the most subtle and smallest difference can create or result in a much bigger outcome” opens on Thursday May 19th from 6pm at Oh Really Gallery in Newtown, Sydney.

Bennett has a talent for re-contextualising everyday objects you or I may struggle to even notice – and, using textured layering and a liberal attitude towards colour, his work is able to make even the most discerning visual connoisseur stand up and take notice.

Get it? No? Then think deeper, because, really, that’s what Bennett’s all about …

So, tell us how it all began…

I started painting/drawing/making a mess in the garage at my parents house, then moved into infamous Worlds End Studio – now I currently make my mess at StupidKrap studios.

You have a knack of taking the boring and re-contextualising it as a social or political statement.  How powerful do you think art is, as a means of getting a message across?

My image making process includes re-contextualising and appropriation, which is meant to push the viewer into making a decision or constructing their own opinion of a certain theme or scene. The final artworks aren’t meant to be biased in anyway, or suggest what is right or wrong, rather, they just ask a question … suggest alternative narratives or meanings. Some of my artworks my come across as powerful, but hopefully only in a sense of exploration rather than a convincing or biased manner.

What makes you decide on a subject matter? What’s the process involved?

Subject matter is extremely important in my artwork, but at the same time it certainly isn’t heavily filtered or preempted. Hoarding and collecting of books, magazines and other visual sources is the first step, and its continuous part of my process. Dissecting the source, searching for striking imagery, or something that I look at in an alternative way, is next. Then its a matter of sitting down with all these images and cut-outs (sometimes 100’s at a time), looking at them all at once, and letting my imagination run wild.

Mixing and matching, and trial and error, all play a large role in my process, and I feel the natural and handmade feel is evident in the final pieces due to that. Although I do use a mash-up style, I try not to force the combination too much, if it doesn’t seem to work from start then I discard it straight away – this ensures that the instant strength, or power, of the image isn’t lost or compromised.

Once I’ve sourced, and roughly combined, my images by hand, I then further manipulate them on the computer. This is sometimes to blur or hide the fact that the image is created using this mash-up technique, which adds that little bit of extra confusion, or unknown, to artworks. This in-turn drives the viewer to look deeper into the piece, and asses it and try and figure it out. This deeper exploration of the work is the driving forces behind my process and the real reason I choose to create the type artwork that I make.

Your work is very textured – you mentioned multiple layering, and a variable mash-up of colours and imagery – what types of mediums do you readily use? Is colour an important factor in each of your works?

The reason for the layering and texture is to further extend the idea of combining, comparing and mashing things together. Whether its the way the background combines with the vocal point, or the way the layers within the foreground combine with each other, its the juxtaposition which creates the impact.

The background work is created using aerosols and acrylics, which isn’t anything unusual or special but perhaps the application makes it different, and that’s then combined with the use of the print out imagery, which is then further manipulated using the addition of layers of stencilling, in order to create depth and more contrast. Colours are used, fairly tamely, in combination with black and white in both the background and foreground to push the combination idea. Hopefully that creates an artwork which is multi layered and interesting for the viewer to explore and understand – from a relatively basic initial piece or imagery.

With the explosion of urban art around the place, is it frustrating to see every Tom, Dick and Harry out their with a spray can and a stencil?  Or do you celebrate it? I can’t believe I just used ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ in a sentence…

Haha! Yeah I know what you mean! There are a lot of people out there nowadays – I don’t think it’s bad a thing, as long as people are doing something new, or different, then I reckon its all good. I don’t see the point in jumping on the band wagon soupy for the fame or to be cool or “that’s what everyone’s doing now” you know? At the same time you’ve got to start somewhere and If its something your actually passionate about, then it wont be an issue and you’ll never get caught up in the Tom, Dick and Harry scene, which I’m sure is boring, repetitive and unoriginal – not to mention pretty lame.

Can you tell us a little more about the work and theme of your upcoming show? The title is intriguing, where did that spring from?

My upcoming show “ORANGES & LEMONS” opens Thursday May 19th from 6pm at Oh Really gallery in Newtown, Sydney. The title of the show comes from a children’s nursery rhyme, its meant to depict the idea that; the most subtle and smallest difference can create or result in a much bigger outcome. The obvious example is comparing an orange and a lemon … they are both citrus fruits, kind of similar in colour, yet completely different in taste.

While trying to think of a tittle for my show, I decided to explore children’s nursery rhymes and poems as they often have a strange or sinister undertone, disguised by a relatively calm and unsuspecting appearance, which is loosely the theme of the show; intriguing images which have alternative meanings, that can only really be discovered from exploration and questioning, that’s the whole point; explore, compare and wonder why … so I thought “ORANGES & LEMONS” was quite fitting.

You’ve just completed the 60 hour Adidas Challenge. How was it?

INSANE!

Artistically speaking where do you see yourself in the future?  Do you think your medium will ever change?

Hopefully I’ll move onto bigger and better things. I’d really like to explore things, and push my process to its limits – and possibly collaborate with some other artists on the way. I’m sure some of my mediums will change in the future, they have done in the past but not hugely. I’m still exploring and experimenting with techniques, applications and new mediums.

I’m always extremely keen to broaden and develop my skills in other areas – ultimately I guess you’ll have to wait and see!!!

Tell us something about yourself that has nothing to do with art.  Just because we want to put you on the spot. GO!

Umm – well, I enjoy a good cup of English breakfast tea! Watching football, and I really hate not being able to wear a hat … PEACE!

Take a look at Bennetts website for more of his work, the Stupidkrap studios for general coolness, and also make sure you check out the Facebook event page for more information on the upcoming show …