Opening Friday June 25 at 6pm
A collection of collages by Anne Bentley
Tuesday - Saturday, 11am - 5pm or by appointment
Tuesday - Saturday, 11am - 5pm or by appointment
With a tip of the hat to early 20th Century Dadaists, artist Anne Bentley has made a sidestep from her usual urban photography and created a new body of work using mostly traditional, with a dash of digital, collage techniques called SANE.
SANE began simultaneously when she was sorting some magazines ready for the recycle bin and a stressful encounter with relentless building works on the other side of her wall (“actually, they were stomping all over our fragile roof right above my head”), a pair of scissors & some acrylic poster paints.
From there began weeks of ruthless cutting, including a set of 1905-07 encyclopedia & something to do with National Geographic and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Resultant works have running themes, some obviously Americana but in Anne Bentley’s words,
“Ideas for images come from anywhere like my elderly father being in hospital to the noisy house builders next door, even the Australian film & television industry are the prompters but not the final story behind each collage. Each work takes on its own story once I begin the initial layout.
It doesn’t matter it is personal, people can tell their own stories and get many other meanings out of these works – after showing proofs to some other artists, I am hearing completely new stories.
One of the most important aims of my work is always to entertain. Art can be provocative, political and polemic and that’s a good thing, very important at times - sometimes I make scratching along these lines but as with all art, especially the art I like to buy, I want to be both entertained and intrigued…”
SANE by Anne Bentley opens Friday 25 June 2010 at 6PM at the Albion Street Gallery,
105 Albion Street, Surry Hills NSW
For more information or interview please contact the artist directly:
Anne Bentley M: 0405 098529
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