Somerset House is an important arts and cultural centre based in central London in the strand overlooking the river Thames. In the winter it contains the ice ring in the summer they have acclaimed concerts exhibitions. They run regularly exhibitions of contemporary art, design and family events workshops.
Into The Morning, 2008. Oil on Canvas.
Currently in the Underground Burial Chambers of Somerset House also known as the 'Dead House' which is made out of a series of underground corridors containing in his alcoves the gravestone of seventeen-century nobility (no bodies) and usually not open to the public it runs underneath Somerset House J. Safra Fountain Court. I saw the exhibition: Night Paintings by British artist in residence Paul Benney.
The Burning, 2012.Oil on Wood.
While exploring the alcoves containing the paintings I did notice two main themes going across his work. Half of his paintings represent nature at night or at sunrise where human figures are absent or playing a minor role in comparison to nature in the painting giving a sense of feeling of isolation of man as the man is represented as small figure on the right hand side of the painting.While the other half have male figures positioned in the middle of the canvas apparently criminals represented as apostles giving a sense of allegorical meaning to the canvas.. So there is the theme of light versus darkness, most of the paintings the bottom side are in darkness while the light is shined from above on the top half of the canvas. For example we can see this in the painting 'Into the Morning' or in 'View from the Landing' or 'I Came unto Myself. In several of his paintings Also storytelling and the intangible is important and it's given by the titles of the paintings such Levitation, Snow in Jerusalem, I came unto Myself in a Dark Wood etc but they do describe to the viewer the painting instead of making the viewer guess figure out what is not there.
All the paintings have been made using oils on wood or canvas or on board some also include resin or encoustic which makes one think that the artist Tome Benney appreciates, has an interest in traditional methods of making paintings one can see this in reference to paintings such as 'Burning Moors' which remind me of the vast landscapes of Turner while other paintings made me think of Goya haunted black paintings such as The Colossus and The Incantation, see below. He enjoys working with elements or representing the elements such as water, fire and most of his paintings have been made using muted colours to give a sense of things not defined to give an atmospheric dream like state
as one can see from the Painting: Snow in Jerusalem, 2012. Oil on Wood.
as one can see from the Painting: Snow in Jerusalem, 2012. Oil on Wood.
Goya, Colossus.
Another of Goya's Haunted paintings; The Incantation.
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