Lucie Bennett explores female identity and sexuality using simple, elegantly applied lines and block colour forms to create distinctive, timeless pieces.
Best known for her provocative portraits of women, London-based British artist Lucie Bennett explores female identity and sexuality using simple, elegantly applied lines and block colour forms to create distinctive, timeless pieces.
Captivating from the onset, colour plays a major part in Bennett’s work. By applying a carefully selected palette she creates an identity for her subjects; bright hot pinks and upbeat hues of orange and blue are paired with bold images, whilst muted tones are employed for more sophisticated poses. Throughout history, the female form has been both celebrated and objectified in art, advertising and the media. Bennett plays with our perception of this by presenting her subjects in the simplest form, encouraging the viewer to identify with the work as they see fit.
In some of her works Bennett references traditional associations between flora and femininity, and approaches this with her own contemporary take. The artist uses striking colour combinations and graphic shapes, and industrial materials such as aluminium and gloss paint to create something fluid and sensual. There is a curious juxtaposition between the metal canvas and the languid forms of the female body.
Having worked across many different mediums including neon, collage, laser-cut acrylic and ceramics, Bennett is first and foremost a painter whose preferred medium is gloss paint on prepared aluminium. Her first original screen prints were released in 2005 and since then she has built up a substantial body of widely collected limited editioned works.
For CCA Bennett has produced a series of five pieces, all of which offer something fresh to her portfolio.