Peter Bennett

ARTIST STATEMENT

Does beauty make sense?

“Elements of our culture speak to us (artists) and we respond”. Douglas Balch.

“The acquisition of memory is distinct from its retrieval…” Matt Ridley.

“The motor cooled down, the heat went down, that’s when I heard the highway sound” Chuck Berry.

Bliss free TV, digital tonics, the Gypsy Woman, avoid delays, The Blue Mirror, not in public, the ample thigh, ordinary fish, the standard achievement…Time, Safe, Risk.

“……….The experience of the road was something mapped out but not socially recognized”. Out there were abandoned WWII airstrips, surreal landscapes, industrial shadow lands, places that had nothing to do with function, created worlds without tradition, artificial landscapes without cultural precedent, without history.

The encounters with these and numerous other markers of our cultural engagement have informed and continue to cross inform my ongoing inquiry.

Peter T Bennett 2016

RECENT EXHIBITIONS

• 2016 Fichera Fine Arts, Brunswick, Maine
• 2016 Art New England Gala, Corey Daniels Gallery, Wells, Maine
• 2016 Ten, Ten, Ten juried Invitational, Engine Gallery, Biddeford, Maine
• 2016 A & D 20/21 Boston, MA
• 2016 Art2016 Harlow Art Gallery, 21st Juried Invitational, juror Bruce Brown
• 2016 Turtle Gallery, Deer Isle
• 2016 Corey Daniels Gallery, Wells, Maine
• 2015 River Tree Arts Gallery, "Creative Coupling", curated by Julia Einstein, 6 couples group show
• 2015 KPTArtHouse Gallery, group show, Kennebunkport, Maine
• 2015 Turtle Gallery, group, Deer Isle, Maine
• 2015 Corey Daniels Gallery, group, Wells, Maine
• 2015 Engine, annual “Rumpus” group show, Biddeford, Maine
• 2015 Harlow Art Gallery, Art2015, 20th Annual Juried Exhibition, juror Britta Koneau, Hallowell, Maine
• 2014 Engine, “Beautify in Blue” show group, Biddeford, Maine
• 2014 River Arts Gallery, "Celebrating Color", Juried Exhibition by John Lorence,
• 2014 Turtle Gallery, "Small Works”, group, Deer Isle, Maine
• 2014 Corey Daniels Gallery, group show, Wells, Maine
• 2013 Portland Museum of Art Biennial, "Piece Work", with "Box City", Portland Maine
• 2013 George Marshall Store Gallery, group show, York, Maine
• 2013 Corey Daniels Gallery, group show, Wells, Maine
• 2013 Art in Biddeford, “10 Year Retrospective”, group show, Biddeford, Maine
• 2012 XL Projects Gallery, group show, Syracuse, NY
• 2012 Saco Museum, 2nd Mill-Ennial for contemporary works, Saco, Maine
• 2012 Engine: propelling the creative community, “Merc: Mainers Recycling Cardboard”, group show, Biddeford, Maine
• 2011 Reisman Art Gallery, Cazenovia College, group show, Cazenovia, NY
• 2011 Manifest Gallery, Magnitude 7, group show, Cincinnati, Ohio
• 2011 Whitney Art Works, The Maine Drawing Project 2011, "Where to Draw the Line", at The Palmina F. & Stephen S. Pace Galleries of Art, "Above and Below the Line"a survey of contemporary drawing
• 2010 group drawing show University of New England, Maine
• 2010 group drawing show Icon Gallery, Brunswick, Maine
• 2010 group show Sanctuary Gallery, Portland, Maine
• 2010 Saco Museum 1st Biennial, Saco, Maine
• 2010 group show Space Gallery, Portland, Maine
• 2010 XL Gallery, Syracuse, NY, Stone Canoe #4
• 2008 group show Franklin Street Gallery, Biddeford, Maine
• 2008 group show Sanctuary Gallery, Portland, Maine
• 2007 group show Sanctuary Gallery, Portland, Maine
• 1995 group show Icon Gallery, Brunswick, Maine

PUBLICATIONS

• 2016 Magneto magazine, Spring Issue
• 2016 #10 Stone Canoe, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
• 2010 #4 Stone Canoe, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
• 2010 Saco Mill-Ennial 1st published catalog, Saco, Maine
• 2011 Magnitude 7, 7th Annual, Manifest Art Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio
• 2012 Syracuse University, Stone Canoe #6, cover image, Journal of Arts, Literature & Social Commentary, Syracuse, NY
• 2014 Nitro Magazine, Paris, France
• 2014 Manifest Exhibition Annual, Season 10, Manifest Gallery, Ohio
• 2015 Magneto magazine

RESIDENCIES

2014 2nd Annual Open Studio Residency, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, Maine