TOM BENSON Solo Exhibition OPENING Reception Saturday, OCTOBER 10th, 2009    Oct 10 - Nov 30, 2009

Re: TOM BENSON’s paintings

Tom Benson's paintings are more questions than statements, questions the viewer can turn in their mind and in their eye. They change with the point of view they are seen from, turning from this to that as the facture of the paint appears or disappears, or a colour changes in the light. They are opportunities to reflect on the nature of what is seen, where it begins and where it ends.

Every element is active in Benson's work: the application of paint, it's particular hue; the nature of the support it is on, it's solidity or flimsiness; the transition from this to the wall and the real space of the room itself. Just how paintings vary in different contexts has been considered and co-opted. Some painting are on aluminium, others on acetate.

Mostly the materials are unconventional, because allowing for spontaneity requires taking as little as possible for granted …One quaility opperates on the next one; one impression is the yardstick of the next. They are cues for the viewer's reflection on the paintings as they subtly slip beyond recognition's range.

Benson's paintings are devices that point to the shifting relations of qualities within themselves and of the contextual variables they are part of. Where paintings exist and how they exist are the questions they turn upon.

-Andrew Chesher

October 1, 2009
My work lays emphasis on the temporal and political potential of looking and is, in a primary sense, a meditation upon seeing. I'm interested in the twofold focus of perception that painting offers along with how its material and phenomenal qualities can be used to create a space for contemplative engagement.

-TB (Tom Benson)

Exhibition Checklist

Front room, counterclockwise from right, at window

Second Room, counterclockwise from right, at entry