Kerry Louise Bennett

Squeeze the Day!

2024

A new portrait from Kerry Louise Bennett's ongoing series which gently reflects those amusing and bittersweet moments (with which we are all familiar with), and celebrates a sense of...

Painted in acrylic on stretched canvas, this characterful pot on an upbeat pink ground showcases Kerry Louise Bennett's ability to bring mundane objects to life with her trademark wo...

Amanda Watt Lemonade Acrylic on Canvas 20 1/8 x 15 3/4 in 51 x 40 cm "I consider myself a ‘Fusionist’, because I merge styles that inspire me, while playing with the fusion of East and West. I combine orientalism and primitivism with western cubist principles and the expressionists’ use of colour, to create bright and vibrant figurative images." - Amanda Watt Amanda Watt was born in Northern Ireland in 1960, and graduated from the Belfast College of Art and Design in 1982. Just three years out of University, while living in London, Amanda was discovered by top film director Barry Levinson, who invited her to Malibu to paint from his beach house for six months. From this moment, her art took off, and she spent the next twenty years building a successful career in California, making her way into collections of many key LA directors, producers, galleries, and film stars. With annual solo shows in LA, San Francisco and New York, Amanda's bright, vibrant landscapes, interior scenes, and her semi-abstract figurative paintings have became a staple of Californian society. Watt's key collectors include casino mogul Steve Wynn, cultural ambassador Vanessa Branson, former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, and fashion-designer Marla Ginsburg. Her work is held in key global collections including: Allied Irish Bank, Dublin; ARCO Corporation, California, and Nagi Corporation in Tokyo. In 2006, Amanda was burnt out by the sheer volume of work expected of her by these galleries, and took a step back, exhibiting just occasionally until her return to her native Ireland in 2015. Amanda now lives and works in Dromara, Northern Ireland. Artist Statement; "I am influenced by the pattern-making of Gustav Klimt and the highly stylised figures of Tom Wesselman and Alex Katz, as well as Rainer Fetting's use of bold colour and gestural brushstrokes. Japanese woodblock prints and Gauguin's Tahitian women have also inspired me, while the bright Californian colours of David Hockney and the decisive curves of Matisse are clearly recognisable in my work. I favour acrylic paint, which allows a fast pace of work with spontaneous gestures. Transparent washes precede bold primary colours to create depth and vibrancy. Multiple motifs, all from memory or imagination, are peppered throughout my work: highly stylised furniture; a picture within a picture; a torso - fragmented parts that on their own don't necessarily make sense, carefully placed to create a balanced whole." NOTABLE EXHIBITIONS Annual Solo Shows:  1995 - 2005 Timothy Yarger Fine Art, Beverly Hills, California  1993 - 2002 Bowles/Sorokko Galleries, New York & San Francisco  1989 - 1993 Tower Gallery, California Additional Solo Shows:  2004 Marla Ginsburg Productions, private show, Los Angeles  2003 Area Art Gallery, Santa Rosa, California  1999 Lee Hamilton Gallery, Santa Monica, Los Angeles  1998 John Dupree...

Helene and Eric Bess are a team who have been collaborating for over 20 years. Both are professional artists with extensive experience in both the commercial and fine art fields. They presently work out of their studio in Florida, creating original art for gallery display, fine art crafts and taking commissions for murals & embellishments. Helene was born in Canada in 1949. She studied art in Europe as a young adult and attended Phoenix Pratt School of Design in New York and St. Petersburg Community College in Florida. She worked for advertising agencies and freelance art projects such as theater design and t-shirt designs for several companies. She owned and operated an art studio (“Artistic Endeavors”) in Melbourne, Fl. for five years. She started doing murals and embellishments (residential and commercial) from 1992 till present. She considers her early life in Europe the major source of her artistic influence as well as the works of Modigliani. Eric was born in Missouri in 1950. He started drawing literally as an infant and has never stopped. He was taking commissions for book covers & wall designs in his teens and studied art at Auburn University and The University of Alabama. He taught art in public schools in Alabama in the ‘70s. He worked as art director at Huntsville Educational Television for 6 years, as art director at Southern Sportswear in Daytona for 9 years, at Creative Signs & Designs in Flagler, Fl. for 6 years, and as a freelance artist and co-owner (with his wife Helene) of “BessStudio” (formerly “Artistic Innovations Inc.”) since 1998. His artistic influences include Michelangelo, Vermeer, Blake, Maxfield Parish...