Splitting her time between Hawaii and California, Carol Bennett (b. 1954) has mastered the art of capturing movement in her enigmatic paintings.
While Bennett has garnered praise for the meditative sensibility that characterizes her paintings as well as a bold use of bright colors, some of her works are more famous than others. In fact, her “Women in Water” series is perhaps her most well-known collection. As its name implies, the series features women swimming. They’re captured from an underwater perspective, and their faces are either out of frame entirely or obscured by the sun-dappled surface of the water, which serves as a showcase for Bennett’s portrayal of the qualities of sunlight. The upper half of each painting is flecked with the blues and greens of the ocean as well as whatever color the subject’s bathing suit happens to be.
The series originated with Bennett sketching swimmers at an athletic club’s pool in Los Angeles, but as her process evolved, her husband, Wayne Zebzda, began to film the artist on her daily swim on Kauai. The resultant images inform her work, but she doesn’t consider these works to be depictions of her in particular.
“I swim seven days a week, and while I don’t consider them self-portraits, I am the swimmer in the paintings,” Bennett has said.
Given her constant proximity to the ocean, it’s no surprise that Bennett is inspired by water’s glassy properties, citing its presence as both “a mirror and then a window.” Her radiant paintings, whether she’s working with oil and shellac on paper or wood panels, allow her to explore sunlight in such a rich and provocative way that it’s as if she endeavors to suspend rays of light above the water’s surface, making them seem as tangible and physical as the swimmers themselves.
Aside from her works that hang on the walls of galleries and museums around the world, Bennett has also painted murals and even a 48-foot photovoltaic solar canopy for the Hawaii State Art Museum Sculpture Garden.
Find Carol Bennett’s paintings on 1stDibs.
"Lighten Up" a woman in white bathing suit, arms outstretched, drifting
By Carol Bennett
Located in Edgartown, MA
"I throw myself into the water almost every day- it grounds me, the body floats and the mind drifts. The "Swimmer series" has followed me over the years, resurfacing and evolving. Pr...
Canvas, Oil
$3,200
"Winter White" reflective painting of woman in white bathing suit underwater
By Carol Bennett
Located in Edgartown, MA
"I throw myself into the water almost every day- it grounds me, the body floats and the mind drifts. The "Swimmer series" has followed me over the years, resurfacing and evolving. Pr...
Canvas, Oil
"Amy" side profile of a woman with white bathing suit floating up for air
By Carol Bennett
Located in Edgartown, MA
"I throw myself into the water almost every day- it grounds me, the body floats and the mind drifts. The "Swimmer series" has followed me over the years, resurfacing and evolving. Pr...
Canvas, Oil
Sold|$12,000
H 53 in W 26 in D 1.5 in
"Le Tarbouche Vert” Figurative Painting 53" x 26" in by Katherine Bakhoum Tisné
By Katherine Bakhoum-Tisné
Located in Culver City, CA
"Le Tarbouche Vert” Figurative Painting 53" x 26" in by Katherine Bakhoum Tisné Katherine Bakhoum represents art that has been forgotten for a long while. She draws upon the concep...
Oil, Canvas, Oil Pastel
$20,340
H 12 in W 12 in D 2 in
Woman Oil on Canvas Portrait, Grayscale Abstract, Contemporary, 2015
By Christopher Mudgett
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Woman, 2015 Christopher Mudgett Woman (2015) is a striking portrait that distills the essence of the female face into an elegant interplay of line, form, and tone. Executed in oil o...
Canvas, Oil
$719
H 15.75 in W 11.82 in
Small-Scale Contemporary Photorealistic Figurative Oil Painting: Body Study
By Raminta S. R. Mint
Located in Vilnius, Vilniaus apskr.
Raminta S.R. Mint, a young and emerging artist, challenges traditional representations of the body, positioning it as a reflection of contemporary society’s fixation on physicality a...
Canvas, Paint, Cotton Canvas, Oil, Spray Paint
$5,750
H 51 in W 39 in D 1.5 in
"I Adore You" Oil Painting 51" x 39" inch by Marius Seidlitz
By Marius Seidlitz
Located in Culver City, CA
"I Adore You" Oil Painting 51" x 39" inch by Marius Seidlitz Marius Seidlitz is a contemporary painter based in Germany. His work explores the intricate nature of self-identity. He ...
Canvas, Oil
$9,467
H 68.12 in W 48.43 in D 1.97 in
Strawberries Stéphane Fauchille Contemporary art colour painting landscape
By Stéphane Fauchille
Located in Paris, FR
Oil paint on canvas Unique work Hand-signed by the artist Stéphane Fauchille, dream anthropologist “Would you, for a moment, like to become the Claude Lévi-Strauss of the aborigin...
Canvas, Oil
$719
H 11.82 in W 11.82 in D 1.58 in
Small Scale Photorealistic Figurative Oil Painting by Contemporary Artist
By Raminta S. R. Mint
Located in Vilnius, Vilniaus apskr.
Raminta S.R. Mint, a young and emerging artist, challenges traditional representations of the body, positioning it as a reflection of contemporary society’s fixation on physicality a...
Paint, Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil, Spray Paint
$11,250
H 53 in W 27.5 in D 1.5 in
"Woman in Blue” Oil Painting 53" x 27.5" inch by Katherine Bakhoum Tisné
By Katherine Bakhoum-Tisné
Located in Culver City, CA
"Woman in Blue” Oil Painting 53" x 27.5" inch by Katherine Bakhoum Tisné Katherine Bakhoum represents art that has been forgotten for a long while. She draws upon the concept and the subject of the orientalism and the enchantment of that period. Through her work we can feel the researches she has done to reveal her Egyptian origins and the magic and power of the bygone times. Katherine Bakhoum has succeeded in imprinting her own stamp to evoke a new world full of charm, nostalgia and magic that is deeply implanted in her canvas. Her power dwells in creating her own style of contemporary expressionism building upon the old orientalism. Katherine Bakhoum’s art comes up out of an Egyptian childhood and from the distance of a life spent in France. What is left unsaid is as important as what is shown. Decorative yes, as in old orientalism, when everything was texture and what wasn’t texture was veiled, a reincarnation of old spirits, dervishes, orientalist motifs and the stuff of a once powerful civilization, the better to suggest it all might just come to life again. The choice of ancient subject matters, the echo of orientalist pieces in the collages, like the echo of the appeal of ancient gestures, of foreign lands, and domestic tapestries, all this weaves up out of Katherine Bakhoum’s creations. Sometimes we only have the line of a horizon on which to hang our imagination, sometimes we only have the trace of a profile in the shadows. What we always have is a persistent belief in beauty. Where there is beauty, there is hope. Katherine Bakhoum has abandoned neither. SOLO EXHIBITIONS Claudine Legrand Gallery: Annual exhibitions from 1996 to 2016 Safar Khan Gallery, Cairo: Annual exhibitions from 1999 to 2018 Galerie la Sirène, Le Mans 2010 Galerie Ghislaine Eonnet-Dupuy, St Briac 2008 2009 Green art gallery Dubai 2009 Galerie La Medina, Tunis 2001 Italian Cultural Institute, Cairo 1999 Gallery Lézard d'Ailleurs 1998 Influence Gallery 1997 Bruno Delarue Gallery Etretat 1997 Jolymont workshops in Brussels 1996 Gallery Lézard d'Ailleurs St Rémy de Provence 1995 Etienne Causans Gallery 1995 Gallery Art 50 1994 Gallery Art 50 1993 Anne Vignial Gallery 1992 Galerie Escalier Rouge, Ouagadougou 2002 City of Arts, Florence Foundation 1992 Galerie Peinture Fraiche...
Canvas, Oil
$12,500
H 40 in W 30 in
"LEAVING VENICE" Oil Painting 40" x 30" inch by Khoren Keshishyan
Located in Culver City, CA
"LEAVING VENICE" Oil Painting 40" x 30" inch by Khoren Keshishyan Khoren Keshishyan is a celebrated American-Armenian painter and artist whose uniqu...
Canvas, Oil
$2,636
H 47.25 in W 39.38 in
Figurative Oil Painting, Portrait of Woman, Earth Tones, Signed
By Amilcar Rivera M.
Located in Vilnius, Vilniaus apskr.
Serenity, warmth, and harmony are at the heart of Dreamer, a captivating oil on canvas painting that invites reflection and a sense of peace. The work portrays a figure with closed e...
Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil
$31,914
H 20 in W 16 in D 2 in
Head of Woman Portrait Painting, Monochromatic, Abstract, Signed, 20x16, 2017
By Christopher Mudgett
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Head of Woman, 2017 Christopher Mudgett Head of Woman is a captivating and enigmatic portrait that draws viewers into its world with increasing depth upon each viewing. The subject’...
Canvas, Oil
$1,440
H 20 in W 16 in
Self Portrait Wearing Blue Shirt, Blue Gloves, and Drinking a Blue Bud
By John Kilduff
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Oil on canvas
Canvas, Oil
$13,500
H 39 in W 39 in
"DON'T EXPLAIN" Oil Painting 39" x 39" inch by Khoren Keshishyan
Located in Culver City, CA
"DON'T EXPLAIN" Oil Painting 39" x 39" inch by Khoren Keshishyan Khoren Keshishyan is a celebrated American-Armenian painter and artist whose unique blend of architectural sensibili...
Canvas, Oil