Amy Bennett @ Richard Heller Gallery

This is my first time seeing Amy Bennett’s  work, and unfortunately, it is not in person. She will be showing through February 14th at Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica.

Amy Bennett Into the Woods, 2008 18 x 14 Inches , Oil on panel

Amy is not only a skilled crafts person as far as technical ability goes, but able to take that ability to translate it into whole story lines within one frame. Using all the images and imagery at her disposal to create a mood or several in each painting. At the Galleries site you can click to enlarge and I recommend that you go over and click away. The tree’s in this painting seem to be in a state of confusion, like I suppose one would be when dragging a body ashore, on the other hand the water is so still and calm, the lighting so serene making the distress of the trees even more apparent to me.

Amy Bennett Vacationland, 2008 22 x 48 Inches , Oil on panel

There is so much going on in this painting that could be interpreted in so many ways - the obvious vacation spot with the dark and ominous sky’s, the threatening rain clouds with the completely still waters and many other directions this scenario could go in.

Michael Bruitron of Leap Into the Void says

Amy Bennett’s paintings place figures and foliage in front of a backdrop painted sky. These landscapes are not designed to fool the eye, but to trigger cinematic cues of an implied story.

Amy Bennett So They Will Imagine Themselves Living Here, 2004 8.75 x 12.75 Inches , Oil on panel

Funny, I was doing exactly that when I read the title.