Tomio Koyama Gallery Tokyo - Kyoto | TKG Editions　Ginza - Kyoto

——— INSPIRATION

Bennett The work in this show is the final group of paintings in my lake series. The inspiration for the show came two years ago while paddling around lakes and streams in New England.
In my own boat, I could quietly paddle and observe the people and homes on shore.
I was fascinated by the way the land became like a passing stage.
I could see people behaving and interacting very naturally and honestly, without the self-consciousness that is typically present in public.

It reminded me of John Banvard's painting of the Mississippi that he would scroll past seated audiences to give them the sense of being in a boat touring the river. It was entertainment in the mid-1800s.
I also recalled Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad's journey of a boater on the Congo peering warily into the woods of an "uncivilized" land.
In rereading that book in preparation for this series I enjoyed the mysterious nature of the jungle and hoped some of those qualities would translate into my paintings.
The lake setting seemed to lend itself to numerous narratives, scenarios and moods, so I decided to make a model lake in my studio.

——— BUILDING THE MODEL

Bennett I spent two months building an L-shaped 4x1m plywood model with sculpted Styrofoam land, wire & foam trees, resin water, and a painted sky backdrop.
There are cabins, campgrounds, & houses, but the emphasis is mostly on the landscape.
It vaguely resembles the northeastern United States where I grew up, but it is a fictional, imaginary location.
The scale is HO or 1/87, typically used in model railroading.
There are a lot of tiny plastic figures available, usually in poses related to train travel, but I cut them up, re-glue them into the poses I want, and paint them.
Sometimes I even make clothes and accessories for them out of painted tin foil.
I prefer that small scale because details such as facial expressions and specific clothing styles are obscured, but the subtleties of poses and meaning of gestures still translate.

——— PURPOSE OF MODEL

Bennett In making the model, I have to consider every aspect of the world I am creating, and through that process, I get ideas for paintings. I can then play with an idea three-dimensionally to find the most interesting scene, lighting, and viewpoint. I wanted my paintings to place the viewer in a boat or maybe as a bird a little higher up, witnessing the goings-on of the shoreline.
"Heat," *1 "A Change of Scenery," *2 and "Losing Heart" *3 are examples.
Many of the images share a common horizon line.

Once I have arranged and lit a scene, I begin painting it from life, using the diorama as a still life.
I spend about one month painting each image, developing the painting through several layers.
I am interested in painting the scenes in such a way that they feel like a believeable world, but an alternate world, like in our memories and dreams, where usually something is a bit off to remind us this is a construction of our imaginations.
I intend for the detail and glossy finish to intensify this artificial effect.

The model evolved and transformed throughout the series, constantly changing to suit the scene I wanted to depict.
I am not interested in exhibiting the model - it takes a lot of wear & tear and abuse while changing it for each painting.
Now it is half covered in baking soda to represent snow.
When I return to New York, I will disassemble the model, and eventually re-use its parts in future set-ups.
In fact, the trees and styrofoam land used in my lake model were recycled from my previous model, which was of a suburban neighborhood.

Several people have pointed out a cinematic quality to my work, and it's true that I have been influenced by directors such as the Coen brothers, David Lynch, and Hitchcock. As you can see "Shootout" *4 and "Night Fishing" *5 are probably prime examples of this influence.
Movie makers are also creating a world that they can control and light specifically to achieve a dramatic effect.
But in painting there is the added challenge of compressing time, or finding the crux of the moment to depict.
For me, this moment usually conveys the feeling that something is about to happen, or has just happened.

——— REFLECTIONS & THE LAKE

Bennett Painting the water was a big challenge. In my model, the resin is flat so the scene on land is reflected perfectly upside down without any interference or distortion from waves. I was much more seduced by the stillness of this effect than I was expecting, so the real challenge was to resist having absolutely calm water in every picture. The reflections and how they're interrupted play a role in the narratives and the mood. The water can indicate weather conditions, conceal something that might be going on underneath the surface, or reflect a color that influences the overall atmosphere of the piece.

The lake is a remote, isolated setting, where the world is mirrored upside down and the openness of the water invites reflection and introspection. It is a vacation destination where it is acceptable for people to be nearly naked in public, where they try to rid themselves of the burdens of civilization, relax, and have fun. It is a place where families gather and spend a lot of concentrated time together, for better or worse. It is the home of children's camps and tenters who, for a brief time, try to reconnect with nature and imagine life prior to modern conveniences. It is a place that might be deserted in winter, except for a few sturdy locals and ice fishing shacks.

——— PAINTING CONTENT

Bennett There are stories here, but they're incomplete. The paintings capture moments that hopefully elicit specific feelings and provoke a viewer to consider the moment before or after the one presented.

Throughout the entire series, some houses and parts of the landscape are depicted multiple times.
I like to tell stories through time, through repeating characters or buildings to give a sense of history to a place.

Through these paintings I have explored themes of isolation, transition, and the awkwardness of a group of people trying to coexist and relate to one another.
I have also considered the effects of seasonal transitions and the way they remind us of passing time and the fleeting nature of our existence.

In this show I have included some small, more closely cropped scenes such as the show's smallest painting "Drifters" *6, and the forest scenes.
After so much emphasis on the broad landscape they feel almost like interiors to me.
They somehow feel more private and intimate, even though they are still out of doors.
In fact, in "Heaven Help Us," *7 a kind of open air interior has been created in an outdoor chapel where people of various needs have come in search of a spiritual connection.
The children in "Faking It" *8 create a kind of room with their grouped seated figures.
Likewise, the more grown up young women playing with a blindfold in "A Change of Scenery" *2 occupy a sunlit clearing.
It was my hope to convey a sense of late-day late summer's stickiness in "Heat" *1 where each member of a family, clearly vacationing together, are trying their best to be comfortable, each in their own space.
This same feeling of drawing into oneself to endure can be seen in "Losing Heart." *3