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Noel Bensted RCA MA
Born 1970
1991 – 93 Royal College of Art London
1989 – 91 Brighton Polytechnic, Sussex
Noel Bensted’s subjects are the young men and women who socialise in the cities of Europe and Cuba. His paintings are peopled with the young of today, dressed in contemporary clothing with all the edginess of urban life. With a fearless approach to the canvas, not to be intimidated by architectural interiors and complex grouping of models, nor tempted to take the easy route when depicting the human figure. These paintings sparkle with vitality, from the thriving activity of the Café Florian with the waiter ‘spinning’ his way through the tables, to the gentle contemplative studies of his single portraits.
The work shows a clear interest in how the roles of masculine and feminine can be seen to be played out in these captured instances of time. Though mainly concerned with the effects of tone and the trace of the brush on the surface of the canvas you can also detect that Bensted’s portraits have an intimate atmosphere, which draw you into the painting, suggesting a connection between the model and the viewer. There is no apparent poising but a reflective moment shared.
Bensted always works from life, which is frequently extremely challenging, but eventually, more rewarding as it enables the artist to develop and renew his painting skills and to become more creative and inventive. The artist also concerns himself with the different effects of light and how it changes according to time and season. Noel Bensted offers us a rare opportunity to view someone on the threshold of an extremely promising career, in which in the coming years, we expect Bensted to establish himself as a leading British figurative artist.
"Noel Bensted paints with a filmic quality freezing moments in time,
creating visual reminders of John Singer Sargent and a young Ken
Howard.
"September 201" "I Bountalenti" Group exhibition Via Tornabuoni Florence - Italy
August 2011-Group show Medici Gallery Cork Street London
June 2011-Summer group show,The Balman Gallery - Corbridge Northumberland
June- September 2011 - Finalist B.P Portrait Award National Portrait Gallery London
December 2010- Group show Balman gallery, Corbridge, Northumberland.
October 2010-Solo Show, Medici Gallery,Cork Street London.
2009-" The Figurative Show" Oakham Contemporary , London.
2009-Solo show, Medici Gallery ,London.
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