Paul Benney is a British artist who rose to international prominence as a contemporary artist whilst living and working in New York in the 1980's and later in the 90's in the UK as an award-winning portraitist. Benney’s work is held in the 20th century collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum, The National Portrait Gallery, London, The National Gallery of Australia, and many prominent corporate and private collections around the world. Both Paul Benney’s portraiture and contemporary work have been featured in news, radio and documentaries on the BBC and Channel 4. Paul Benney exhibited his multimedia installation, 'Speaking in Tongues' during the 57th Venice Art Biennale in 2017. As of May 30th, 2019 Benney has been collaborating with the award-winning multi-instrumentalist Nitin Sawhney to compose and produce individual soundscapes for the digital artworks that Benney has recently released with online digital gallery Sedition. The works are a digital hybrid.
Career
Paul Benney is a self-taught painter. He moved to New York in 1982 and was a member of the N.Y. downtown Neo-Expressionist group in the 1980s. He was first taken by the P.P.O.W. Gallery in 1984 where he created immense monochromatic painting depicting mysterious dream imagery with surfaces built up of layers feather twigs, dirt and gel. Benney’s East village contemporaries while living in New York included Kiki Smith, David Wojnarowicz, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ross Bleckner, Richard Hambleton, Adam Fuss and Craig Coleman. Paul Benney moved back to the United Kingdom in 1988 where his portrait practice grew rapidly by word of mouth. He has since exhibited in eight BP Portrait Award Exhibitions and twice won the BP Visitors’ Choice Award in 1996 and 1997 and received a commendation for the portrait ‘My Daughters' in 1999. In 2003 Benney was commissioned by the Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery to paint Jack Dellal in recognition of his support of the gallery. He exhibited at the Birch & Conran in 1988, the Nigel Greenwood Gallery in 1991, the Long & Ryle Gallery in 1995. In 2013 he was asked to judge of the Threadneedle Prize at the Mall Galleries, UK. Benney's portrait subjects have included HM Queen Elizabeth II, Sir Mick Jagger, John Paul Getty III, Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, Lord Weidenfeld, Baroness Amos, The State Portrait for Israel, Lord Rothschild, Ben BarnesFergus Henderson, Adam Fuss, Justice Stephen Breyer, Sarah Lucas, The Duchess of Bedford, Jerry Hall, Nitin Sawhney, The Viscountess of Weymouth, Sir Paul Hamlyn, and Lord Sainsbury. In 2015 Benney was commissioned by HRH Prince Charles to paint WWII veteran Brian Stewart for the Royal Collection. Benney was invited to be a resident artist at Somerset House in 2010. During his five year residency he held the show ‘Night Paintings’ in 2012 which explored themes that deal more with the subconscious and metaphysical world and drew over 15,000 visitors. In 2017 Paul Benney exhibited his multimedia installation 'Speaking in Tongues' in the Church of San Gallo during the 57th Venice Art Biennale.
Early life and Family
Benney was born in Chelsea but spent the majority of his childhood in Beenham in West Berkshire. His father, Gerald Benney , was a notable silversmith who created gold and silver flatware and jewelry for private and public collections around the world including for the British Royal family.
Notable Exhibitions
57th VENICE ART BIENNALE. 'Speaking in Tongues'. Curated by James Putnam and Flora Fairbairn. 2017. SOMERSET HOUSE. London. ‘Night Paintings’. Curated by Flora Fairbairn. 2012. THE MALL GALLERIES. London. ‘Retrospective of 20 years work: Just Looking’. 2001. CHRISTIE’S Exhibition & Auction. London. ‘Baby 2000’. Curated by Kay Saatchi. 2000. NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY. London. ‘State Portrait for Israel: Group Portrait with Associated Sketches’. 1995. NIGEL GREENWOOD GALLERY. London. 1992. P.P.O.W. GALLERY N.Y. 1985.
Selected Public and Corporate Collections
BP. UK. BROOKLYN MUSEUM, Brooklyn, USA. CHRIST COLLEGE. Oxford, UK. ELI BROAD FOUNDATION. Los Angeles, USA. JESUS COLLEGE. Oxford, UK. HOUSE OF CONGRESS. Washington DC, USA. HOUSE OF LORDS. UK. HOUSE OF COMMONS. UK. METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, 20th Century Wing. N.Y, USA. MUSEUM OF MODERN ART. Catanzaro, Italy. NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY. London, UK. NATIONAL GALLERY. CANBERRA, Australia. ROTHSCHILD FOUNDATION. UK. Israel. ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND. UK. SUPREME COURT. Boston, USA. SUPREME COURT. Jerusalem. Israel. WORLD BANK. Washington DC, US. ZIMMERLI MUSEUM OF ART. New Jersey, USA.
