“The painter should not paint what he sees but what will be seen.”
Paul Klee
Sally Bennett is an abstract expressionist, currently working on a series of paintings titled “Reconstructions.” Each completed piece is actually comprised of two or more separate paintings. It is a complex and often challenging process, but the artist, with more than five decades of experience, admits she enjoys the problem solving aspect.
Bennett starts with black gessoed canvas. To that she adds color, pattern, and collage. By letting go, and shifting from intention to intuition, the silent dialogue begins. The artist and the work communicate; she listens, and then responds.
The next chapter is the cutting of each painting into strips that are laid out on a work table and intermingled, creating a kaleidoscopic extravaganza. Finally, once a rhythm emerges from the slivers of multiple content-laden paintings, they are painstakingly woven together. Out of chaos, beauty emerges and it all becomes new again, a fresh visual story to share with the world.
It is the mystery of the hidden images that intrigue her, as well as the disparate elements that have come together in harmony. This series represents not just an engaging transformation of her paintings, but a major shift in methodology for the artist. Bennett states, “Developing this series has been a journey of self-discovery and continues, on a daily basis, to fuel my artistic growth.”