Introducing Contemporary Collective x Bankside Hotel's summer artist residency featuring Julie Bennett

Artists in Residence: 21st June - 1st August 2021

Bankside Hotel, Makers Studio, London SE1 9JU

Bankside Hotel x Contemporary Collective are thrilled to welcome portrait painter Julie Bennett to the Makers’ Studio as their summer Artist in Residence. In the studio from 21st June through 1st August, Julie will create a series of portrait paintings inspired by art icons who have influenced or inspired the artist’s life and practice.

Julie’s #BanksideArtIcons series will include a combination of both historical and contemporary art icons, in addition to a photoshop composite of the collection of art icons produced throughout the residency as a limited edition print available through DegreeArt. Painting both the famous and not so famous art icons, Julie hopes to provide the viewer with an insight into the artists’ lives from an educational and engaging approach. Overall, Julie aims to introduce viewers to the unknown faces of so many well known names of so many iconic artists.

Exploring and expanding different areas of her practice, With the goal of capturing the energy of her mark-making and experimenting with her process and use of materials Julie plans to paint directly onto canvas illuminating the process of sketching in pencil or charcoal beforehand. Embracing new materials such as water-soluble, solvent-free oil paint which tend to dry considerably faster than traditional oils, Julie will spend part of her residency exploring new strategies to help with layering and reducing the environmental impact of the products the artist buys and produces.

Coinciding with the reopening of London after the latest lockdown, Julie aims to offer a fresh perspective of gaze and a vibrancy captured in her approach to the portraits she creates. Questioning how engagement with the public whilst painting will impact her process and finished work, Julie hopes these interactions with hotel guests and passers-by will introduce a different energy to her work. Julie plans to run an ‘open-door policy’ during her residency, where she will invite guests into the studio to observe her practice and use of the studio space. In addition to taking over the Contemporary Collective Instagram account to document her experience in residency, Julie will host a range of physical events including an ‘Artist Salon’ gathering with like minded creatives, an artist talk with independent curator and award-winning art dealer and author Gita Joshi, and a final exhibition and end of residency celebration.

About Julie’s Practice:

Julie Bennett is a portrait painter living and working in London. Her bold, unapologetically confident portraits appropriate pop culture icons from the music industry and art world, creating contemporary homages to the likes of David Bowie, Elvis, Frida Kahlo, Boy George, Patti Smith, and Her Majesty The Queen. Defined as British Pop art, her dripping wet, vibrant, colourful broad-brush marks give the appearance of canvases being fresh out of the studio. Working mostly in oil, led by the paint, she tries to capture the emotional charge of the individual.

Julie studied painting at Camberwell College of Arts where she crafted and explored the use of mark-making to convey her fascination with the human face and the immediacy of her paint handling. Julie Bennett is driven by her lifelong obsession with music and art, spending her teenage years working at a record shop and after graduation, working as a graphic designer at some of the top UK music and celebrity magazines, she is a genuine fan of many of the celebrities she paints.

Julie is a long term member of South London Women Artists. She was a prize winner at Strata, London and a finalist at DegreeArt’s ‘Signature Art Awards’. Her works are held in a number of private collections in the UK and internationally.

View the full collection of Julie's paintings

Residency Partners:

For any further information, please do not hesitate to contact Jenna Sachs: Jenna@artellite.co.uk / 020 3701 7412 / www.DegreeArt.com