Amy Bennett | Buried

Galleri Magnus Karlsson is pleased to present Amy Bennett’s first solo exhibition at the gallery.

Two years ago Amy Bennett constructed a 1:87 scale model of an American neighbourhood. From railroad miniatures, styrofoam, cardboard, colour, telephone wires and working lights a block with eleven houses were being made. By working with the model, which took months, she started to think about the people who might live there and what they might be doing in their lives. Amy then created different characters, and the model became a stage on which to develop the psychological implications of belonging to a particular family, with all of its dramas, struggles and familiar routines. After having constructed a thoroughly built model she started to arrange a number of scenes painted like still life paintings. The realistic artworks are like stills taken from a movie or memory fragments from a life.

‘...Working with common themes such as transition, aging, isolation, and loss, I am interested in the fragility of relationships and the awkwardness of a group of people trying to coexist and relate to one another. As I transitioned my model into winter, snowbanks of increasing depth seemed to fortify a sense of isolation and quietness. The paintings portray both the magical and suffocating potential of snow, the wonder at its stark beauty and the hopelessness that spring might never come...’
/Amy Bennett