Night Paintings by Paul Benney

Small exhibition at Somerset House of works by Paul Benney, a resident artist there.

This series of pictures called Night Paintings were displayed in the hidden passageways underneath the fountain courtyard, a space which had not been used before for displays. I must admit that the space was so interesting that it rather over shadowed the pictures.

The display began by showing individual works in very small store rooms off the passage ways then the main section was in a cellar called the Deadhouse as it had been built on a cemetery and still had a few of the gravestones in the walls, a really wonderful and evocative space.

I liked some of the works which seemed hazy from a distance but as you came closer a figure appeared. They worked well in the space. Other of outdoor scenes were good and colourful but did not work so well in that environment.

 

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