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Anna Freeman Bentley’s paintings use architectural imagery to
explore the emotive potential of space. Grounded in an interest in
the baroque her source material includes junk shops, restaurants,
private members clubs, flea markets and designed interiors. Central
to her work is an investigation into surface, tension and the
atmosphere evoked by these different interior surroundings. The
spaces she depicts are empty, yet visual signifiers point to
evidence of people and social happenings. This, Freeman Bentley’s
third publication to date, is centred on the relationship between
painting and cinema and is divided into sections dedicated to major
paintings on canvas and panel, and a number of works on paper (all
works 2021–22). Freeman Bentley’s work here is focused on sets
from 'The Colour Room' (2021), a film that tells the story of the
early career of celebrated British ceramicist Clarice Cliff
(1899–1972). The foreword to the book is written by Rollo
Campbell and Matt Incledon of Frestonian Gallery. An essay by
writer and critic Thomas Marks draws out the importance to her work
of historic and contemporary cinema and temporary architecture.
Marks notes a change in palette in these new paintings, with
Freeman Bentley embracing pastels and tracing parallels between the
artist herself and Cliff. An interview with Georgie Paget,
co-founder of Caspian Films, production company for 'The Colour
Room', meanwhile, provides insight into the artist’s particular
interest in the artifice of film props and of the film set as a
layered space ‘steeped in meaning, purpose and potential.’ The
two discuss the reciprocity of painting and cinema in detail,
recounting Freeman Bentley’s experiences on the film’s sets and
discussing her working processes, beginning with taking photographs
on set, through to oil sketches and the later development of
large-scale canvases. The publication is edited by Matt Incledon
and Matt Price. It is designed by Joe Gilmore, printed and bound by
Gomer, Wales, and co-published by Frestonian Gallery, London, and
Anomie Publishing, London. The publication coincides with the
second solo show by Anna Freeman Bentley at Frestonian Gallery, by
whom the artist is represented. The exhibition, also titled ‘make
believe’ is divided between two sites: the 2022 Armory Show, New
York, and Frestonian Gallery, London. Anna Freeman Bentley studied
Painting at Chelsea College of Art, Kunsthochschule Berlin
Weissensee and the Royal College of Art. Awards and residencies
include Palazzo Monti Residency, Brescia, Italy, 2019; The
Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant 2019 and 2017, and Artist
in Restaurant residency at Michelin-starred restaurant Pied Ã
Terre, London, 2012. Selected exhibitions (* denotes solo) include
DENK Gallery, Los Angeles, 2019*, Ahmanson Gallery, Irvine, 2018*;
Space K, Seoul, 2017; 68projects, Berlin, 2017; the East London
Painting Prize 2014 and 2015; Workshop Gallery, Venice, 2012*; MAC
Birmingham, 2011; Prague Biennale, 2011, and the Bloomberg New
Contemporaries, 2009. Her work is part of the Hotel Crillon
collection, Paris; Saatchi Collection, London; Hogan Lovells
Collection, London; the Ahmanson Collection, California, and
numerous private collections worldwide.
In this publication, British artist Anna Freeman Bentley presents a
series of new paintings and works on paper documenting her journey
into the exclusive realm of private members clubs. Having started
out in her home city of London, her research took her to
California, and in particular to some of the most desirable clubs
of Los Angeles, where through friends, professional networks and a
number of courteous emails, doors were temporarily opened to her.
In places where photography is often strictly forbidden, Freeman
Bentley was authorized to document some of the many luxurious
lounges, well-stocked bars, and high-end restaurants that are
second homes to the members who pay considerable fees to use them.
Whether celebrities, self-made business people or those born into
lavish lifestyles, members clubs are synonymous with wealth and
success, where people can relax, socialize or do deals in a smart
and protected environment free from fans, paparazzi or the general
public. It is a world of affluence and glamour tailor-made for the
jet-set, a meeting place where artists and art collectors fly in
and drink cocktails, where high-net worth individuals and media
moguls hang out with the great and the good from Hollywood or the
music industry, and where social media stars can switch their
phones to flight mode for a while and chat freely with friends.
Freeman Bentley uses the photographs she takes of these interior
and exterior spaces out of hours as the starting point for
unpeopled drawings, collages and painted sketches, transforming her
studies of members clubs into complex paintings that hover between
reality and invention. Freeman Bentley is known for her paintings
of architecture and interiors, not only exploring the physical
attributes of the built environment, but also raising questions
about how and why they are used, and how this is reflected in the
ambiance and dynamics of a given space. At a time of heightened
awareness of wealth inequality, through her painterly works Freeman
Bentley gives us a glimpse inside the spaces of the social milieu
of the financially successful, the movers and shakers, the leaders
and trend setters, inviting us to respond as viewers in whatever
ways we choose. For some, it may be a matter of curiosity or of
desire and aspiration; for others the very idea of members clubs
might be elitist or snobbish. Yet for others it might be an
occasional treat, or simply an everyday occurrence, the norm. With
her characteristic combination of matter-of-fact observation,
critical reflection, and atmospheric perception, Freeman Bentley
presents us with a body of work that is as enigmatic as it is
intriguing, asking us not only about issues of individuality and
communality, private and public life, exclusivity and inclusivity,
but also about how we each fit into such dialectics, and what this
says about our inner and outer lives. 'Exclusive' has been
co-published by Pinatubo Press, Inc., and Anomie Publishing, and
released to coincide with an exhibition of the same name at the
Ahmanson Gallery, Irvine, California, in spring 2018. This hardback
publication showcases images of approximately twenty paintings and
as many works on paper, alongside a foreword from collector and
patron Roberta Ahmanson, an introduction by the exhibition curator
John Silvis, and a specially commissioned essay from critic Jane
Neal. Anna Freeman Bentley (b.1982) is an artist based in London.
She studied painting at Chelsea College of Art and Design before
graduating with an MA from the Royal College of Art in 2010. She
has had solo exhibitions at venues including Wolfson College,
Oxford (2017), Husk Project Space, London (2015), Workshop Gallery,
Venice (2012), and Galerie Kollaborativ, Berlin (2007). Selected
group exhibitions include 'London Now' at Space K, Seoul, South
Korea (2017), 'Der Kuhle Glanz' at 68projects, Berlin (2017), the
East London Painting Prize (2015 and 2014), the Prague Biennale 5
(2011), and Bloomberg New Contemporaries (2009). Freeman Bentley
has been the recipient of numerous awards and residencies,
including Breathing SPACE Residency, London (2015-16), the ERDF New
Creative Markets Programme, London (2013-14); Artist in Restaurant
at Pied a Terre, London (2012); The Florence Trust Artists
Residency, London (2010-11) and The Chelsea Arts Club Trust Award,
London (2009).
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