First New York Solo Exhibit of Hawaii Artist Carol Bennett Opens August 20th

Online, August 12, 2010 (Newswire.com) - "Current Motion", First New York solo exhibit of Hawaiian artist, Carol Bennett opens August 20th presented by Elisa Contemporary Art.

Elisa Contemporary Art is pleased to present "Current Motion", a solo exhibit of new and recent works by Kauai artist, Carol Bennett in a public art space at Saint Peter's Church, Narthex Gallery, in New York. This public art space is located at 619 Lexington Avenue (at 54th Street), New York. The exhibit will open on August 20th and run through October 17th.

A special reception with Carol Bennett will take place on Thursday, September 16th from 6-8 pm.

"Current Motion" is a poetic retreat from ordinary life and into a meditative voyage below the surface, and specifically below the surface of the Ocean. The viewer will experience being in a state "flow" - where the currents of the ocean suspend life and self, and the unexpected floats to the surface. The exhibit will focus on her paintings portraying swimmers and underwater creatures.

For Carol, the act of swimming underwater is similar to the process of painting - the body floats and the mind drifts. Carol's fascination with the swimmer imagery began when she was living in Los Angeles and swimming at the LA Athletic Club. According to Carol, "The floor beneath the pool, with its ethereal skylight, was an underwater observation room...used by Olympic coaches in the 1920's. I would feel like a voyeur, watching the swimmer's private time and drawing in their beauty. I became the swimmer I observed in the images I later created."

Like the water and the worlds she captures, Carol's paintings are multi-layered surfaces that are intricate, textured and unpredictable. She is constantly experimenting with her work whether it's adding, subtracting, sanding and recoating or testing new "canvases." To date, Carol has created artwork on surfaces including glass, recycled sailboat sails and wood panel. And she experiments with a range of materials including ink, oil and acrylic paints, mica, coffee, pigment and wax. These combinations and processes create images that are of the moment and unique to every painting.

This is Carol Bennett's first solo exhibit outside of Hawaii and Los Angeles.

A portion of all gallery sales are donated to charities helping underserved children heal through art. We currently support Free Arts NYC and Creative Arts Workshops for Kids.

What: Current Motion - solo exhibit of new and recent works by Hawaii Artist, Carol Bennett
When: August 20 - October 17, 2010
Artist Reception: Thursday, September 16th 6-8pm
Where: Saint Peter's Church, Narthex Gallery, 619 Lexington Avenue (at 54th Street), New York, NY 10022.
Hours: Daily 8am - 8pm

Contact: Lisa Cooper, Elisa Contemporary Art (www.ElisaContemporaryArt.com). [email protected] or 212.729.4974

About Carol Bennett
Carol Bennett has lived and painted on the island of Kauai for the last 20 years. After graduating from the University of California Santa Barbara (College of Creative Studies) and the Art Center College of Design (Los Angeles), Carol became a scenic artist, painting stage sets for theater, film and TV. It was this experience that has driven Carol's continuous exploration into texture, layering and the use of new and innovative materials.

According to Carol, "I have a free-wheeling approach to technique and materials: hypothesis, experiment and conclusion...I am intrigued by the innate nature of different types of material... the nature of things."

Carol's work has been featured in many solo and group exhibits throughout California and Hawaii including a 2007 solo show at the First Hawaiian Center at the Contemporary Museum of Art (Honolulu). Carol's recent project was a monumental, public art work, "Water as a Point of Departure" for the Nawiiwili Harbor in Oahu. She has completed over 100 commissions nationally and internationally, including Honolulu, Hawai'i; Beverly Hills, California; Nairobi, Kenya; and Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as Public Art works throughout Hawaii. Her work is in public and
private collections including The Contemporary Museum of Art (Hawaii), The Persis Collection, and Blair and Fazle Hussain (NY).

Elisa Contemporary Art has been representing her artwork outside of Hawaii since 2008.