Industrial Cathedral

Industrial Cathedral
"Industrial Cathedral" charcoal on paper 131 x 131 cm Jane Bennett. Finalist in 1998 Dobell Drawing Prize Art Gallery of NSW Finalist 1998 Blake Prize Winner 1998 Hunter's Hill Open Art Prize

About Me

My photo
Sydney, NSW, Australia
I'm an Industrial Heritage Artist who paints "en plein air".If it's damaged, derelict, doomed and about to disappear, I'll be there to paint it.

Tuesday 25 October 2011

"May close without warning" My solo exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery : Part 3- Meet the artist

May close without warning" will soon close!

On Saturday 29th October 2011 from 2-4pm, I'm giving an artist's talk about how and why I created this series of paintings

Please join us this Saturday 29th October, 2011

from 2 - 4pm, to meet JANE BENNETT

Marine Art - plein air oil painting of the Sydney Ports Emergency Response tug Shirley Smith from Moore's Wharf Walsh Bay Wharves by maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
MW2 'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm
Available for sale
Enquiries about this painting
Marine Art - plein air oil painting of the Sydney Ports Emergency Response tug Shirley Smith from Moore's Wharf Walsh Bay Wharves by maritime heritage artist Jane Bennett
MW1 'Cleaning the boom in front of the 'Shirley Smith'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
Available for sale
Marine Art-plein air oil painting of Cruise Ship terminal East Darling Harbour Wharves (now Barangaroo) by marine artist Jane Bennett
BAR8 'I saw the number 8 in red'
2010 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm
SOLD
Enquiries about this painting

Marine Art-plein air oil painting of Cruise Ship terminal East Darling Harbour Wharves (now Barangaroo) by marine artist Jane Bennett
BAR7 'Red Square (Strange Customs)'
2010 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm
Available for sale
Enquiries about this painting


Tuesday 18 October 2011

"May close without warning" Solo exhibition at Frances Keevil Gallery Part 2 "All that is solid melts into air"

More Paintings and Drawings from my solo exhibition
"May close without warning"
at the Frances Keevil Gallery
11 - 30 OCTOBER 2011
info@franceskeevilgallery.com.au

'May Close without warning...'


 My paintings and drawings are accompanied by some excerpts from "The Meanings of Deindustrialization" by Jefferson Cowie and Joseph Heathcott, Saint Louis University 2003  Faculty Publications - Collective Bargaining, Labor Law, and Labor History. Paper 33
Urban decay - Industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett painting 'en plein air' at the White Bay Power Station
Painting 'en plein air'  "White Bay Power Station " 
2011 oil on canvas 102 x 152cm
Sold
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"The point of departure for any discussion of deindustrialization must be respect
for the despair and betrayal felt by workers as their mines, factories,
and mills were padlocked, abandoned, turned into artsy shopping spaces, or even dynamited."

Urban decay -  plein air oil painting of the White Bay Power Station by Industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"White Bay Power Station " 
2011 oil on canvas 102 x 152cm
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings


"While economists and business leaders often speak in neutral, even hopeful, terms such as "restructuring," "downsizing" or "creative destruction," metaphors of defeat and subjugation are more appropriate for the workers who banked on good-paying industrial jobs for the livelihoods of their families and their communities..."

Urban decay -  plein air oil painting of the White Bay Power Station by Industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Painting 'en plein air' 
"White Bay Power Station Chimney stacks"
2011 oil on canvas 51 x 25cm
Enquiries

"
In fact, the first public use of the term "deindustrialization" identified the Allies' policy toward Germany just after World War II: an active process of victors stripping a vanquished nation of its industrial power."

Urban decay -  plein air oil painting of the White Bay Power Station by Industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"White Bay Power Station Coal Loader" 
2011 oil on board 35 x 28cm

























"The dramatic evidence of industrial change and capital flight that litters our landscapes does, however, present a basic collective problem: How do we account for the destruction of an economic order that seemed so rooted and pervasive?"

Urban decay -  plein air  charcoal drawing of the Cooperage CSR Refinery now Jacksons Landing Pyrmont by Industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
"Industrial Cathedral"
charcoal drawing on paper 131 x 131 cm 























This drawing was a finalist in the 1998 Dobell Prize for Drawing (Art Gallery of N.S.W.) ; Finalist in 1998 Blake Prize for Religious Art ; Winner of 1998 Hunter's Hill Open Art Prize
"In the end, what may be most troubling about these ruined industrial landscapes is not that they refer to some once stable era, but rather that they remind us of the ephemeral quality of the world we take for granted."

Industrial heritage - demolition of wharf 8 cruise ship terminal at Barangaroo plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
"Grabber, Muncher, Ripper"
2010 oil on canvas 31 x 31 cm

























Outside the derelict wharf, the demolition team waited patiently for all the preliminary drilling and checks to be completed before they got the green light to start.
The parrot beaks of the excavation attachments and their scarred and scaly skin reminded me of the animated re-creations of Tyrannosaurus rex.
These particular attachments are actually really called "Munchers"! The names of other attachments eg. "Buckets", "Grabbers", "Rippers" and "Pulverizers" are also reminiscent of comic books and children's toys.

"If Karl Marx was right in saying "all that is solid melts into air," then the industrial culture forged in the furnace of fixed capital investment was itself a temporary condition. What millions of working men and women might have experienced as solid, dependable, decently waged work really only lasted for a brief moment in the history of capitalism."

Industrial heritage - Blacksmiths at Eveleigh Railway Workshops  oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
"Dave and Lok forging at 'Wrought Artworks', Eveleigh Railway Workshops" 2010 oil on canvas 36 x 46cm
Enquiries

"Because capital was fixed in giant machines bolted to the floors of brick-and-mortar factories, the industrial culture that emerged in various places at various moments had an aura of permanence, durability, and heritage....."

Urban decay and Industrial heritage - charcoal and ink drawing of Mungo Scott Flour Mills Summer Hill by artist Jane Bennett
Panorama drawn from the top of the silos of the 
"Mungo Scott Flour Mills, Summer Hill" 
2010 charcoal, ink and gouache on paper 118 x 118cm


















The Operations of these flour mills have been transferred to Picton, on the periphery of the south western suburbs, about 2 years ago. Now this mill will be redeveloped into an apartment complex similar to other former mills in Dulwich Hill and Newtown.
Industrial heritage -Blacksmith Eveleigh Railway Workshops oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
"Forging chisels (Drawing down), 
'Wrought Artworks' Eveleigh Railway Workshops" 
2011 oil on canvas 122 x 152cm

"Working people saw in the decline of this industrial order the dissolution of their society, culture, and way of life, and the betrayal of their trust by those whose decisions shaped their fate."

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Monday 3 October 2011

"May close without warning" My Solo Exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery

A Sneak preview of some of the paintings
in my new solo exhibition
11 - 30 OCTOBER 2011
To be opened by Dr Jack Mundey AO
Tuesday 11 October, 6 - 8pm
Bay Village, 28 - 34 Cross Street Double Bay NSW 2028
ph: 02 9327 2475
Gallery hours: Mon to Fri: 10-5 Sat: 10-4 Sun: 11-4

My new exhibition at the
Frances Keevil Gallery, is about the transience of the built environment. Many of the paintings were inspired by the now demolished Cruise Ship Terminal at the South end of Barangaroo.
plein air charcoal drawing of demolition of East Darling Harbour Wharves  by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
"Wharf Skeleton" 2008 charcoal on paper 76 x 110cm
WINNER: 2008 DRAWING PRIZE ROYAL EASTER SHOW
Enquiries about this painting


plein air mixed media painting of Millers Point and Walsh Bay Wharves from Harbour Control Tower by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
"Miller's Point from the top of the Sydney Harbour Control Tower"
charcoal, ink, gouache on paper 121 x 134cm
SOLD
Enquiries about this painting

A large, complex and vertigo inducing drawing, "Miller's Point from the top of the Sydney Harbour Control Tower", tested my draughtsmanship and perspective skills to the utmost.
plein air oil painting of interior of now demolished cruise ship terminal Wharf 8 at Barangaroo by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
'"May open without warning"'
2010 oil on canvas 51 x 76 cm
Enquiries about this painting

"May open without warning" is the cryptic inscription on the floor of the entrance to the loading dock and is the first painting in this series.
plein air oil painting of interior of now demolished cruise ship terminal Wharf 8 at Barangaroo by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
"May Close Without Warning",
Wharf 8, Barangaroo
oil on canvas 51 x 76cm
Enquiries about this painting

















"May close without warning" , the second painting in this series, painted from deeper inside the building, derives its title from the warning signs on the fire doors inside Wharf 8. The empty chair was a haunting symbol of the loss of power and authority as the surrounding area is in a state of flux.
plein air oil painting of interior of now demolished cruise ship terminal Wharf 8 at Barangaroo by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
"I saw the number "8" in red" oil on canvas 61 x 183cm
Enquiries about other paintings of Barangaroo
SOLD







 



"I saw the number "8" in red" was painted in the Arrivals Hall. Apart from commemorating the startlingly weird giant number "8", the title of this painting is also my homage to the 1928 Charles Demuth painting "I saw the number 5 in gold..", an icon of American Modernism.
plein air oil painting of interior of now demolished cruise ship terminal Wharf 8 at Barangaroo by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
"Your days are numbered" 2010
oil painting on canvas 61 x 91cm
Enquiries about other paintings of Barangaroo
SOLD

"Your days are numbered" shows the Arrivals Hall from a different angle.
plein air oil painting of interior of now demolished cruise ship terminal Wharf 8 at Barangaroo by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
'Red Square' oil on canvas 36 x 36cm
SOLD
Enquiries about similar paintings


plein air oil painting of interior of now demolished cruise ship terminal Wharf 8 at Barangaroo by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
'Red Square (Strange Customs)'
oil on canvas 61 x 183cm
Enquiries about this painting

'Red Square' shows the eerily empty Departures Hall with the strange bright red box at the end of the Hall, which marked where the passengers would leave the hall for the gantry. The large canvas was intended as the counterpart to "I saw the number "8" in red", which is the same size and format.
plein air oil painting of  now demolished cruise ship terminal Wharf 8 at Barangaroo by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
"Your days are numbered - Eight (ate)"
2010 oil painting on canvas 31 x 25 cm
SOLD
Enquiries about similar paintings


"Your days are numbered - Eight (ate)" was painted after the demolition of the main building of Wharf 8.
The lonely numeral remained as a vestige of the former wharf for a few weeks afterwards.
plein air oil painting of  now demolished East Darling Harbour Wharves - now Barangaroo by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
"The 'Hungry Mile' " 2007 oil on canvas 91 x 122cm
Enquiries about this painting


"The 'Hungry Mile' ", "The empty wharf" and the "Gathering Storm" are three large canvases of the same size and format painted from a similar vantage point, several years apart to show the contrast between past and present. They are like a time lapse sequence showing the transition of the 'Hungry Mile' from a working port into the construction site of Barangaroo.
"The 'Hungry Mile' ", the first of the series, is the working port in its last operational year, 2007.
plein air oil painting of  now demolished East Darling Harbour Wharves - now Barangaroo by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
"The empty wharf" 2008
oil on canvas 91 x 122cm
Enquiries about this painting

"The empty wharf" I started painted this work the day after the stevedores left in mid October 2007 and completed it just before Cardinal began to demolish the wharf buildings at the start of 2008.

plein air oil painting of  now demolished East Darling Harbour Wharves - now Barangaroo by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
 














"The Gathering Storm" -
my unfinished plein air painting at Barangaroo,
91 x 122cm
Enquiries about this painting

I don't normally like showing half finished work, but I couldn't resist this. "The Gathering Storm" looks as though a piece of the sky has actually fallen down onto the waiting canvas.
plein air oil painting of  now demolished East Darling Harbour Wharves - now Barangaroo by industrial heritage and marine artist Jane Bennett
"The Gathering Storm over Barangaroo"
2011 oil on canvas 91 x 122cm
Enquiries about this painting

I am primarily a plein air painter, and I want to rescue this genre from being relegated to the category of the "Sunday" painter.
To paint a series of large, ambitious and complex canvases "en plein air" on demolition sites and operational wharves, usually in a howling gale, could be classed as an extreme sport.
It needs physical strength, determination and a touch of insanity as well.

All of these paintings, and more will be available for sale
at the Frances Keevil Gallery from Tuesday 11th October 2011.
Enquiries info@franceskeevilgallery.com.au

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