LANE BENNION
LANE BENNION - Biography
Lane Bennion has been affected by many different influences in his life. The first painting he remembers was Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. He remembers seeing a small reproduction while he was thumbing through his high school textbook. He was so fascinated by the scene, he carefully cut out the picture to keep. At the time he didn’t know much about the artist, but he remembers the way it made him feel.
While studying at the University of Utah he mentored under artists David Dornan, Paul Davis, and Tony Smith. He later went on to graduate in Medical Illustration. Through the university’s art program he learned the technical aspects of how to construct a painting that would invite the viewer to participate in the scene, helping to “finish” the work. Bennion states, “The artist can set the scene, and present a few ideas for the viewer to ponder and dream about. A painting can be a dialogue or conversation between the artist and the audience. Hopper’s “Nighthawks” worked in the same fashion for Bennion. He states, “The stage is masterfully set with powerful color relationships and a dramatic contrast between the warm inviting interior of the diner and the cool empty street outside. The four figures are mine to direct or control like game pieces, moving either backward or forward in time.”
Bennion feels that many movies, songs, and paintings seem to be afraid to ask the audience to ponder, study, or fill in the blanks for themselves. Bennion states, “ I love it when the credits begin to roll at the end of a movie and I say to myself, "I don’t quite get it; I have got to go back and watch that again!” Bennion desires to create paintings that contain this collective thought process.
EDUCATION:
2000 Medical College of Georgia, M.S. Medical Illustration
1998 University of Utah, B.U.S. Medical Illustration
1996-2012 Helper Workshops, Helper, Utah
EXHIBITIONS:
2013 89th Annual Spring Salon, Springville, UT...Juror's Second Place Award
2013 Urban Intersection, Quidley & Company, Boston, MA
2012 Helper Arts Festival, Professional Salon, Helper, UT
2012 “Inside Out”, Lane Bennion and Doug Braithwaite, Terzian Gallery, Park City, UT
2011 “Interior Landscapes”, Lane Bennion, Terzian Gallery, Park City, UT
2010 “15 New Works”, Lane Bennion, Terzian Gallery, Park City, UT
2010 “Fall Group Show”, Alpine Art, Salt Lake City, UT
2010 Utah Arts Council “Untitled” Show, Salt Lake City, UT
2010 Urban Gallery “All-Star Face Off”, Salt Lake City, UT
2009 Group Exhibit, Gallery at the Station, Union Station, Ogden, UT
2009-11 “300 Plates Fundraiser and Exhibition”, Art Access, Salt Lake City, UT
2008 “Recent Painting: Lane Bennion and Zachary Proctor”, Pickett Fairbanks Gallery, SLC, UT
2008 Pioneer Memorial Theatre, Loge Gallery Group Exhibit, Salt Lake City, UT
2007 “New Work by Zachary Proctor, Lane Bennion and Brian Blackham”, Pickett Fairbanks Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
PUBLICATIONS:
Barry John Raybould, M.A., “Unified Concepts From Everyday Life” Plein Air Magazine, August-September 2012
“Inside and Out: Lane Bennion and Doug Braithwaite” American Art Collector, December 2011
Portfolio/Inside Edition, Southwest Art, March 16, 2011
Charley Parker, “Lane Bennion”, linesandcolors.com, January 23, 2009
STATEMENT:
“I am often attracted to busy, chaotic subject matter and the irony that is present in them. I'm especially drawn to the visual noise found in retail stores, malls, and amusement parks. Often there is so much going on in these commercial environments, that it becomes an “attack” on our senses. This sensory overload seems to cause our minds to block out much of the visual noise, so that what was meant to be an attention grabbing seductive scene has the opposite effect. There seems to be no poetry, order, or place for the eye to rest and therefore the scene becomes one that is mundane, dull, and ordinary.”
“I feel that, if I remove or record a section of that chaotic overwhelming scene, by painting it, placing it in a frame and hanging it on an empty wall, I can restore some of the magic or wonder that is lost when we are immersed in that chaotic environment.”