Russell Bennett

Russell Bennett grew up in England knowing at a very early age that his career lay in design. After attending fashion school in London, he immediately found work in Milan where he lived for 8 years. In 1990 he moved to New York to begin his freelance career and set up his eponymous collection.

Since his move to Palm Springs in 2005, he devotes more and more of his time to painting. Although his work reflects many parallels to the world of clothing design, he acknowledges a greater sense of freedom. He finds that this form of expression is less dependent on corporate demands and commercial restrictions.

“It seems to me that any work of art, be it a musical composition, a sculpture, or choreography, is an attempt to take something intrinsically intangible in nature; an emotion, a feeling, a thought; and translate it into physical terms. For me, the translation is onto a two dimensional canvas. I am fascinated by the magical tension produced by the impossibility of a total transference of such data. And equally magically, is the subsequent sense of release when some degree of representation is achieved. The whole process is wonderfully inexplicable and mysterious. It is at the heart of what makes us human and alive.”

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