New Zealand artist Chris Bennie’s latest works play with collage through a unique exploration of the ways in which the presentation of an image can affect its meaning and understanding. Critics herald Bennie’s capacity to transform the mundane and ordinary aspects of everyday life into something fresh and unexpected. For this reason his work has been received as playful, romantic, intelligent and banal, all at once.

Chris Bennie, Levitating caravan (not all holidays are created equally), 2013, giclee print on Hahnmuhle photograph paper. Courtesy the artist
After a mammoth 10 years of art making, ‘On Top, In Front’ offers the audience a reflection on Bennie’s practice, where he has dutifully curated a selection of new and older pieces. After receiving national acclaim for his art, Bennie revisits his earlier years in the industry as he returns once again to the gallery space where it all began.

Chris Bennie, Quantity Not Known: seven days in the art world, 2014, two sided vinyl banner. Courtesy the artist
Having arrived in the Gold Coast in 1999 for a holiday, the youthful and naïve traveler enrolled in an undergraduate degree in Fine Art at the Griffith University, Queensland College of Art. Retracing his first experiences in Australia, Bennie notes the influence that the Gold Coast City Gallery had on his days as a student, where he would often visit shows and engage with the opportunities they offered for local students, such as The Border Art Prize. Now the gallery is proudly hosting the artist’s first solo exhibition. Speaking on the occasion, Bennie remarked on how he looks “forward to our continued relationship [with the Gold Coast City Gallery] and working together to produce interesting and unique observations on what it means to be alive in this particular part of the world.”
Bennie’s respect for the institution is mutually regarded, as Gallery Director Tracy Cooper-Lavery remarks that “the Gallery is proud to support and nurture the work of Gold Coast artists”, whilst expressing her personal excitement to be able to share works of the artist that have been nurtured and inspired in part by the Queensland art community.
Gold Coast City Gallery
27 May to 9 July, 2017
Queensland