I grew up in Dungeness, and Greatstone, 

and Rye, and Winchelsea Beach.

I grew up on and beside the Romney Marsh.

My father was a fisherman and I was putting to

sea with him from the age of four.

I grew up with the sound of salt water dragging

shingle away to some place else.

I grew up with the weight of an uninterrupted sky

pressing down upon me.

I grew up in a land that had been borrowed from

the deep. A land that built structures from wood,

and stone, and concrete to celebrate it, and to

keep from giving it back.

I am now returned to the coast of Kent and

Sussex and I am painting the souvenirs of my

past.

I am an artist living and working in Hastings. Originally from Dungeness and the Romney Marsh, I predominantly paint the concrete architecture found alongside the coastline of Kent and Sussex. 

As a lifelong sufferer of manic depression and BPD, I find an enormous comfort in the solidity and permanence of the concrete sea defenses on the marsh and Bottle Alley in St Leonards. A beauty in the incongruous structures of the power stations at Dungeness and the grand redoubt at Dymchurch. An affinity with the obsolescence of the sound mirrors at Lade.

I have developed over time a laborious technique to my oil paintings. One of precise drawing and loose initial painting. Of repetition in application, and again in stripping back. Of allowing paint and spray to determine much of the texture, before the finality of tight lining and completion. There is chaos and order in this work, and above all, therapy. 

I am fortunate enough to have my works in collections around the world, and feel a privilege in perhaps bringing my perspective on mental illness to a wider audience, and my heritage and home to fresh new eyes. 

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benfentonartiststudio@gmail.com