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Wayne Bennett
b.1960
Wayne Bennett is a self-taught artist with a professional background in graphics, photography and education, haphazardly. He has been host to HIV since 1983. A lifelong resident of New Mexico, Wayne now resides in Central America.
My art has always been figurative and is increasingly narrative. A news story, documentary, or event will often inform my work. It can be an idea about a technique, or a storyline built from bits of "fun facts". Sometimes a phrase plants a title and that begins to build an image. Catholic traditions and science topics are frequent playgrounds.
I shot film (35mm and 120) for about 20 years. I found my strongest images came through using pinhole cameras. I would make cameras from old thrift store finds. What was happening between the film and the light, and then in the chemistry, was more interesting to me than what happened behind my eye. Giving up control and just facilitating the machine can be great fun. As the digital monster slowly strangled the wet lab, I moved into painting and drawing.