Two Worlds by Kate Bentley opens this weekend at Morningside Gallery

The Herald Scotland

01-05-2025

Kate originally a Sculptor and Theatre Designer became a professional painter in 1999 and is a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour and the Society of Women Artists. Her work is held in both private and public collections. Originally from the Lake District she is now based on the Solway coast in South west Scotland.
Kate's location and landscape hugely influences her subject matter and historically she is a 'painter of life', using her en-plein air sessions and life drawing to feed her narrative paintings.
Beyond the obvious differences in subject matter, the idea of two worlds also underpins the way Kate engages with her subjects and her materials.
The interplay of the real and the imagined is present in all of Kate's paintings, along with fearless experimentation and an urge to tear.
[First Home, First Garden, Oil on Panel, Framed size 99 x 75cm]
Kate works with the shapes and colours she creates to begin to bring some realism into the work, to tease out a subject. More often than not, as soon as realism begins to tip the balance within a painting, Kate disrupts the flow, breaks the line, moves the viewer's eye into another field or onto another detail elsewhere. Sometimes paintings which feel complete are stripped back – destroyed almost – and then layered up again, as she employs various techniques and materials – projected photographs, the reflection of her garden in the studio door, old paintings, unexpected patterns – to give the painting a completely new dimension.
We see these techniques at play within many of her garden paintings, which are both botanical studies and imaginative narrative works
in equal measure. Initially they burst forth with verdant yellows and greens, we see lush leaves and bright flowers, but also what might be a person, or is it just a reflection of a person? We look further and there are some steps. We walk down them and out beyond the painting.
[City Haven, Oil on Panel, Framed size 137 x 95cm]
Perspective is thrown out of the window and the kaleidoscopic element in so many of Kate's works makes it almost impossible to behold the scene complete upon first viewing.
The effect can be quite dazzling, as light is used to both reflect and refract; at times it is as though we are seeing the subject through the reflections of a beautiful old mirror, distressed and fractured with age. There are moments of recognition before the line is broken again and we are taken somewhere else.
Again, within Kate's paintings of Edinburgh, reality is observed initially but soon replaced by a kaleidoscopic view of the city. Edinburgh is presented a witness to the many stories told and lives lived, past and present.
A city of beautiful gardens and breath-taking natural landmarks sitting side-by-side with historical architecture. Everything is here and all at once, as past and present, natural and human made, real and imagined are woven together with colour, shape and pattern.
The mark making in these paintings, like all of Kate's work leads the eye to new places, new points of interest, and once the eye settles, journeying through the paintings feels like an adventure; both expansive and immensely satisfying.
Two Worlds with artist Kate Bentley starts 3rd – 18th May at Morningside Gallery, 94 Morningside Road, Edinburgh EH10 4BY. Tel [phone].
www.morningsidegallery.co.uk
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Click here to view https://www.morningsidegallery.co.uk/exhibition/kate-bentley-two-worlds
Morningside Gallery is a well-known and respected art gallery located in the Morningside area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Opened in 2003, it has built a reputation for showcasing a diverse range of contemporary art, with a focus on both Scottish artists and international talent. The gallery is particularly known for its curated exhibitions of paintings, prints, and sculptures.