Séan G. Bennett
This series of five portraits has a focus on ‘identity’. The portraits explore this theme through the images of artists in their studio spaces. Their workspaces, experimental and unfinished works, and equipment, show parts of their work process and thinking.
The subjects of the portraits are my peers, who I have chosen because of my admiration for their work, themselves as people, as well as their strong personal styles. I am interested in how my sitters communicate aspects of their personality through clothing, hairstyles, and posture.
I chose to paint them in their studio spaces because of the contrast between the state of the desks and walls of the studios and the resolved, polished works presented for exhibition. Through these works, I have aimed to pull back the curtain. I want to bring the background efforts that have led to their final works into the foreground.
When starting a painting, I first create a preliminary charcoal drawing of my sitters to inform my paintings and to help loosen the work, as it is primarily informed by photographs. I create monochromatic underpaintings using colours that I often associate with my sitters. I build on this underpainting using glazes to achieve the colours in my final works.
The decorative paintings on the edges of each canvas are inspired by the sitters’ own works and their personal interests.
Séan G. Bennett is a figurative painter, based in County Wicklow. Séan primarily works with acrylic paints. He utilizes bright underpainting, texture, and patterns in his works. His work has a focus on identity, through clothing, surroundings, and how his subjects express themselves.
He has exhibited in the IADT show **Down the road, around the corner** at Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin (2026), **Lucid Dreaming**, curated by Davey Moor at the Municipal Gallery dlr Lexicon, Dún Laoghaire (2025-2026), **Better than Ambrosia**, curated by Dylan Yearsley at the Walled Garden, Marlay Park, Rathfarnham (2025), IADT 2nd Year Exhibition **Eleventh Hour** at IADT (2024), and **Place Project** at IMMA Studios (2023).
