Quotes about the work of Malcolm Bennett

"There is something quite magical about the way this images seem to 'appear' form the running, mixing, paint, almost as if by accident, yet we know the 'accident' has been organised and planned beforehand. I do suspect, however, that some effects must be accidental. Those moments when something quiet unplanned happens but it is better than any planning could have produced.
Bennett generally works in oil on board and makes use of the effects created by mixing thin, vibrant colours. They run like rivers down the board and mix to create spidery patterns and almost ethereal forms.
This provides marvellous imagery in paintings like "Mythical Heroes" or "Contemplation". On the other hand the paint can be thick, dragged across the surface with a palette knife, mixing colours as it travels and again giving a plethora of interesting results."

Elizabeth Bair - Belfast Telegraph

"Malcolm's less easily interpreted. But then the mysteries of divination may add to their appeal, particularly if you favoured the mysterious dissolving and reappearing ethereal forms for which Jack B. Yeats, so long ago, opened the portals down to earth from goodness knows where. Malcolm's colours are vibrant and paint can run thin or drag thick."

Ian Hill - Newsletter

"When people are describing Malcolm's paintings they tend to use words like; mysterious, mystical, ethereal, romantic. His paintings are all of these, but, there is much more to his work than mere "new age" flim-flam.
"I approach painting," he says, "in the same way as I do a journey. Having only the vaguest idea of destination and allowing circumstance to determine direction."
But this employment of serendipity is subjected to hard headed artistic decisions and a scrupulously, skilful handling of materials. His Connemara landscapes emerge from a complexity of textures which beautifully reflect, not only the atmosphere of that area, but its colourful, rocky structure. Malcolm is a widely travelled painter. He has spent periods in Sri Lanka, Cuba, USA and more recently Australia."

Joseph McWilliams - President RUA

"His work while echoing far away places maintains an ethereal quality that takes the viewer on yet another journey, into an artists unique interpretation of place. Every image evokes a sense of the mystical and draws you into its world. The rich surfaces display a remarkable insight to both subject and medium. Malcolm has exhibited regularly in Dublin, Galway, Cork and Belfast since the 1960's and has had numerous shows abroad including Florida, Boston and London. He is represented in many important public collections."

Nora Walsh

"He oscillates between the bird's eye longshot and the close up, between the roughly representational and the abstract, exploring the patterns imposed on the landscape - man-made marks - producing a Brechtian alienation effect: making the familiar strange. The works function like metaphors; compacted similes making us see unexpected connections."

Brian McAvera - Irish News