Introduction to Bobbi Bennett:

For our inaugural online show, Art in the Vault is pleased to introduce you to Santa Barbara photographer, Bobbi Bennett.

Already, 2002 has proven to be a good year for Bennett. In February, she had a solo show at Fototeka in Los Angeles which was reviewed by the LA Times. LACMA has expressed interest in acquiring her work for their permanent Collection (she is already in the collection of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art). In addition to this online exhibition, Bennett will have a solo show at the Lisa Coscino Gallery on the Monterey Peninsula this August. That exhibition will focus on her most recent work, the "Monster" series, which examines childhood fear and trauma.

In this online exhibition, Bennett focuses on facets of the self. Comprising half of the show, the self-portraits explore various aspects of the unconscious self; the images range across a spectrum from gruesome to sublime. The Superhero portraits focus on the role of pop-culture superheroes in the formulation of identity. Recent forays into darker subjects left Bennett with the desire to reconnect with icons from her youth; thus, ruminations on Wonder Woman, Cat Woman and the Silver Surfer became various impressions of "power, sexuality and invincibility."

The artistic quality of Bennett's imagery presides over the scenes she depicts with the composition, lighting, and the wavering focus all informing the subject in a "painterly" way. In this sense, Bennett's technique evokes elements of pictorialism, the nineteenth century movement aimed at bolstering the status of photography as a "fine art" form. Bennett's work also echoes that of contemporary photographers Cindy Sherman and Sandy Skoglund. Like Sherman, Bennett disguises herself as the premier subject of the photograph and like Skoglund, she creates elaborate sets and lavish installations.

At once cheeky and hip (and all body-part adjectives in between), the range of Bennett's photography is extensive enough to warrant that preeminent marketing moniker: something for everyone.