Paul Benney 'Scrying Mirror'

A n d r e w H a r d w i c k P a l i m p s e s t 

P A U L B E N N E Y ‘ S C R Y I N G M I R R O R ’

“You are aware of only one unrest; 

Oh, never learn to know the other! 

Two souls, alas, are dwelling in my breast, 

And one is striving to for sake its brother. 

Unto the wor ld in grossly loving zest, 

With clinging tendrils, one adheres; 

The other rises forcibly in quest 

Of rarefied ancestral spheres. 

If there be spirits in the air 

That hold their sway between the ear th and sky, 

Descend out of the golden vapor s there 

And sweep me into iridescent life. 

Oh, came a magic cloak into my hands 

To carr y me to distant lands, 

I should not trade it for the choicest gown, 

Nor for the cloak and garments of the crown.” 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, ‘Faust: Fir st Par t’

A self por trait sits in the corner of Paul Benney’s 

studio. Its title is ‘Janus’. The two faced deity. 

Looking forwards and backwards. Obser ving two 

states. Rooted between. 

a perfumer, all of which he is able to carr y out with 

notable esoteric ability and accomplishment. He is 

a polymath - a modern Renaissance Man. Marcus 

Aurelius once stated that “Nothing has such power 

to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate 

For the past thir ty year s Paul Benney has wor ked 

both in the United States and United Kingdom. His 

paintings are notably represented in a plethora 

of public collections including the Metropolitan 

systematically and tr uly all that comes under thy 

obser vation in life.” But the tangibility of technique 

is only one face; the ar tist must also have a passion 

to use the senses to delve in to the unsolved. 

Museum of Ar t in New Yor k, The National Galler y 

of Australia and The National Por trait Galler y in 

London, alongside many prominent private and 

corporate collections. 

Francis Bacon proclaimed that ‘The job of the ar tist 

is always to deepen the myster y” - Indeed Benney 

does not do all the wor k for you, the viewer. You 

stand in front of the often shimmering, surface of 

Benney’s career is an intriguing one. He is a 

multi-disciplined ar tist whose oeuvre moves 

beyond clear and definitive categorization although 

his wor k could be seen to continue the strong 

tradition of ‘British Mysticism’ championed by the 

likes of Samuel Palmer and William Blake. Clear ly, 

the wor k and obser ve. He makes paintings that you 

have to look at, mar vel at and then contemplate. 

These paintings defy fixed meaning, concentrating 

more on a journey than a destination. As with the 

‘Janus’ piece, one has more than one direction to 

follow and decipher. 

the primar y mode of expression is paint, which he 

handles with profound technical dexterity, but to 

add to this he is also a goldsmith (skills learned 

from his father, the celebrated goldsmith Gerald 

Benney), a sculptor, film maker, a musician and also 

A huge painting dominates the studio. ‘Dying Slave’. 

How should one interpret this? A nude figure rises 

from the whir ling deluge of water beneath his 

feet, surrounded by flames and flowering ember s 

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pushing upwards – is this a hopeful image of life, 

immor tality, defiance and / or transcendence? Or in 

fact the same figure pulled in to the dreadful abyss, 

sinking, un-escapable, the flickering flames about 

to be engulfed by the great flood. Extinguished. 

animation of the spirit or soul. It is imager y that 

connects all creed and colour echoing through 

many different religions from the sacred ar t of 

Ancient Greece, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam 

and Christianity. This flame feels eternal. Alchemical. 

These two (and Im sure other) potentials coalesce 

on one plain. 

It is interesting to me that Benney’s studio wor ks 

are often viewed and described as ‘otherwor ldly’ or 

In the opposite corner of the room two ovals 

are hung. Shimmer ing black glass. Reflective . 

Seductive yet impenetrable. Benney shines a torch 

on them, and from the core I see a painted face 

from depths staring back at me. These ‘Scr ying 

Mirror s’ are quite unlike anything I have seen 

before; perplexing and magical. These wor ks mine 

the inter section of technological advancement, 

mysticism and phantasmagor ical phenomena 

creating an immer sive experience reminding one of 

ecstatic revelation, stage magic, spirit photography, 

pseudoscience, telekinesis, and other manifestations 

of the paranormal. 

‘visionar y’. If by that it is meant that they go beyond 

the prosaic of what we see ever yday with our 

eyes in the limited space beyond our own noses; 

then I would agree. But these are not wor ks that 

are placed somewhere else beyond our concern. 

Leonora Carrington once stated “The task of the 

right eye is to peer into the telescope, while the 

left eye peer s into the microscope.” For me these 

paintings reveal on multiple levels a diver se state of 

existence. One where life and death co-exist. The 

inner and the outer. Matter and spirit. The known 

and unknown. Past and the future. And at the hear t 

of them the illusion of the fixed in between state 

- The Present. Is that not a vivid representation of 

I notice another detail in many of the wor ks in the 

the rounded reality of the human condition? 

studio. The emanation of flickering light (almost 

flame like) rising from the head, signifying an 

Joseph Clar ke . 2016 

2

Speaking in Tongues 

silver print (edition 25) . 60 x 90 cm 

4

5

6

St. Andrew 

oil and resin on board . 122 x 61 cm 

7

St. Bar tholomew 


8

9

10

St. Jude Thaddeus 


11

St. John 


12

13

14

Reliquar y 

oil and resin on board . 81 x 60 cm each 

15

Levitation (Sometimes I Dream of You) 

16 

silver print (edition 25) . 33 x 46 cm

Tether 


17

Tether 

oil on canvas . 181 x 167 cm 

18

19

Snow in Jer usalem 

20 


Self Por trait 1 


21

22

Self Por trait 1 

oil on board . 91 x 71 cm 

23

Auto Da Fé II 

oil on board . 142 x 157 cm 

24

25

26

Levitation 


27

Dying Slave 

oil on canvas . 208 x 320 cm 

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29

Hole 

30 


Wake 


31

The Tenant 

32 


Her Ghost 


33

34

Janus I 


35

Scr ying Mirror (Lucca) 

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oil and resin on board . 66 x 47 cm

Scr ying Mirror (Nicolas) 


37

Scr ying Mirror (Harriet) 

38 


Scr ying Mirror (Thomas) 


39

Scr ying Mirror (Paul) 

40 


Scr ying Mirror (Renata) 


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Scr ying Mirror (Lucca 11) 


40 42

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Scr ying Mirror (Par ty Gir l) 


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Scr ying Mirror (Anima) 


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Published by Anima-Mundi to coincide with the exhibition ‘Scrying Mirror’ by Paul Benney 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or 

by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers 

Produced by Impact Printing Services (www.impactprintingservices.co.uk) 

Street-an-Pol . St. Ives . Cornwall . Tel: 01736 793121 . Email: mail@anima-mundi.co.uk . www.anima-mundi.co.uk

Paul Benney 'Scrying Mirror'

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