Fast approaching in Nicosia is Lara Sophie Benjamin’s third solo exhibition at Apocalypse Gallery. Titled Trace Memories, the showcase will run at the gallery from October 22 to November 8, presenting an ever-escalating exploration of familiar subjects – interior spaces.
This new body of work becomes increasingly less about the physical places themselves, but rather what these places hold – the sensations we have wrapped up in domestic space, the memories, the thoughts, even the things we have forgotten.
As the artist’s interest in paint and the act of painting intensifies and experimentation with the intuitive, expressive process continues, her work has become more abstract. Layering, depth, marks, flow and atmosphere make the paintings come alive.
The creative process mirrors the narratives of time and place in her work. The works conceal as much as they reveal, taking something from the world, dissolving it and then recreating it as a painting.
In her paintings, these spaces in which we exist become masses of sensual experience, dreamlike, floating recollections. The visual language portrays things that can’t be put into words, and the rooms that sparked the process become symbols of our inner worlds.
Benjamin’s artworks have been exhibited in Cyprus, the UK, France, Italy and the United States, and are part of many private and public collections, including that of the National Collection of Cyprus, the Central Bank of Cyprus and the City of Pensacola, Florida.
Her studies included education in Cyprus and the UK, in addition to residencies in France, while in 2022 she was invited to be the International Artist at the distinguished Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival in Florida, one of the best-regarded, most popular arts festivals in the United States. This fall, she is preparing to present new artworks and new painting expressions in the Cypriot capital city.
Trace Memories
Painting exhibition by Lara Sophie Benjamin. October 22-November 8. Apocalypse Gallery, Nicosia. Opening night: 7.30pm. Tuesday-Friday: 11am-1pm, 4pm-7pm. Saturday: 10.30am-1pm. Tel: 22-300150. www.larasophiebenjamin.com, www.apocalypse-gallery.com.cy
