DOUGLAS BENTHAM

Bio

Canadian sculptor Douglas Bentham (b. 1947) produces abstract sculpture in various mediums, primarily in steel, stainless steel, bronze/brass and wood. He creates his unique objects in scales ranging from monumental pieces to works that can be held in the hand. Bentham’s sculptures are represented in the collections of numerous public institutions across Canada. His process of working is rooted in the Modernist tradition, embracing growth and transformation.

Douglas Bentham has maintained an international reputation as a major practitioner of abstract, constructivist sculpture for over forty years graduating with a BA Advanced degree in painting from the University of Saskatchewan in 1969. He received an MFA in sculpture from that institution in 1989, working alongside eminent artists/teachers Eli Bornstein and Otto Rogers. He has contributed to many international artists’ workshops throughout his career, including the Emma Lake Artists’ Workshop, Saskatchewan, Canada; the Triangle Artists’ Workshop, New York, US; and the Hardingham Sculpture Workshop, Norfolk, UK. He has presented over fifty solo exhibitions across Canada, notably a nationally travelling exhibition organized by the Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, ON, in 1975, and a ten-year survey exhibition at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, SK, in 1980.

“I’m only satisfied with a work of art when the original concept becomes transformed by its making. I enter into a kind of prayer with the material with the goal of creating a rhythm that will carry me through many days in the studio. I address several pieces simultaneously, always on the edge of seeing the art in unexpected ways, allowing it to assert itself by my presence. Collage lends itself best to this process by being so open-ended, so agreeable to rapid change.”