Art; Created by Two makes for a Dynamic Duo

When a musician composes a song, when a writer sits and ponders a line, we think of these pursuits as solitary even lonely activities, but how on earth do two artists work together on one piece? Its a rare thing two people working on one creative project but it does exist, Think Gilbert and George in the art world or Elton and Bernie in music, even the Coen brothers in film. Bensley and Dipré are a duo created overlayed artworks. Find out more in Art; Created by Two makes for a Dynamic Duo

Images with thanks Bensley and Dipré

Bensley and Dipré, a duo of artists now in their fifth year of collaboration, with their working method combining film photography with overpainting. Subjects (usually the artists themselves) are shot on black and white film, then from these shoots selected silver gelatin prints are reworked in the studio.

Nicola studied at Newcastle Upon Tyne College of Arts & Technology and Harrow School of Art. She worked as a photojournalist before shifting her focus to portrait and fine art photography. Recent subjects include Frank Auerbach and Maggi Hambling, including the solo presentation FrankAuerbach: A Morning in the Studio at Piano Nobile, London in 2022.  

David studied painting at Camberwell College of Arts and the University of Central Lancashire.He has exhibited widely over the last thirty years, including in the John Moores Painting Prize and the National Portrait Gallery’s BP Portrait Award on three occasions and is featured in the National Portrait Gallery’s publication 500 Portraits

Over the past five years, Bensley and Dipré have honed and developed a unique artistic process and over time the collaboration has acquired increasing layers of complexity, with David and Nicola’s nominal roles (painter – photographer) growing blurred and interchangeable.

Both at shooting and print manipulation stages they look to push the boundaries of the process, through applying distortion or interposing other media in the former, or by incorporating scratching, drawing or collage (as well as painting) in the latter.

So how did they meet? How do they collaborate on one work of art at the same time. Here at .Cent we have an exclusive insight into their working world with a new exhibition coming up they share all.

‘We met through Instagram appreciating each other’s work. We then met in person at the beginning of lockdown outside my house – me sitting on a log and Nicola on a step ! We clearly were already friends’.

So how does it the process work?’

‘I then photographed David in his studio when there was a gap in the Covid restrictions. David suggested us working together and I send some silver gelatin prints through the post for him to rework’.

‘He began to scratch , paint and even use an elector sander on the prints! He was nervous to show me images of these reworked prints but I absolutely loved what he had done and found it very intriguing and exciting. That’s how the collaboration began’.

‘To begin with David was reworking prints I  had created. Fairly quickly we began to shoot together in the studio creating layered magical worlds using ourselves as the subjects in these interiors’.

‘Shooting exclusively on black and white film, the images are then chosen from contact sheets . Silver gelatin prints are then made in the darkroom to be reworked by us in the studio’.

‘Over time our collaboration has acquired increasing layers of complexity with our nominal roles ( photographer – painter ) growing blurred and interchangeable.’

So how do you find space for each of you?

‘We both work intuitively and figuratively with a shared sensibility. The collaboration serves to create a highly distinctive visual language, one that merges our respective disciplines and integrates the materials under our control’.

And what do you see as the benefits?

‘Inevitably collaborating and working so closely together changes and enhances the way we see the world together and individually’.

‘We are so lucky to have found each other. Neither of us had thought about collaborating before and now we can’t imagine not working together . We realise it’s a rare thing that cannot be forced or engineered. When it feels right, one just knows – the ideas never stop flowing , the collaboration continually developing’.

‘It has been an enormously enriching experience to work together and continues to be so  – the creative process becoming more intensified and accelerated’.

These works, these explorations serve to create a highly distinctive visual language, one that merges their respective disciplines and integrates the materials under their control.

Their upcoming show Converge features thirty large-scale pieces, each mounted on aluminium and framed in bespoke handcrafted and stamped frames.

To find out more about their work please visit Bensley and Dipré.com Here

Their latest exhibition Converge will debut in Soho, London at 15 Bateman St from the 4-6th October 2024.

If you enjoyed reading Art; Created by Two makes for a Dynamic Duo then why not read Dreams Become Reality Here

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