Festival Visual Arts Exhibition

Lewis Elton Gallery, University of Surrey
Free

Sir Richard Rodney Bennett will be exhibiting a collection of his collages at The Lewis Elton Gallery, opening 15 March, running to the end of the Festival. This multi-talented musician, who will be appearing with Claire Martin at this year’s Festival on Saturday 12 March, has developed a private passion for making collages. His recent exhibition in support of the Nightingale Project was completely sold out.

Richard Rodney Bennett writes: I started making collages about ten years ago, after brief flirtations with abstract painting and with fibre art. I use all kinds of found paper, paper which has been painted with acrylic and watercolour, and old shirts and ties. My collages are entirely abstract. After many years of trying to find a personal voice in my music compositions, I have let myself be influenced in my collages by a number of distinguished artists. There is of course the grandfather of them all, Kurt Schwitters, but also five twentieth-century American collagists – Anne Ryan, Hannelore Baron, Wiliiam Dole, Robert Nickle and Robert Courtright, and the school of abstract painters that was flourishing in France in the forties and fifties, notably Nicolas de Stael, Maria Elena Vieira da Silva, Serge Poliakoff and Maurice Esteve.

This exhibition incorporates musically themed work and is part of a UK tour celebrating 50 years of his artistic achievement.

Sir Richard Rodney Bennett will also be appearing at the Festival on Saturday 12th March with Claire Martin in a special performance celebrating his 75th birthday. He will also be adjudicating the University of Surrey's Composition Day on Wednesday 16th March.