NAME: Tom Bennett
BIRTH PLACE: Norwalk, Ct
BIRTH DATE: 10.12.59
BIOGRAPHY
Tom Bennett, born in Ridgefield, Connecticut, grew up in a household of artists that was influenced by his father, also an award-winning painter, Harry Bennett. Tom grew up spending much of his time experimenting with art mediums and also dedicating much of his youth to drawing.
He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting at the University of Connecticut in 1982 and studied under the painter and photographer, Bill Parker, an excellent teacher at the UConn. He also studied design under Paul Zelansky, also an excellent instructor.
Tom had his first one-man show at the Ridgefield Guild of Artist Gallery in 1982, and two years later moved to New York City to further pursue his career as a painter.
In 1985 Tom spent seven months traveling alone through Western Europe and parts of Eastern EuropeÃÆÃâÃââÃÆââââ¬Ã
¡ÃâìÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâàinto Hungary, East Germany, and YugoslaviaÃÆÃâÃââÃÆââââ¬Ã
¡ÃâìÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃÂand Africa, sketching while traveling and absorbing new stimuli from the places and people. Experiences such as the darkness in the artmosphere of East Germany left from the days of the Nazi occupation affected him subconsciously. Subsequenty, voyages into northern Africa such as Morocco led to contrasting experiences to those of the Western world in the Islamic societies that must have had a profound impact on his artmaking, even though he was not aware of it at the time.
He later returned to Spain and resided in Barcelona. Tom feels fortunate for being able to have lived on the Spanish Mediterranean coast painting, where he also had several one-man and groups shows. Eventually, obligations led him to return to New York and Tom moved to Brooklyn, where he has resided ever since.
Tom has had numerous one-man shows and been featured in group shows in the United States and has been the recipient of many awards such as the John Koch Prize for Painting. He is represented internationally in both public and private collections that include the likes of Andy Warhol, Richard Diebenkorn, and David Hockney.
