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PAUL BENJAMINS: MONOPRINTS AND SMALL PAINTINGS – upper gallery   MONOPRINTS – lower gallery   18 JULY – 25 AUGUST 2006             Jill George Gallery is delighted to announce Paul Benjamins’ latest exhibition where he will present a selection of new monoprints and small paintings in the upper gallery.  This will be accompanied in the lower gallery by a group show of monoprints including new work by Dale Devereux Barker, Martyn Brewster, Chris Orr, RA, Fraser Taylor and introducing Sarah Bridgland.   Paul Benjamins has progressed further into an intensely dynamic, visceral world where paint is dripped and splashed onto canvases that are laid flat on the studio floor.  His last exhibition was a hymn of praise to London, with the spattered colour resembling the lights of the city as viewed from any of the bridges over the Thames.   His new work comprises a series of wide horizontal canvases and monoprints, further emphasising the suggestion of frantically illuminated urban landscapes.  These images offer intense, concentrated glimpses of the chaotic, teeming metropolis – a densely-packed crowd in a major street or the time-lapse patterns of traffic lights in darkness, cutting across the canvases to create eerie forests of colour and light.    Paul Benjamins has recently begun making monoprints and the ones shown will be the first he has exhibited from his exploration of this new medium.   The Gallery usually mounts a monoprint show every two years, and encourages recent graduates to participate.  But the exciting new work currently being produced by some of the gallery artists is much too good to wait and will be shown in the lower Gallery to complement Benjamins’ monoprints upstairs. Amongst others, Martyn Brewster – fresh from his successful ‘Landscapes’ show – will be showing his latest monoprints, and Sarah Bridgland, who graduated from the Royal College of Art last month., will debut her work with the Gallery.,             Notes for Editors   Paul Benjamins was born in London in 1950 and studied at Camberwell School of Art (1969-73) and the Royal College of Art (1973-75). He has exhibited with Jill George since 1984 and this will be his ninth solo exhibition at the gallery. Benjamins’ work has been exhibited in France, Austria, Ireland, Korea, Canada and the USA, and is represented in numerous public and private collections throughout the world. The artists exhibiting new work in the ‘Monoprint’ show in the lower gallery regularly exhibit with Jill George except Sarah Bridgland, who will be showing here for the first time.  The Private View of ‘Paul Benjamins’ and ‘Monoprints’ will be at Jill George Gallery, Lexington Street, Soho on Tuesday 18 July from 6.00 - 8.30pm. Jill George Gallery began by exhibiting the work of recent graduates and new artists and now shows selected painting and sculpture from a roster of international artists.    If you require any further information or images please contact Jill George Gallery on 020 7439 7319 or email press@jillgeorgegallery.co.uk     Jill George Gallery is open weekdays 10am - 6pm, Saturdays 11am - 5pm,. The Gallery will be closed on Mondays in August.     www.jillgeorgegallery.co.uk                              Cool Morning, 22” x 22”, 56 x 56 cm, 2006                          Warm Evening, 22” x 22”, 56 x 56 cm, 2006   -- Jill George Gallery 38 Lexington Street Soho London W1F 0LL   Tel 0207 439 7319 Email jill@jillgeorgegallery.co.uk Website   www.jillgeorgegallery.co.uk