Chris Bennett: The Magic Lantern

A painter born in Winchester, England, raised in Medicine Hat, Alberta and now a resident of London, England, Chris Bennett is intrigued and encouraged by geography and happenstance.

In this exhibition of new paintings Bennett invites viewers on an adventure through the artist’s fascinating investigation of illusion and its characteristic quality of being, at once, credible and incredible. Bennett is captivated by the magic lanterns of German eighteenth-century illusionists like Johann Schröpfer and Paul Philidor. He was first drawn to the antiquated optical devices despite their crude projections, he once told a colleague, because of their ability to “hook an audience into believing something existed that wasn’t actually there.”

Closing Reception with the Artist

Thursday February 7, 7pm

All welcome

Free admission

Refreshments