Philippa Bentley Monarch

About Philippa Bentley and her work:

Philippa Bentley is an Auckland artist whose work is usually inspired by nature, often with a twist.

Philippa exhibits regularly and has work held in both New Zealand and international collections. She produces limited edition fine art prints and paintings, and has received awards in painting, printmaking and design.
Most recently, Philippa was a finalist in the 2015 NZ Painting and Printmaking Awards.

A fascination with insects, that’s lasted from playing in her sprawling childhood garden and in the creek down at the bottom of the bush, inspired Philippa’s 'Insects and Memories' series which represents her main body of work.
This is a series of insect collections presented as museum boxes.
“Just as a butterfly is caught and preserved in a specimen box, so do we capture our experiences and archive them as our memories. We are all collectors of memories, experiences, sensations, fragments of days that layer us up and make us who we are.”

Philippa’s original insect images are individually screen printed and hand painted on to weatherboards or paper. The use of aged weatherboard started as a play on the 1950’s trend of a butterfly on a weatherboard house and is an integral part of the work.
“I’m happy if people simply enjoy them visually, but there are layer on layer of subtleties, personal memories, iconic references, heritage brands and humour are layered in to each artwork. One person called them “memory boxes” and they reflect on memory and identity.”
For example, Philippa’s Cicada has a subtle AM-FM tuner painted on its abdomen, as she remembers cupping cicadas in her hands as a child and pretending they were radios.

The Huhu Beetle is adorned with the cover of AWB Powell’s ‘Native Animals of New Zealand’- a reference book familiar to many from the school nature study table or a dusty shelf on the bach bookcase.
The Alpine Weta is patterned with the Speights logo. This amazing insect is one of the few creatures that can actually freeze in Winter, thaw out without the cells disintegrating and then crawl away in the Spring. A truly hardy, Southern type!
The vibrant orange of her Monarch Butterfly comes from the Edmonds baking powder heritage branding- “as iconic as monarchs on swan plants in Summer”.

This ‘Insects and Memories’ series has been very well received and was reviewed by TJ MacNamara in the NZ Herald as "highly unusual and utterly delightful.”

Philippa is beginning to add new technologies in to her insect collections. In this exhibition an AR (Augmented Reality) app can be easily downloaded which brings her Monarch Butterfly to life- it walks and then flies, on a smart device, in the room in front of you, in real space and time.
Sir David Attenborough said, “Butterflies lift the heart. They bring such joy.” Indeed every time I watch this Monarch stretch its wings and flit in the room in front of me, I find myself smiling and I have watched this delight in others interacting with it.
How wonderful if we could bring to life specimens in natural history collections held in our museums, especially endangered or extinct species. I would like to explore this further in my art practice.

Philippa is also extending her body of work by including botanicals in this exhibition. The natural history collections are now fauna and flora together.
“I am developing my own ‘herbarium’ of native NZ plants, taken from my ageing father’s garden, photographed to be ‘scientifically’ documented, and painted to be infused with china patterns –Spode tattoo- from my female ancestors.”
This series reflects on family, generations and the process of colonisation, resulting in highly original and beautiful paintings and mixed media works.

Enjoy. X.
Philippa.