Artist Statement

Interdisciplinary best describes my work, which stands at the intersection of high art, illustration and graphic design by drawing from art movements and disciplines spanning two millennia. I incorporate the traditions of narrative, Surrealism and abstraction in compositions that explore beauty, science and fantasy. My themes express the hopeful expansion of humanity into the cosmos and celebrate the ever-increasing body of scientific knowledge that will create our collective future. Furthermore, the theme of outer space also stands as a metaphor for inner space and the exploration of philosophy, theology and the inner psyche, following the work of Joseph Campbell.

These artworks have been created through the exploration of virtual space – a virtual space made possible by the exploration of outer space (i.e.: computers as a benefit of the space program). In my work, fractals are used as signifiers for quantum theories, and symbols from the past are used to signify the continuity of scientific theory and thought as it expands. This links our scientific past with its future.

While the concept of “outer space” tends to suggest science fiction, science fiction as a subject is an exercise in thought experiment and the exploration of the driving questions found in the aforementioned disciplines of philosophy, theology, etc., and how the development of science and technology interacts with those disciplines. Too often science fiction is dismissed as pop culture kitsch while the message and explorations attempted are lost. Until we physically visit and create from personal exploration of space and other worlds, all depictions thereof are speculative – whether based upon the most current scientific theorems or not – and as such are by definition “science fiction.”
In my work, nothing is as it seems on the surface, though the “painting” surface itself is also explored. Allow yourself to be immersed, and let art fulfill its intended purpose: to give rise to thought and feeling, and in this case – to let the future beckon.

Mitchell Davidson Bentley, M.A. — 2007