Emma Bennett
17th November – 5th January 2017

In her first solo exhibition at Platform A, Emma Bennett presents a series of paintings responding to the recent closure of a particular building in Middlesbrough. Interested in Modernist and Post-War Architecture the artist uses the built environment around her hometown to seek out structures to investigate within her painting practice.  Exploring links between architectural materials, space, colour and paint she arranges forms and striking colour choices that allude to an imaginary landscape, almost fixed in time. The use of flat painted geometric shapes applied directly onto the circular ash veneered panels form an unlikely relationship as strong colour combinations sit beside bare wood grain. Bennett documents known territories and the works hint at an altered state lying between reality and abstraction. Altered Space is an exhibition that acknowledges the functionality of a building (Middlesbrough Registry Office), questions its future and expresses the standpoint of the artist with regard to its closure.

Middlesbrough Register Office was designed by Borough Architect, J.V. Wall, F.R.I.B.A and opened in 1973. Serving as a well-used registry office until 2015, it now faces demolition.