We are pleased to announce that Slade School of Art student, Louis Bennett has won the 2019 Bloomsbury Festival Art Competition, supported Boodle Hatfield LLP.

The judging panel, which is hosted by Bloomsbury Festival’s patron, Her Grace the Duchess of Bedford, included representatives from Bloomsbury Festival, Boodle Hatfield, The Bedford Estates, Camden Council, Slade School of Art, and House of Illustration.  The panel commended Louis on his detailed proposal which responded to the brief strongly. The consensus of the panel was that his example art works contained style, depth and impact.

Louis has now been commissioned to create 8-10 oil on paper paintings which will be displayed at Senate House during the festival from 11-20 October. Responding to the theme of the 2019 Bloomsbury Festival, Small Steps and Giant Leaps, the paintings will follow a period of research Louis is undertaking into the history of Bloomsbury and particularly it’s architecture.

Louis has just completed his first year studying an MA in Fine Art (painting) at The Slade School of Art. His practice is directly informed by British history and politics and might be described as postmodern history painting. Louis is particularly concerned with colonial history and its relation to the present, and seeks in his paintings to collapse different eras of British social history into a single image plane, and thus inviting the viewer to reflect on how much, or sometimes how little, our country has progressed.

Find out about Louis’ festival exhibition here

Louis Bennett announced as winner of Bloomsbury Festival Art Competition 2019