Philadelphia based artist Arden Bendler Browning creates large paintings, small works on paper, virtual reality (VR) environments, and public art. Her work explores movement, questions the desire for travel, the effect of digital imagery on perception and memory, and finding wonder and escape through immersive spaces.  Her work hovers between landscape and abstraction. Bendler Browning’s works are included in several public collections including the West Collection, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Microsoft Art Collection, Dream Hotel Nashville, Toyota, and numerous private and corporate collections. Her work is represented by Bridgette Mayer Gallery in Philadelphia, Galleri Urbane in Dallas, and Tinney Contemporary in Nashville. Press includes The Washington Post, Hyperallergic, New American Paintings, Bmore Art, The Studio Visit, Nashville Scene, I Like Your Work podcast, Artist and Place podcast, D Magazine, Philadelphia Inquirer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Drawing Magazine, and more. Selected group exhibitions include American University Museum at Katzen Arts Center, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Penn State University, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Michener Art Museum, Swarthmore College, University of Pennsylvania, University of the Arts, West Chester University, Delaware Contemporary, and more. Public works include a commissioned Percent for Art project for the City of Philadelphia at the Philadelphia International Airport and two commissioned Mural Arts Philadelphia projects. Recent artist residencies include Interlude Artist Residency in Livingston, NY and at the Pouch Cove Foundation in Newfoundland, Canada. Bendler Browning holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University (1997), a Master of Studio Art from Sydney College of the Arts (2000), and an MFA from Tyler School of Art (2003).

I look to my surroundings and make marks to orient myself. Descended from refugees on all sides of my ancestry, I am obsessed with the potential of escapes. Imaginary journeys through paint and virtual worlds offer a way to travel when grounded due to family life, and an alternative to the often harsh reality of the state of the world. Through drawing, smartphone photography and videography, I take notes and bring the outside inside my studio walls. Photographs of my paintings carry my work into a virtual space, and allow for dramatic expansion of scale. I record video while walking through the virtual paintings. I pour, brush, wipe, spray, draw on surfaces while watching the video. Akin to Jane Bennett’s theory of “vital materiality”, the paintings and virtual environments are as alive as real world spaces. How might a virtual world elicit a physical connection to the frozen 2D plane of a painting, and how might the exploration of that painting be furthered through the virtual realm? I want to offer people a way to be so immersed in a world that they can wander and imagine, but can also feel encouraged to explore and meander without a directive to solve or comprehend.

Exhibition:

In The Middle With You