Q&A Pt. II with Misty Bennett About BPL's Candy Crush Exhibit
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| Meet Misty Bennett, visionary behind "Candy Crush," an art exhibit on display at the Central Library. |
Professor Misty Bennett, the Art Department Chair at the University of Montevallo, is the visionary behind “Candy Crush,” a fascinating painting exhibition on the first floor of the Central Library in downtown Birmingham.
Misty Bennett: Candy Crush is the latest installment of the Birmingham Public Library’s Art for Everyone series. The exhibition was made possible by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts , awarded to the BPL Friends Foundation to benefit the library.
In the second part of a Q&A with BPL Public Relations Director Roy Williams, Bennett talked about what inspired four more of her paintings. Candy Crush will be on display at BPL through this Thursday, March 29, 2024. (The first part of the interview with Misty ran on February 15)
Artwork in this exhibition is available for purchase, and the artist receives 100% of each sale. For sales information, contact the artist at BennettMJ@montevallo.edu.
BPL: As someone who loves to play the game “Candy Crush,” I love that is the name of your art exhibition. Tell me about how you came up with that.
Bennett: “The title of this show, Candy Crush, is a reference to the color palette of my work, which includes mostly bright, saturated colors, like you might find on the candy aisle at the supermarket. They are designed to draw you in and keep you there, much like the viral game we love to play on our phones. I always like to reference a darker side with my work, and that’s where the “crush” part of it comes in.
BPL: What inspired the "As Much as You Want" painting?
Bennett: As Much As You Want, 36” x 40”, oil on canvas, 2023 This painting is about the ways in which our society labels certain foods good and others bad, often based on contradictory nutritional advice. These asparagus can be enjoyed “as much as you want.”
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| Misty Bennett and family besides her painting "Pickle, Polka-dot, Peel" |
BPL: Describe this beautiful painting "Pickle, Polka-dot, Peel" beside you and your family.
Bennett: Pickle, Polka-dot, Peel, 30” x 30”, oil on canvas, 2022 This picture includes my husband, Joe Bennett, who teaches drawing at the University of Montevallo, my daughter Zara, who is a freshman in high school, my son Kidane, who is in 7th grade, and myself. The painting was inspired by a beautiful magnolia tree on the campus at UM that I often walk past and features one of its seed pods in the center. Magnolia blossoms represent preservation, which led me to think about how we always try to preserve and keep beautiful things, but often it is their ethereal nature that makes them so beautiful.
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| Misty Bennett by her painting "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly" |
BPL: Tell me about this painting with the interesting title "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly"
Bennett: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, 30 x 30 inches, oil on canvas, 2021 These forms are reminiscent of waffles, in three different versions, and a strawberry that has been squished between them. It walks a fine line between attractive and repulsive, drawing the viewer in with bright colors and perspective lines, while creating textures that seem in opposition to the forms they describe.
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| Misty Bennett by her painting "Economies of Scale" |
BPL: Describe your painting "Economies of Scale"
Bennett: Economies of Scale, 36” x 40”, oil on canvas, 2023 This painting was inspired by the idea of mass production of food, which has become such a huge part of our diet that we don’t even really think about it anymore. In this painting, a pile of colorful French fries floats in front of two plate forms. Photo #5: Flash of Lightning, 30 x 30 inches, oil on canvas, 2019 This painting was one of the first paintings in this series, and it came from some photos I had taken of a chocolate eclair that was beautifully decorated, and that I dropped on the floor. Once it was ruined in this way, I gave it a new life through this painting, and I think there’s a metaphor in there somewhere.
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