John Bentley | Artist In Residence

John Bentley

John Bentley

Digital Alchemist

 

Blending photography with painterly textures, digital layering, and, at times, physical embellishment, Bentley’s images straddle the surreal and the real. He is drawn to ambiguity, tension, and the quiet power of presence. His pieces are not designed to flatter — they are made to provoke, to honour, and to hold.

Bentley’s practice is rooted in studio work but never confined by it. Whether capturing raw expression in-camera or pushing a piece into abstraction through post-production, he remains focused on the emotional pulse beneath the surface. The work is not about spectacle — it’s about staying with what’s uncomfortable, what’s beautiful, and what dares to be both.

Veiled

Photographic, digital & physical mixed media on fine canvas

Swathed in coarse fabric, half-lit and half-forgotten, she sits suspended between exposure and retreat. Her lifted arm becomes a gesture of surrender, of defiance, or perhaps quiet reclamation. Whether physical or emotional, there is something missing here… but not absent. The void is part of the narrative.

She could be in bloom or burning.

The red flare that obscures her face could be read as a crown or a wound, a blossoming or a scar. The ambiguity is the point. This creation pulls us between painterly softness and photographic realism

Her body language is neither submissive nor confrontational. She does not perform. She simply is.

Artwork Title: Veiled
Artist: John Bentley
Medium: Mixed Media Canvas
Size: 60cm x 90cm
Price: £450
Presentation: Unframed, ready to hang

Voltage

 

Photographic & digital artwork on canvas

Originally captured during a fashion shoot at the studio in 2015, Voltage began as a moment of movement. A fleeting exhale, a twist of hair, a half-formed expression caught in-between. But in post-production, it evolved into something darker… more charged.

Through layered digital enhancements, the subject was transformed. A soft, tempestuous presence became heightened with gothic intensity: deep shadows cloaked the skin, hair exploded like a thundercloud, and sharp, electric blues tore through the background. Streaks of blood red were woven in deliberately — hinting at danger, seduction, and something just out of reach.

The image now holds a cinematic tension. Her mouth is open — not quite a scream, not quite a whisper. Her posture holds energy, her stare is both confrontational and ethereal. There’s no stillness here. Only presence.

Artwork Title: Voltage
Artist: John Bentley
Medium: Archival Canvas rendering
Size: 60cm x 90cm
Price: £350
Presentation: Unframed, ready to hang

Take a look at the others exhibiting this summer

Franki Beddows | Featured Artist Summer 2025

I paint to get lost. It’s the moment of flow—where shapes, shadows and textures start to whisper—that keeps pulling me back to the canvas. In those early layers of acrylic, faces, figures, and strange little creatures begin to reveal themselves. I never go looking for...

read more

Patrick Taylor | Featured Artist Summer 2025

  Both these pieces were manually drawn on-screen (by hand, no filters or digital assistance). Patrick Taylor is a visual artist now based in Bolton, working across painting, drawing, and design. A graduate of Manchester College of Art & Design, his creative...

read more

Rob Edmondson | Featured Artist Summer 2025

  Rob Edmondson is a Lancashire-based landscape artist with a deep-rooted passion for capturing the shifting moods of the British countryside. Working predominantly in acrylics, his work draws inspiration from the wild moorlands, coastal paths, and quiet valleys...

read more

Janette Byrne | Featured Artist Summer 2025

  Janette Byrne (Jb Art) is a local artist who graduated with a Masters in Fine Art at the University of Greater Manchester. She has exhibited widely in the UK and has had several works accepted to go through to the Royal Academy Summer exhibition … and has Sold...

read more

Julia Preston | Featured Artist Summer 2025

  Based in Bolton, Julia Preston is the artist behind SulikoSoul — a creative practice rooted in bold colour, layered texture, and emotional connection to place. Working across acrylic painting, mixed media, pyrography, and anodised aluminium jewellery, her work...

read more

Julia Entwistle | Artist In Residence

Julia Entwistle is a contemporary British artist based in Lancashire, whose evocative landscapes offer more than just a view — they offer a feeling. Working primarily in oils and acrylics, Julia’s impressionistic style is guided by atmosphere and emotion rather than...

read more

Peter Arkwright | Artist In Residence

  Peter Arkwright is a Lancashire painter whose work shifts boldly between the physical and the emotional, the seen and the sensed. Whether portraying the raw energy of a rugby scrum or the solitary majesty of a Highland peak, Peter’s paintings are rooted in...

read more

Tina Hurst Artist In Residence

an abstract artist based at BL6 Studios whose practice is rooted in natural colour, sustainability, and intuitive design. With a professional background in architecture, fashion, and fine art, Tina now channels her energy into creating organic pigments, botanical...

read more

Jackie Williams | Featured Artist Summer 2025

Profile Image of Jackie by Ian Fletcher  Jackie Williams is a Lancashire-based painter whose work explores the shifting energies of landscape and light. Working primarily in acrylic, she creates expressive, textural pieces that move between abstraction and realism —...

read more

Kirsten Todd | Featured Artist Summer 2025

  Kirsten Todd is a Lancashire-based intuitive artist and founder of Art at Vixen, known for her emotionally charged abstracts and divine feminine portraiture. With a BA in Graphic Design and over 30 years in the creative industry, Kirsten has painted...

read more

Julia Uttley | Featured Artist Summer 2025

Profile image of Julia courtesy Don Tonge  Julia Uttley is a Bolton‑based photographer whose work reveals a deep connection to the region’s industrial heritage and moorland landscapes. Born and raised in Lancashire’s Fylde region, she was drawn back north in 2015,...

read more

Mike Lord | Featured Artist Summer 2025

Mike Lord is a Lancashire-based oil painter whose landscapes are both familiar and fantastical—echoing the moors, fields, and canals that surround his rural home. He came to painting later in life after careers in law, counselling, and mediation, discovering a passion...

read more

Karen Holt | Featured Artist Summer 2025

profile Image captured by Henry Lisowski Karen Holt is a Bolton-based artist and the creative force behind The Barn Studio, a welcoming artistic space that reflects her love for colour, texture, and expression. Known for her richly layered work that often blends...

read more