Benedict Sibley - Biography

Benedict Sibley is a visual artist working between Naarm/Melbourne and the Kinglake Ranges in regional Victoria. His practice is drawing and printmaking based informed by observation, photography and research. Charcoal, graphite, ink and powdered pigments are Sibley’s central mediums while photogravure etchings & mapmaking form part of his expanded drawing practice. Sibley’s drawings often appear photoreal as he is interested by the intersection between the idea of photographic ‘truth’ and an observer’s perception.

Using visual strategies such as scale, texture, contrast, cropping and distortion, Sibley heavily manipulates the source images for his drawings to create new meanings. With his printmaking, photographic images are mediated through traditional or analogue means like the etching press. Hand painting his photogravure etchings with delicate ink brushwork can also shift an image into unanticipated territory, recalling the effect of hand tinted 19th century daguerreotype or albumen prints.

Sibley holds a Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) from RMIT University (1991), a Master of Contemporary Art from the Victorian College of the Arts (2018) & in the Autumn of 2016 he participated in the internationally recognized Marathon program at the New York Studio School. Sibley’s work has been selected for numerous significant prizes – including the Rick Amor, Paul Guest, Swan Hill, Heysen Landscape & Kedumba Drawing Awards. Featured regularly in high-profile exhibitions and museum shows nationally, Sibley’s works are held in private collections throughout Australia, North America, the UK & Europe.