REFLECTIONS OF MATTER AND NATURE

Nevena Bentz spends countless hours photographing the wilderness. She is particularly drawn to water reflections, which give her a sense of life’s etherealness and a feeling of freedom. “Seeing the world through water, one gets the sense of looking into a magic mirror where all solid forms dissolve into an illusory reality. It is immersive art at its finest and a deeply spiritual experience.”

Nevena’s artistic journey is marked by a quest to understand the human condition and the unprecedented role of humanity today, as a geological force with planetary impact. She plays with the notions of fragmentation and duality, using mixed media in a process that is uniquely hers, creating an aesthetic that vacillates between the abstract and the figurative. Abstract fragments fuse and, in the flow of creativity, become organized into a coherent mosaic-like ensemble. This approach conveys Bentz’s view of life as a phenomenon of interwoven and interconnected seemingly separate particles or events, coexisting chaotically within the coherent, orderly whole. The result of these aesthetic choices is a harmonious composition where the human form dissolves into Nature’s rich textures and patterns, and where the notion of separation gives way to the idea of oneness.

In the series One, the feminine, as a symbol of beauty, creativity, and renewal blends with Nature, to depict the union of these two co-creative forces of life. The series Her removes the human reference, rendering an homage to Her, Nature, the ultimate creator.