Bensley and Dipré, a duo of artists now in their fifth year of collaboration.

The starting point or base camp of their working method combines film photography with overpainting. Subjects (usually the artists themselves) are shot on black and white film, then from these shoots selected silver gelatin prints are reworked in the studio.

Over time the collaboration has acquired increasing layers of complexity, with David and Nicola’s nominal roles (painter - photographer) growing blurred and interchangeable. Both at shooting and print manipulation stages they look to push the boundaries of the process, through applying distortion or interposing other media in the former, or by incorporating scratching, drawing or collage (as well as painting) in the latter.

These explorations serve to create a highly distinctive visual language, one that merges their respective disciplines and integrates the materials under their control.