ANNA FREEMAN BENTLEY The room, 2026 Oil on canvas 55 1/8 x 82 5/8 inches 140 x 210 cm
Lehmann Maupin is delighted to present Conduits, marking Anna Freeman Bentley’s debut solo exhibition with the gallery at its London location.
Opening on June 3, 2026, the exhibition showcases a collection of the artist’s recent and new paintings that investigate the concept of veils, drapery, and coverings as vehicles for deeper meaning.
This debut is deliberately timed to coincide with London Gallery Weekend, running from June 5 to June 7, 2026.
Central to Freeman Bentley’s artistic practice is a psychological and geographic exploration of built environments, ranging from historic architecture and baroque rooms to commercial storefronts, industrial venues, and film sets.
Her work analyzes how physical structures are molded by their social function, class dynamics, human aspiration, and the passage of time, frequently engaging with concepts of neighborhood gentrification, architectural decay, and urban renewal.
Rather than merely documenting these environments, her paintings investigate their underlying cultural significance, their utility, and the subtle traces of human life they contain.
Even in the total absence of human figures, the empty rooms she depicts feel charged with energy, hinting at forgotten histories or hidden narratives.
The pieces featured in Conduits originate from Freeman Bentley's ongoing project, Complete Reality, a broad body of work that delves into the interplay between truth, artificiality, and layered symbolism within staged settings.
Concentrating on interior environments from a singular geographic location, the works in this specific exhibition repeatedly utilize the imagery of curtains, textiles, and protective coverings.
By capturing scenes that hint at a focal point hidden just out of view, the paintings examine the fragile boundary between the authentic and the fabricated, as well as the permanent and the temporary.
This approach ultimately challenges the distinction between images recorded by a camera lens and those constructed through the physical medium of paint.
In an accompanying text written for the exhibition, art historian Dr. Joost Joustra observes that viewers experience these spaces indirectly—caught in mirrors, glimpsed through parted curtains, or viewed from doorways and thresholds.
He notes a voyeuristic and occasionally eerie quality to the scenes, where the material details of the furniture, such as heavy rugs, velour, velvet, and voile, serve as physical remnants of human presence.
For Joustra, these fabrics act as instruments that simultaneously hide and reveal, prompting the viewer’s imagination to reconstruct the lives of the inhabitants through material clues rather than literal portraiture, characterizing Freeman Bentley's work as highly deliberate still lifes.
This thematic complexity is evident in one of her latest paintings, Directing light (2026), which portrays an environment enveloped entirely in heavy drapery while a mirror reflection reveals a headless mannequin adorned in textiles and sheer headwear.
The physical texture of the paint mirrors the qualities of the fabrics themselves, utilizing intricate layers of color to reflect overlapping conceptual meanings.
The exhibition's title, Conduits, highlights how the paint and the image merge to serve as a channel for diverse interpretations.
Additionally, the recurring curtain motif invokes notions of theatrical staging, spatial division, the dismantling of boundaries, and impending dramatic narratives.
Ultimately, Freeman Bentley uses her brushwork to transform interior architecture into intricate emotional and cultural terrains where design, storytelling, and human perception converge.
ANNA FREEMAN BENTLEY A time to refrain, 2024 Oil on canvas 140 x 168 cm
Anna Freeman Bentley’s work explores the uncanny dimensions of architectural design, illustrating interior spaces filled with heightened emotional and psychological tension.
By omitting human figures, she invites viewers to project narratives onto these spaces, building self-contained worlds that hold subtle clues about the artificiality and intricate social dynamics of human-made environments.
Born in London in 1982, Freeman Bentley earned her BA from Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2004 and completed her MA at the Royal College of Art in London in 2010.
Over the course of her career, she has participated in notable artist residencies, including the Palazzo Monti residency in Brescia in 2019 and the Artist in Restaurant residency at London’s Michelin-starred Pied à Terre in 2012.
Her paintings have been featured in major international art events such as the Prague Biennale 5 in 2011 and Bloomberg New Contemporaries in 2009.
She has exhibited widely at institutions and galleries including Anat Ebgi in Los Angeles, Monica De Cardenas in Zuoz, Massimo de Carlo Pièce Unique in Paris, Grimm Gallery in Amsterdam, Lyndsey Ingram and Frestonian Gallery in London, Space K in Seoul, and DENK Gallery in Los Angeles.
Her artwork is held in prominent global collections, including the Tia Collection in Santa Fe, Museum X in Beijing, Hotel Crillon in Paris, Hogan Lovells in London, and the Ahmanson Collection in Irvine.
In January 2025, Anomie Publishing released her comprehensive monograph, Complete Reality, featuring essays by Jennifer Higgie and Kathryn Lloyd alongside an interview by Elisabetta Fabrizi.
The artist continues to live and work in London.
Anna Freeman-Bentley: Conduits Installation view Lehmann Maupin London June 3–August 14
