Join us at Ao5 Gallery as we host Nevena Bentz – local Austin Artist whose work focuses on the complex relationships between people and their surroundings.

Nevena is a Bulgarian artist who studied law in France, became a lawyer in Texas and a professor in Bulgaria – her life is one of many colorful experiences. Her constant pursuit of meaning culminated when she reconnected with her creative side.

Nevena Bentz ‘s artistic journey plays with female identity. Her work challenges society’s beauty standards for women and rebels against a market that reinforces their insecurities. Through the use of female fragments and distortion, Nevena’s work communicates women’s inner contradictions, struggles, and emotions and the fragile illusion of perfection they strive to achieve. To counter the sense of wreckage, Nevena uses bold and vibrant colors in playful ways as she assembles the fragments into a whole.

“The minute something begins to look predictable, I take a turn and feel an urgent need to disrupt its course. I like to surprise myself constantly, and that invariably leads to distorting the obvious and rebelling against conventions.”