Join us June 27th · Opening of Compartments · Briggs Freeman | Sotheby’s, Fort Worth
Fine Art · Photography · Fort Worth

Patrick TAZ Bentley

Abstract paintings and photography that live in the space between rhythm and reflection.

Born Dallas · Based Fort Worth · Est. 1970s
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Bentley’s paintings merge the pulse of a musician with the instinct of a visual storyteller — balancing order, texture, and emotion in a search for rhythm beyond sound.

From the press kit · Compartments, 2025
I Act one
The main wall
Compartments · Selected paintings

Order, chaos,
& everything between.

Compartments explores the balance between chaos and control through an abstract language of boxes, frames, and implied boundaries. Six paintings drawn from the collection — layered color fields that resemble emotional blueprints, part architecture, part improvisation. Hung here as they might be on a gallery wall.

The Abstract Piece — latex, metallic paint on canvas
The Abstract Piece Le morceau abstrait · La pieza abstracta
24 × 36 in
Latex / metallic on canvas
The Horse — latex paint
The Horse Le cheval · El caballo
30 × 30 in
Latex paint
Three Boxes and an Eternal Kiss
Three Boxes & an Eternal Kiss Trois boîtes avec un baiser éternel · Tres cajas y un beso eterno
24 × 36 in
Chalk / metallic / charcoal
Abyss — acrylic, chalk paint, metallic, pastel
Abyss Abîme · Abismo
36 × 48 in
Acrylic / chalk / metallic / pastel
End of Persistance — acrylic, metallic, pastel, gold leaf
End of Persistance Fin de la persistance · Fin de la persistancia
48 × 60 in
Acrylic / metallic / pastel / gold leaf
Canal in Red — acrylic, chalk paint, pastel on canvas
Canal in Red Canal en rouge · Canal en rojo
36 × 48 in
Acrylic / chalk / pastel
II Act two
A cluster of four
Compartments · Studies in white

Quieter
compartments.

Four works that share a vocabulary — chalk and charcoal drawn across expanses of white, a single block of pigment held in tension by the restraint around it. Hung together because they belong together.

What Once Was — chalk, metallic, charcoal, colored pencil
What Once Was Ce qui était autrefois · Lo que una vez fue
30 × 40 in
Chalk / metallic / charcoal
The Second, First Place — chalk paint, metallic, charcoal on canvas, framed
The Second, First Place La deuxième, la première place · El segundo, primer lugar
23¼ × 29¼ in · Framed
Chalk / metallic / charcoal
Fallen Ladder — acrylic, chalk paint, metallic, pastel
Fallen Ladder L’échelle tombée · Escalera caída
36 × 48 in · Framed
Acrylic / chalk / metallic / pastel
The Idea — acrylic, colored pencil, gold leaf on canvas, framed
The Idea L’idée · La idea
24 × 36 in · Framed
Acrylic / pencil / gold leaf
III Act three
At scale
Compartments · 36 × 48 in

The larger
canvases.

Two of the largest works in the body, both 36 × 48. Where the smaller paintings are studies, these are rooms — entered rather than observed. Their darkness is deliberate.

Two Hills — 36 × 48 in, acrylic, chalk, metallic, pastel
Two Hills Deux collines · Dos colinas
36 × 48 in
Acrylic / chalk / metallic / pastel
She Moves — 36 × 48 in, acrylic, chalk, metallic, pastel
She Moves Elle bouge · Ella se mueve
36 × 48 in
Acrylic / chalk / metallic / pastel
IV · Artist Statement

The space between rhythm
& reflection.

For years, I built a life around sound — the pulse of drums, the structure of songs, the tension between order and release. Now, in paint, I chase those same dynamics through color, texture, and form.

Compartments began as an observation — how we divide, contain, and organize our lives — but it became something deeper. Each box, each layered boundary, is both a shelter and a cage. They hold fragments of memory, emotion, and experience, arranged in a way that might make sense for a moment before dissolving again into abstraction.

I’ve always been drawn to the spaces between things — chaos and control, movement and stillness, noise and silence. Painting, for me, is a way to organize the unspoken. It’s a visual rhythm, a continuation of the song I’ve been playing my whole life — only now, it comes through brushstrokes instead of beats.

Signed, Patrick Bentley Fort Worth · 2025
V Act five
Photography, part one
From the lens · Dans les Nuages

A quieter rhythm
in silver.

Aerial studies in black & white — cloud as architecture, sky as room. The Dans les Nuages series extends the visual language of Compartments into distance and time, locating the same edge between containment and release a mile above the ground.

Celestial Vault — B&W photograph from Dans les Nuages series
Celestial Vault Voûte céleste · Bóveda celeste From Dans les Nuages
Unframed 16 × 20 in
Black & white photograph And increments thereof
The Sea Above — B&W photograph from Dans les Nuages series
The Sea Above La mer au-dessus · El mar arriba From Dans les Nuages
Unframed 16 × 20 in
Black & white photograph And increments thereof
VI Act six
Photography, part two
From the lens · Ghost of West Texas

Sepia meditations
on the horizon.

Marfa, Terlingua, and the long roads between. The Ghost of West Texas series is part archive, part landscape portrait — a quiet catalog of the places where light and time leave their marks.

Finding Nocona — sepia photograph, 20 × 28 in
Finding Nocona Trouver Nocona · Encontrando a Nocona From Ghost of West Texas
Unframed approx. 20 × 28 in
Sepia photograph And increments thereof
Impending — sepia photograph
Impending Imminente · Inminente From Ghost of West Texas
Unframed approx. 20 × 28 in
Sepia photograph And increments thereof
On a Lost Highway — sepia photograph
On a Lost Highway Sur une route perdue · En un camino perdido From Ghost of West Texas
Unframed approx. 11 × 16 in
Sepia photograph And increments thereof
Also from the lens · Commercial

For fashion, travel, product, and editorial assignments
see the commercial photography portfolio.

tazbentleyphoto.com →
VII · Biography

A life of rhythm.

Patrick “Taz” Bentley is a Dallas-born, Fort Worth–based painter and photographer whose work bridges rhythm, structure, and emotion. A graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, he first studied art and music side by side before leaving college for a life on the road.

Reverend Horton Heat · Tenderloin · Burden Brothers · Izzy Stradlin · Duff McKagan · Slash · Hell Texas · The Javelinas.

Painting was the thread he kept returning to. After decades of touring, Bentley now turns his full focus to fine art — producing the Compartments body of work and pursuing gallery representation and exhibitions across Texas and beyond. He also maintains a respected practice as a fashion and product photographer.

Currently seeking
Solo & group exhibitions · Gallery representation · Collector inquiries

The full catalog · Digital edition

See everything.

The walkthrough above shows a selection. The full artist book presents the complete body of work across paintings and photography — including sold pieces, limited editions, and studies not shown here.

View the art book → 95 pages · Opens in a new tab
VIII · Inquiries

Let’s make
something.

For exhibition, representation, commission, or collection inquiries, please reach the studio directly or through representation. Works from Compartments are available for solo and group exhibitions.

Email
tazbentley@gmail.com Studio inbox
Instagram
@tazbentleyfineart Current work
Representation
Gina McEuen gina@robeegraffix.com Agent