Sam Bennett was born in Dunedin in 1980 and spent his school years at Otago Boys High School then Logan Park High School concentrating mostly on 'art'.    After school, Bennett shifted to Christchurch and studied art and design including life drawing.

In 2003 he shifted back to Dunedin and attended the University of Otago where he continued to study graphic design, (& philosophy).  It was at this time he started painting part time whilst working for the Otago Daily Times at a graphic designer.

In 2004 after his first sell out show, Sam decided to take up a building apprenticeship in Christchurch, whilst still painting on a very part-time basis this 'new' career path took hold and Bennett worked as a commericial builder in NZ until 2009 when his building took him to Perth, Western Australia, where he has been residing ever since.

Bennett - is known for his mostly female portraits which are at times depicted on a very large scale.  He applies lush, thick oil paint using a palette knife, working them on his stretched canvases.

His palette has changed over time.  Earlier on in his career he worked mostly using only black, red & yellow - more recently he exploits colour unreservedly.  Franky Strachan, an art reviewer for the Otago Daily Times wrote that he "treated line like a present torn open with enthusiasm."

Bennett's later work still has that 'wow' factor - beautiful, large, colourful, loose & lush paint work which on closer inspection has an abstraction all of its own.  He has also  more recently started to portray more than just one person in his work - the interaction between his subjects is clearly evident.