Benwell’s oeuvre spans five decades and extends across ceramics, drawings, works on paper and paintings, with ceramics currently the central focus of his practice. With an interest in surface, his works are layered in colour, sometimes muddied, at other moments soft and sheer. Often textured with the ‘artist’s hand’, evidence of Benwell’s careful decision-making and instinct is present in each piece. His figurative works were initially inspired by 18th century figurines and Greco-Roman statues - here he fuses contemporary aesthetics with craft traditions, producing figures unhindered by form, instead glazed with the tone of their subject; exposed, captured and sometimes forlorn.

Recent exhibitions include presentations at the Melbourne Art Fair, Sydney Contemporary, LON Gallery, Craft, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Deakin University Art Gallery, Artbank, Geelong Gallery, Woollahra Gallery at Redleaf, RMIT Gallery, Heide Modern, Bundanon, Woollongong Art Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, The Vivian (NZ) and Kunstforum Solothurn (Switzerland). Benwell’s work is held in most significant collections in Australia including Artbank, Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Deakin University, Geelong Art Gallery, HOTA, Melbourne University, National Gallery of Victoria, Parliament House, Powerhouse Museum, QAGOMA, RMIT University, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.