Ben is a contemporary visual artist whose work is predominantly comprised of large-scale, abstract color-field paintings and light projections.

Born in 1980 in Melbourne, Ben studied graphic design, fine art and screenwriting from 1999 – 2008. From 2001 – 2020, he lived and worked in Melbourne. He had his debut exhibition – Radlands, a series of nine large-scale collages – at Bruce Gallery in 2012. He then shifted his focus onto abstract painting and film-making. In 2019, he presented a new series of colour-field paintings at a group show at Five Walls Gallery, Melbourne. Since 2020, he has embraced the coastal lifestyle, living around the Geelong/Djilang and Surf Coast area, which has provided much inspiration and influenced his work significantly.

By originally working on more minimal colour-field paintings, Ben’s process has gradually evolved into one where more free-flowing hues of light are created by different pigments and materials crossing paths, colliding and reacting to one another. This kind of light painting comes from the idea that some of the most rich, brilliant and evocative colour combinations can only be tapped into subconsciously, or semi-intentionally. So the objective is to set the scene for this to occur, and then to capture it; meaning that elements of nature and happenstance play a significant role.

The resulting fields of colour present windows, or gateways, to new spaces and dimensions. Hard, defined edges frame otherwise nebulous, free-flowing abstract depths, containing something otherwise infinite and edgeless beyond.

Ben’s latest work specifically seeks to promote feelings within the viewer of meditative calm and tranquility — and possibly even sublime transcendence — through the use of shifting colours.