BIOGRAPHY
Ben Browton was born on the Isle of Wight. Ben has lived in Royal Leamington Spa and London, but now lives in Hastings, East Sussex and has a studio in Bexhill, East Sussex. Ben’s creative career spans some 4 decades involving art, music and performance in the UK, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Japan. Ben returned to a committed studio practice in 2009 and has spent the last 14 years developing a strong practice of making and doing.
CV
1985: Graduated from Goldsmiths’ College, London (BA Honours Fine Art)
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012: PREACHING TO THE INVERTED, Martel Colour Print, Hastings
2007: IDENTITY PARADE, Electric Palace Cinema, Hastings
2004: CAMERANTICS, Indo Bar, Whitechapel, London (for Alternative Arts East End Photo Month)
1993: PARATYPES at Hales Gallery cafe, Deptford, London
1992: FUNDAMENT/FIRMAMENT, Beak Street, Soho, London (for Alternative Arts) 1991: RetroSpecTive, Carpenters Road Open Studios, Stratford, London
2020-21:
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
ON THE ROAD OF SEA STARS, Zuzushii Art Laboratory, Hastings (two-person show with Madi Acharya-Baskerville)
WAYS OF PROTEST, Elysium Gallery, Swansea
36TH ANNUAL OPEN, Southwark Park Galleries, London
2020: PREMONITION, Zuzushii Art Laboratory, Hastings
‘FUNCTIONAL/DYSFUNCTIONAL, Zuzushii Art Laboratory, Hastings
2019: MAN SIZED, Electro Studios, Hastings
(Curated by Joshua Vaughan & James Sirrell of Exchange Project, London)
OPEN STUDIOS for Coastal Currents Arts Festival Hastings (2016-2022)
2015: THINKING/MAKING, Curious Projects, Eastbourne
EAST SUSSEX OPEN, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne (Selection panel: Jonathon Watkins/Saskia Olde Wolbers/Sanna Moore)
2014: NAVIGATO Residency, Corigliano d’Otranto, Puglia, Italy
2013: NAVIGATE Art Trail, Bexhill for De La Warr Pavilion/Coastal Currents Arts Festival
De La Warr Pavilion ARTISTS CRITIQUE GROUP EXHIBITION, Bexhill
2011: PUNK AND BEYOND, Signal Gallery, London
2001: PASSION, Gasworks Gallery, London
1995: TRAVELLING LIGHT, Ausstellungsraum Klingental, Basel
1990: Contemporary Arts Society Market, Covent Garden, London
1989: ANGELS ON THE FLYPAPER, Diorama Gallery, London
1988: FRAGMENTS OF FALSE HOUSES, Pomeroy Purdy Gallery, London.
HOMAGE TO THE SQUARE, Flaxman Gallery, London
1987: THE SHELF SHOW, Kettles Yard, Cambridge
5, Kunstlerhaus Klenzestrasse, Munich (supported by British Council)
‘X’, Barbican Arts Centre, London
1986:
RIVERSIDE STUDIOS OPEN, Riverside Studios, London
ART IN RUINS (Our Wonderful Culture), St George’s Crypt, Bloomsbury
Publications: ‘Fragments of Haunted Houses’ catalogue 1988 (Pomeroy Purdy)
‘Travelling Light’ catalogue 1995 (Hales Gallery)
Edition: MAINSTREAM screenprints (Edition of 25) 2021 published in collaboration with Laura Lea Design
STATEMENT
The most obvious aspect about my work is the rigorous orange and black colour scheme, a duality that serves my purpose as a baseline from which the work expands. I enjoy the contrast between the orange, which seems to emit colour and light, and the black that absorbs colour and light, rather in the manner of Yin and Yang.
My studio practice generally features construction, followed by the addition of varying materials, ranging from fabric, digital prints and found objects which are used to build a narrative. Motifs that occur regularly are the number 6, magnifying devices, self-portraits, Chinese plastic oranges, silver forks, Japanese luncharms, mt version of the Union Jack and typographic elements. To an extent, many of my works are three-dimensional collages.
This was most manifest in the series I made in 2020-21, the Inklings series of wall-based objects, all constructed over the period of the Covid 19 lockdowns in the UK . I enjoyed the juxtaposition of separate distinct elements that deliberately lead to or veer away from an easy understanding of each individual work, rather in the manner of a rebus. In constructing these works, I attempted to work in a more intuitive manner, in order to allow my creativity to emerge unhindered by pre-conceptualising the outcome, a method I continue to the present. The scale of these works leads them to feel rather like architect’s models for buildings, or designs for future monuments. I generally constructed each work around a central core, which featured a particular motif, and which is naturally the focal point for each individual work. I then added peripheral items around this. Each of these works had two distinct stages in the making – the first was a rough and rapid construction phase, the second was a longer process of refining and finishing.
For me, making art is a fairly organic process that is limited only by time and space and means. Over the last 14 years of my studio practice, I have worked from tiny to large scale, and have developed ideas for much larger artworks to be placed in external locations.
