Artist statement

In my work, “Visual Linguistics” and post millennialist mythologies: the potential manifestations for holiness. I transform everyday people into characters of romantic and fantastical works of modern mythology, collaborating with models from virtually all walks of life–from doctors to sex workers, actors, and other artists. Through extensive post-production, I place them into settings of epic proportion. Most of my subjects are seen through an objectifying gaze, others as archetypes, some being hyper-masculine, others being characters in novels or plays, allowing them to be vulnerable and show emotions. I also like to explore gender and body types and on occasion the idea of alien and cross-species integration into the human form.

To form the backgrounds, I combine fragments of paintings with photographs of the models I work with. This blending of elements creates an otherworldly effect and makes the models often appear godlike. Each image has an indeterminate narrative quality, which allows viewers to emotionally connect to the work and give it its final shape.

The work exists between painting and photography, influenced equally by artists in both disciplines. Renaissance painters such as Jan van Eyck, Michelangelo, and Titian inspire the compositions and narrative. The final results are reminiscent of Baroque painters such as Schönfeld-Opferszene, Caravaggio, and Tiepolo. Not limited to this time period or genre, I weave in the romanticism of photographers like Steichen and Margaret Cameron as well as the hyper-sexual intent of Mapplethorpe. I find inspiration for much of my work in literature and folklore.

The works, as objects, also straddle these mediums. Some key compositions are re-rendered in oil on canvas, whereas others are encaustic photographs, meaning that the surface is treated with wax and pigment. Both of these processes heighten the depth of the images by building up the surface.

Artist Bio

Ben Fink experienced life in a transient way growing up in Baltimore in the 1960s. Both his parents died when he was very young. For a time, he was placed with various family members and finally in foster care. This created Ben’s worldview.

Ben works across multiple media, including photography, illustration, and physical painting. Ben has created a new body of work that continues to evolve into mixed media. This manifests sensibilities and direct references to historical painting while at the same time using modern figures as focal points. Ben’s earlier studies of painting, art history, paper making, and photography continue to influence his work.

He attended undergraduate school at Memphis College of Art and the University of Memphis. After graduating, he established a studio and began splitting his time between commercial endeavors and creating art.

Ben combines fragments of paintings, landscapes, and architectural spaces. This mélange helps create an intent of what he refers to as an “out-of-time” effect where proportions of place, subject, and model(s) embrace our need for modern-day myth. Each image suggests a narrative allowing viewers to engage in the implied mythologies which help to give his work its final shape.

In 1997, Ben moved to New York and achieved further success in both commercial work and Fine Art. In 2005, he released a series entitled “Shadow Realms.” This led to a solo show in a Chelsea gallery in 2007. This show was yet another extension of his ongoing theme of romanticism. Ben has also exhibited in various group shows. He served on the board of directors of the Center for Photography, Woodstock NY. from 2009 to 2014.

Artist approach

In my work, “Visual Linguistics” and post millennialist mythologies: the potential manifestations for holiness. I transform everyday people into characters of romantic and fantastical works of modern mythology, collaborating with models from virtually all walks of life–from doctors to sex workers, actors, and other artists. Through extensive post-production, I place them into settings of epic proportion. Most of my subjects are seen through an objectifying gaze, others as archetypes, some being hyper-masculine, others being characters in novels or plays, allowing them to be vulnerable and show emotions. I also like to explore gender and body types and on occasion the idea of alien and cross-species integration into the human form.

To form the backgrounds, I combine fragments of paintings with photographs of the models I work with. This blending of elements creates an otherworldly effect and makes the models often appear godlike. Each image has an indeterminate narrative quality, which allows viewers to emotionally connect to the work and give it its final shape.

The work exists between painting and photography, influenced equally by artists in both disciplines. Renaissance painters such as Jan van Eyck, Michelangelo, and Titian inspire the compositions and narrative. The final results are reminiscent of Baroque painters such as Schönfeld-Opferszene, Caravaggio, and Tiepolo. Not limited to this time period or genre, I weave in the romanticism of photographers like Steichen and Margaret Cameron as well as the hyper-sexual intent of Mapplethorpe. I find inspiration for much of my work in literature and folklore.

There are numerous references to symbolism, which further adds to the aspect of storytelling. I work quickly and without hesitation. If I’m not satisfied when I’m done, I just start over and head in a different direction. Often, after the work is complete, I discover relationships between the collaged imagery and my figures that further deepen my understanding of how the unconscious can play a large part in the development of a piece.

The compositions are rendered with encaustic to coat the surface with wax and pigment. This process heightens the depth of the image by building up the surface often causing the viewer to question whether the final work is a painting or photograph which is ultimately my goal.

The final results and often the process itself can question how we relate to each other and our environments by telling visual stories, with my work often posing as many questions as it does answers. My goal is to engage the viewer with my storytelling. I don’t give them everything. I merely suggest what they might be seeing. This has become evident as when I post on social media, often getting private messages about what a particular work might mean to an individual. This is exciting to me, knowing that I truly engaged the viewer in my process.

When working with my subjects there’s a process that we go through identifying our approach to what we are ultimately creating. The subjects often come to me through social media or by word of mouth and are ultimately collaborative participants helping shape the final product in its storytelling. With every work I complete I feel like there’s a deepening enhancement to the entire project. Often, I go back revising my initial explanation of a particular piece, providing new insights as a project develops.

“The artist’s process step-by-step”

1. After identifying a subject I wish to work with, I contact them through Instagram or Facebook and occasionally in person.

2. In the process of my first initial contact, I explain the project and ask them for their in-put. At first many are reluctant stating, “you are the artist and it’s your vision,” which usually opens a conversation that this is a collaborative process.

3. If the subject agrees, we can begin trading references usually in the form of drawings paintings or sculptures. Both of us usually participate in this exchange. This can happen via text or through Instagram messenger.

4. When we settle on the direction of the shoot, we decide a time and place. During Covid to the present, I’ve been doing a great deal of shooting outdoors usually setting up a small alfresco studio, working mainly at night to create the dramatic lighting on the figures. I shoot on either a white or black background often using one or two props with the figure. I do this usually as a necessity because I want to ground them in the present while creating and out of time experience around them.

5. Using art as a reference I methodically pose the figures mimicking our reference. Often my subjects can’t quite make the pose, so we improvise and often this turns out even better than the original idea, but we have a starting point. Sometimes my ideas are very clear of how I want a piece of work to be executed but, many times not. It is a very intuitive process and I find it best while creating the work to go with the flow and see where it takes us.

6. After the shoot I identify the individual files that I wish to work with. Sometimes seeing a diamond in the rough, I start to envision the final piece. This process usually happens early in the morning when I have a clear head, listening to music, or a creative inter-view.

7. From a typical shoot I usually get 3 to 5 images to become final pieces. I produce a great deal which allows me to be an aggressive editor, only picking the strongest pieces for final presentation as a completed work of art.

8. In post-production I take out the background that existed around the figure. Using a large tablet, I place them in constructed backgrounds that can be made up of multiple images. The backgrounds are made up of images from paintings that I’ve shot in museums around the world or from research I’ve done on the Internet, at times even purchasing the rights to an image. Most are in the public domain.

9. After getting an image assembled to the stage of being satisfied on the storytelling level, I begin to color-grade and then apply an overall texture that gives the work a cohesive look.

10. Then the work is printed in a size appropriate to the desired emotional impact.

11. I mount the print on a wooden solid stretcher, that process varies depending on whether the surface is paper or Canvas.

12. This next stage I can use different tools and mediums to work the surface bringing out details. That happens with an assortment of materials sometimes colored pencils sometimes oil pastel and even paint is applied.

13. Finally, I do a series of wax coatings often with pigments between those layers. My best results have been doing this in the heat of the day outside in the sun. I use large pallet knives to move the wax around putting texture in the surface. Applying and scraping away the medium over and over. After, I put the work in a cool place to solidify the wax.

14. A series of buffings gives the surface a final glaze appearance. This process happens over a period of time until the wax has hardened and stabilized.

The result is a surface that has a great deal of depth in color and texture with a mix of classical and modern techniques. My largest motivation in creating this body of work has been my passion for art history, photography, and painting, combining them into works of art and stories on an emotional level with a digital and analog technique. I feel that this body of work is still unfinished which is very satisfying to me. I look forward to seeing where it takes me next.

My visualization is further enhanced by using the words of Terrel Hale. We have been collaborating for a while. When I have a completed work, I send him the image and he writes a sonnet to the piece. I include these for each of my pieces.

A key aspect of Terrel’s writing includes the idea that language dictates meaning rather than the other way around. This writing is called Language poetry which seeks to involve the reader in the text, placing importance on reader participation in the construction of meaning. In other words, by breaking up poetic language, the poet is requiring the reader to find a new way to approach the text.

According to Language poet Lyn Hejinian,

“Language is nothing but meanings, and meanings are nothing but a flow of contexts. Such con-texts rarely coalesce into images, rarely come to terms. They are transitions, transmutations, the endless radiating of denotation into relation.”

It’s rather amazing that we found each other, and our approaches are inherently similar!

Through our collaboration I have found that describing the work that I’m doing as Visual linguistics, is the language poetry for the eye.