Ben says –
“I’m delighted to be holding my first solo exhibition with Carnes Fine Art. It is a real honour to be sharing this moment with a fantastic gallery that has supported and championed my work since the start. I’ve created a new collection of cityscapes that will showcase the region and northern roots, including Liverpool waterfront and the industrial landscape of Manchester. I look forward to catching up with art lovers old and new.”
Ben Ark is a contemporary landscape artist based in Salford, in the north west of England. Ben was brought up in the era when digital photography and darkroom technologies collided. These early experiences translate into his pieces; his mixed media works merge traditional painting techniques with modern practices such as digital painting. He mixes mediums uniquely, using acrylic paint, watercolour, ink, digital mixed media collage (merging hand painted areas and elements of digital photographs), pigment prints, gels, pastes, resins and varnishes on wooden art panels.
Ben’s work is distinctly his own, having built a style through years of experimentation. Through his landscapes he generates a sense of movement, time passing and a hint at a life having been lived within the landscape space. Revisiting landscapes and themes, he is able to rekindle memories he had long thought forgotten. The genre of landscape art allows real freedom for Ben. Rural scenes, contemporary cityscapes and modern roadscapes can be both similar and different to each other. The variety of subjects he is able to work with keeps him hungry for new projects and his passion is evident in each piece he creates. As humans, we have the ability to shape our surroundings and landscapes, similarly the landscape has the power to shape us. Through his works, Ben catalogues some of these landscapes, uniquely preserving an important point in time.
Ben’s talents have been deservedly recognised in the most prestigious circles. His work has featured in the “Days Like These” exhibition held at the Lowry Art Gallery in Salford sitting alongside the work of other Salford artists including L.S. Lowry and The Wales Contemporary, held in Pembrokeshire during 2020.
Ben’s work, has featured in many national exhibitions including the New Light Art Prize, which celebrates the best in contemporary northern art. The exhibition toured the country during 2020 and 2021. Ben was both happy and humbled to have been successfully shortlisted from over 2,000 applicants in the exhibition’s tenth anniversary year on his first time of applying. His artworks were so well received by exhibition attendees, he was awarded the peoples choice award. This, in turn, led to a selective invitation to take part in ‘Northern Lights – New Light, a ten year retrospective’ in March 2022.
2022 was particularly successful for Ben, he went on to win First Prize at The Open [3] exhibition held at Salford Museum and Art Gallery in September 2022. This biennial exhibition was on display for 3 months in the stunning North Gallery. Entry was open to all artists working in any medium who live, work, study or were born in Salford. It was a real honour for Ben to win this prestigious award in his home city.
In November, two of Ben’s works were chosen for display as part of the 2022 ING Discerning Eye exhibition. His works were selected from a record-breaking number of applications close to 7500 entries. In addition to exhibiting at the prestigious Mall Galleries in London, Ben was delighted to be awarded the prestigious Cityscape Prize for his artworks.
Ben’s work is growing from strength to strength, as he gains further recognition at a national level. He is a multi-award winning artist, recognised for his contemporary mixed media take on the landscape genre. 2023 sees him in further exhibitions and having multiple works published in a book celebrating landscape art.
Ben has created a number of stunning new works especially for this first solo exhibition, capturing iconic locations in Manchester and Liverpool. To register your interest in this prestigious event please contact Carnes Fine Art.
