Ben’s obsessive-compulsive artistic relationship with skulls and bones is clearly a consequence of being born with super human illustration skills and x-ray vision.

His latest series of candy coloured portraits split Kurt Cobain, James Dean, Sid Vicious, Jimmy Hendrix, Buddy Holly and music’s most recent victim, Amy Winehouse, quite literally, in half. The Andy Warhol inspired comical renders, are part morbid tongue in cheek (or skull) and part eternal depictions (flesh). Die Young salutes popular idols with untimely deaths. As Ben puts it…”the celebrity life-style that we seem to aspire to, had killed them all by the age of 27″

An illustrator for over twenty years, Ben Brown is a regular contributor of comics for editorial, including the notorious surfing publication ‘Stab’. He has designed extensive clothing graphics for brands such as Mambo, Insight, Globe, O’Neill, Rip Curl, Ocean & Earth, Nice Produce and Supply, and he has designed music and festival posters for the likes of Nirvana, Frenzal Rhomb, Silverchair, Fat Boy Slim, The Hoodoo Gurus, Big Day Out, Good Vibrations Festival, Homebake and The Falls Festival.

Die Young opens on the 9th of December from 6pm to 10pm and is on exhibition until the 24th December 2011 at The National Grid Gallery, 24 Chard Rd, Brookvale.

East West came to fruition one balmy summer evening in late 2010 when some light drunken banter between two like minded friends, (one from Yallingup, WA, and the other from Narrabeen, NSW), developed into a fully fledged group exhibition of artists from opposite sides of Australia.

Art loving east coaster, Bryan Dalli, and west coast creative all rounder, Luke Thomas, have culminated their artistic networks to curate an exhibition of nine artists from the west coast of Australia, and nine artists from the east coast of Australia.

“Louie and I saw a gap in art show space. There were no stand out events that brought together talent from such polar opposites, we felt the need to set the benchmark and bridge the gap” BD.

The exhibition showcases the assorted talents and artistic techniques of emerging to established artists, normally separated by geography, in a communal space. Each of the 18 artists were hand picked to compliment the groups dynamics, and to bring their own unique style and flavour to the event.

“We set out to select a broad mix of skills and artistic genres, so we pulled together friends and colleagues from different backgrounds and compiled a pretty hard hitting line up. The show has stencils and graffiti, juxtaposed with low brow art, and epic garage pieces.” LT.

There will be a live airbrushing display on the opening night with the final product being sold by silent auction. The 2011 East West event debuts in Sydney (11/11/11), with the show set to start touring coast to coast next year.

Artists involved include:

WEST COAST ARTISTS:
IAN MUTCH (KINGBROWN), JEN THOMAS, HOLDFAST TATTOO STUDIOS ARTISTS, PHIL SMART, SUZI Q,  LAUREN FENLON, RYAN YOUNG, NATHAN B, SAIRA KWOL

EAST COAST ARTISTS:
CASPIAN DE LOOZE, BEC CROCKETT, EMILY REID, LAURE IVES, NICK BAZAROW, PATRICK INDO, RAD DAN, SAM CLARK, DESMOND SWEENEY (LIVE AIRBRUSHING)

East West opens at 6.30pm on Friday the 11th of November at The National Grid Gallery, 24 Chard Rd Brookvale, and is on exhibition until the 2nd of December.

OPENING NIGHT FRIDAY 14TH OCTOBER 2011 @ 6:30PM

‘Surf City’ is an exhibition of collaborations by artist Luke Taaffe and photographer Ryan Heywood. Navigating omnipotent seascapes and psychedelic surf iconography of the 80′s and 90′s, the distinct styles of each artist merge into powerful graphic scenery. With a mutual respect for surf culture and the ocean itself, Luke and Ryan combine Megaloden shark jaws, lone boats, vast seas and pyrotechnical patternations, into isolated, pervasive and somewhat sinister environments describing a darker side of the surfer’s experience. Luke’s painterly, graphic and vibrant approach perfectly juxtaposes Ryan’s faded and desaturated sea photography, printed directly onto wood. Grandiose in scale, the pieces command attention and immersion. This show pays homage to urban myths and the more emotive aspects of a surf culture left behind in the wake of it’s commercial success.
‘Surf City’ opens on Friday the 14th of October and is on exhibition until the 2nd of November 2011.

Click here to download the Press Release: Eclectica PR-lo

Opening at The National Grid Gallery on Saturday 4 June, over 50 artists from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are contributing to this years exhibition.

“The exhibition & auction over the past few years has been a showcase of Australian & Global talent. It’s also enabled people to get their art collecting paws on some affordable original artworks by some of the finest artists in the land”, Mr Barrett said.

Some of the contributing artists include: Bridge, Deb, E.L.K, Ben Frost, Phibs, SMC[3], Apeseven and Vars.
The total list of artists contributing to Sidewayz 2011 can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=222980251061247

The event is partnered with Balmoral Boards season opener party, fun )

The National Grid Gallery along with our good Friends at Empty Magazine are proud to announce the Northern Leg of ‘The Empty Exhibition’.

Featuring Original works by MEGGS :: ERIK MARK SANDBERG :: NIC PLOWMAN :: BEASTMAN :: AARON NAGEL :: ANDREW QUILTY :: KARIM HAMID :: TAMARA DEAN :: CHRISTIAN REX VAN MINNEN

The show includes the release of Empty magazine Issue 20!

1. So this is your first solo show in Sydney? Awesome! Tell us what your preparations are like when you are developing a show of this size.

Yep it is im really excited! Usually for a show I have big ideas and then I end up doing something completely different, That happened with this show too. I always start by editing through my photos to see which gals I want to draw , then I choose my colour palette and start drafting everything up with a final number of images in mind ( usually a very optimistic number) . I’m constantly laying everything out on the floor as I always go off on a tangent and I quite regularly go back to drawings to rework after completing others, and often there are images i never use. I usually scan everything at once ( poor scanning place) , and then colour everything over a couple of weeks, the colouring usually takes me longer than the drawing as I do it all digitally and there is a lot of masking involved. Then there is test printing and printing and framing and freight, the freight is probably the most stressful time for me as I have had many things damaged in the past so now I am the most anal wrapper in the world, It can take around four hours or more just to wrap up all the framed pictures if I’m by myself.

2. What is it about beautiful young sirens that inspire you?

These are all girls I have photographed, sometimes when I shoot them and look through the images there are too many I like so I have to draw them so they don’t go to waste. I’m not sure what it is, I just find the combination of emerging confidence and the somewhat unrealized beauty of these girls fascinating, almost like if they only knew what they had and embraced it they could do anything. I love to watch how a model can suddenly transform once they relax and stop doing what they think you want. I’m beginning to realise that my Mum may have been right when she said that beauty is wasted on the young!

3.  You seem to be moving away from placing your figures against a completely flat background, situating them in a more dimensional space. Tell us about this progression.

I always have a lot of things that I really want to do, I have them in my head and on lists and I always think to myself “next time I’m going to do this” . But the majority of the time these things get eaten up by the usual day to day things such as client work and  time. The move from lone figures to partial scenes is a step towards a step that I have in mind. I still have an obsession with drawing these gals, but at the same time I don’t want to be a one trick pony and there is no point in me repeating what I already know. I want to challenge myself and progress as an artist and so Im beginning to think about space as well as the figure and am starting to increase my colour palette. I hope that my audience will also find fresh enthusiasm in my progression.

4.  Are there any other areas besides your illustrative/photographic work that you would be excited to see your posse of beautiful girls branch out into?

Well Ive just found a spacious studio which will be my first that actually has space for more than one desk! So with my many meters of space I am going to get into painting large scale canvases, Ive been spending some time with Bromley lately and he has been overwhelmingly inspiring!  Ive always wanted to get into textiles so hopefully there will be an avenue for that soon.

Had a peek at your works today at the gallery and they look epic.

Thanks! xoxo

Prints are now available from our Online Shop.

Each piece is an edition of 15, Signed & numbered by Ben Brown.
Please allow 15 days from purchase for delivery (International 20 days)

There will be a bonus live performance from  rock ‘n’ roll demons Hong Kong,
who have been burning up various floors around town in recent times with
their melodic skuzzball wall of sound.

Opening Night: Friday 10th December 6-9pm.
Come and join us for a Christmas drink! We have loads of new goodies in the shop too, along with all the latest Art Books and Mags.

Exhibition is open from 11th December to 24th January.

24 Chard road, Brookvale. NSW 2100 Tel: (02) 9905 9332