Ben
Smith from Hereford talks to 大象传媒 Hereford and Worcester about his
work process.
"When
studying fine art printmaking, I always tried to emphasise on the
processes and techniques of making a print.
![Artwork by Ben Smith](/staticarchive/95ec279fb94b432fcd38e2ba4836ee390ffb4fd8.jpg) |
Artwork
by Ben Smith |
In
lithography, which I am particularly interested in, I always try,
when working on the stone, to experiment as much as possible when
using materials and when dealing with subject matter that is conceptual
and contemporary.
It
is important to me that my images are bold, revealing, sombre and
show a range of mark making and tonal variation.
While
studying lithography, my influences were and still are, the lithographs
of Jasper Johns. In his lithographs, you see a variety of tones,
mark marking and abstraction, which makes his images so powerful
to which I am attracted.
I regard
lithography to be the most interesting and versatile in the printmaking
field. I take enjoyment in the way you can add imagery onto the
stone and then manipulate and erase it with a variety of drawing
materials and to convey a sense of fragmentation and integrity to
the image.
![Artwork by Ben Smith](/staticarchive/d8162a3dffd392137fb72477f14132f1591368cb.jpg) |
Artwork
by Ben Smith |
The
images featured, were produced from accounts by Richard Cox. Richard,
an artist himself, was a visiting lecturer while I was on fine art
and had seen some of my previous work containing fly鈥檚.
He
went on to tell me of when he was visiting a hospital and how he
had come across hundreds of files in a disused room, layered in
dust and containing the surnames of all the dead who had died at
the hospital.
I chose
to try and document this at a time when I was struggling for subject
matter and chose to incorporate the fly, as it is a meaning of death."
Ben
is exhibiting his work at The Courtyard Theatre until August 31st.
If
you wish to contact Ben about his work you can email him on:basmith3578@hotmail.com
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