"According to one critic, my works looked like scraped billboards. I went to look at the billboards and decided that more billboards should be scraped." Mark Tobey
Ben Kauffman
Mixed-Media Art
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About
painting_studio
Twenty years ago, I’d convince myself I painted simply because if I didn’t, my head would blow up. Though I no longer believe that to be the case, painting remains both an outlet for creativity, and a necessary means of expression.I grew up in Philadelphia, yet spent, and continue to spend, many summers in the woods, mountains, rivers and deserts of the U.S. Thus I’m often working with the materials of the city, now Boston, while dreaming the colored landscapes of other places: greens and browns of northern Maine, rusted reds of South Dakota, or dusty ochres of Montana and Wyoming.I work with materials I feel some connection to. I grew to love the “hand-me-downs” received as a child, and now, be it clothes and furniture for myself and studio, or canvas, tree bark or scrap wood for my art, I like old, rough, weathered things—objects that already have a story. The idea is to construct “canvases” in which the placement of these objects in relation to each other creates not only a dynamic composition, but an intriguing dialog between the objects. Of course, not only do the objects themselves have stories to tell, but so do the textures, colors and qualities of both paint and line.Unfortunately, what is lost in photographs of the work are their surface textures. It becomes difficult to distinguish between layers—what is paint, what is birch bark, what is torn bits of litho or photographs. So come out to a show and look at these constructions as I do—an arm’s length from the canvas—and piece together the puzzle for yourself.
Portfolio
Four Corners
After 911
Ballgame 2
Birch 1
dsc_00332511
Hoop
Junk
Lakota
Leonardo
Ochre
Rectangle Study
Shoah
Window
Pendulum
Ballgame 3 ("Say Hey")
Choteau
City Plaid
Big Red and Big Green
Study with Wood 1
Study with Wood 2
Untitled
City Moon
Wedges
Square Roots
Turntable
Shtetl
After Pollock
dsc_0009
dsc_0008
dsc_0006
samsara
dsc_0007
dsc_0005
tumbleweed
minor
lounging_fig1
Four Corners
After 911
Ballgame 2
Birch 1
dsc_00332511
Hoop
Junk
Lakota
Leonardo
Ochre
Rectangle Study
Shoah
Window
Pendulum
Ballgame 3 ("Say Hey")
Choteau
City Plaid
Big Red and Big Green
Study with Wood 1
Study with Wood 2
Untitled
City Moon
Wedges
Square Roots
Turntable
Shtetl
After Pollock
dsc_0009
dsc_0008
dsc_0006
samsara
dsc_0007
dsc_0005
tumbleweed
minor
lounging_fig1
Shows
Upcoming & Current Exhibits 2011
RECENT/PAST:May 2011CafenationBrighton, MAMarch 2 - April 13, 2011Cambridge CommonCambridge, MAAugust 3 - Sept 30, 2010Diesel CafeSomerville, MA
Contact
Ben Kauffman
Based in Somerville, MA, USAClick here to email me, or click below to follow me on Facebook or Twitter
