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Ben brings his extensive teaching experience from his work as a research associate in architecture as well as a figure drawing instructor. He helps students observe their own work realistically and coaches them through supportive criticism how to improve their work and develop their own style and technique. Ben is focused on expressing the poetics of constructive relationship of figurative forms and harmonic composition. Benjamins' figures portray traditional drawing elements that bring simple outline and unified shapes using rhythmic conventions and design to describe complex forms in a simple way. |
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'When I am not doing personal work, I try to work from live models or subjects ‘from life’. I believe it’s the best way to learn how to see in the way of light and shadow and understanding the language of perception. When I’m working from a live model I tend to start with putting down the general proportions and abstract shapes of the figure using only straight lines and angles. This way you can think about a complex shape in terms of relative line and foundational structure.
To find the right proportions and gesture I generally use a ‘plumb line’ as a measuring tool (a simple weight tied to a string.) and both the size size technique and comparative measurement. If I am working in a space that is not suitable for sight sizing, ill use comparative measurement by holding my arm out in extended position, squint and compare lengths and widths using my eye.
Design and aesthetic mood are pervasive in my artwork, I want people to have a pleasing experience looking at my pieces which says something of beauty and perception on a formative level. I think one of my main goals in selecting a subject is to find what constitutes aesthetic beauty and how I can objectively include more design quality using harmonic tones and unified composition.
How I ‘see’ what model or reference I am using is the most necessary aspect. Learning what things to look for such as the planar values, color values, relative shapes, rhythm of line etc. Mostly things that keep the composition unified and harmonic so as not to disaggregate the form. Everything relates with everything else.
Being able to separate values and unifying large areas of value together as one shape is important for being able to see a complex form and make it elegant and beautiful to perceive. It takes all of the extraneous information and allows our eye to see the piece as a harmonic whole, rather than disparate pieces of information. Finding shadow shapes is a fundamental aspect of the Beaux arts tradition of classical drawing, although I take the simplification of shadow even further by adding very little to no detail in the shadow areas at all, breaking it down to the extent of unifying shadow areas as one value across the entire composition and only adding accents in to harmonize the composition rather than making it look more life like.
I primarily use graphite pencils and keep my compositions on the lighter value so hb/2h leads. I am getting more used to working with charcoal and oil painting as I think they have a similar approach, more massing and rendering involved with less reliance on line work. In academic studies, working up a drawing can last for months 50-100 hours. When I’m doing my own personal work, I can finish a piece in a couple hour long sessions, so it takes around 6-10 hours to complete. This is when I put all of my previous knowledge to the test and I can have a working design in less time with less effort.'
