Born in 1990, Ben Stephenson is a British artist currently living and working in Mexico. The multidisciplinarian works across painting, sculpture, and installations. Ben is perhaps most concerned with notions of colonialism and voyeurism, central themes in his works. The artist investigates ideas around the act of observing the world from a distance, Othering, and the misinterpretations this can entail.
Ben Stephenson’s Artistic Practice
Eager to delve deeper into ideas of the exotic, Ben left London and has been living and working between Colombia and Mexico for some time. Ben combines sourced historical narratives, films and photographs with still life drawings, reassessing pre-existing ideas on indigenous and Latin American cultures. Citing folklore and legends previously mystified and romanticised by the Eurocentric art history canon, the artist paints new, fantastical tales. The resulting works harbour an almost surrealist-realism - mirroring the self-mythologising artists he pays homage to and inviting viewers to empathise with the imagined Other through stories and images.
Exhibitions and Accolades
His most recent exhibitions include FAIN Feria in Monterrey, Mexico, Genesis in the Retort at the Museo de la Ciudad in Queretaro, Mexico, and NADA at Outsiders Gallery in Queretaro, Mexico. The Mexican Embassy awarded Ben First Prize for a collaborative sculpture in the recent Camaradas exhibition at The Koppel Project Exchange, London, July 2021. His work can also be found in private collections at the University of the Arts, London, UK and Sotheby's Institute of Art, London, UK. The artist received a BA from Wimbledon College of Art and, prior to this, a Diploma from Central Saint Martins.
