Benk
  • Art
  • Freelance
    • Freelance Folio

Blog

Article on GalusAustralis.com

12/8/2013

Comments

 
I was approached by the website galusaustralis.com to write an article about my art practice.
The full article can be found at http://galusaustralis.com/2013/08/7520/artist-profile-benk/ or read below.
Picture
Picture
For years the interrelationships between humanity, nature and technology have fascinated me and weaved through my Melbourne based art practice. It seems to me that on a global scale we are slowly disconnecting from our natural past. We’re creating a world that gets more and more artificial every decade. Human life is surrounded by concrete, screens, deadlines, passwords and other fabricated necessities.

I grew up in Caulfield where the roads are lined with trees and there are several parks near by. However, I observed that with the exception of household pets like cats and dogs, I rarely see animals. That is besides humans of course, but we don’t like to think of ourselves as animals. We’re different, right?


Picture
In 2010, I made a big change in my art practice. After studying Media Arts and a Post Graduate animation course at RMIT, I found a fascination with the still image. I began making framed digital collage prints of what interested me, a visual amalgamation of animals, humans and technology. It was all very tongue in cheek work, playful, silly and vibrant to the full extent of the word. Humans with animal heads, animals with glasses, hats and bows, all within surreal, often technologically based settings. With these humourous works I was encouraging thought on how disconnected from nature we have become as well as how we are effecting the natural world. One work titled “Attack of the Crabs” showed a collage of printers creating a landscape and crabs making our abandoned technology their new home.

Picture
In the time since those works, I have continued exploring the same themes through my art practice. In my latest series of illustrations I’ve focused on birds. I realised there was an oversight in my aforementioned observation. We may have built cities which stopped land animals from living among us. For example if a kangaroo made its way into the CBD it would quickly find itself on a long drive back to a world without tram-lines. But we have not pushed away all denizens of the trees. We see birds almost every day of our lives. We hardly notice them, I certainly don’t feel as if I live among birds, but we all do.

My most recent illustrations portray humans wearing bird masks, showing the mental separation between people and animals, but the subjects in these illustrations have real bird feet bringing dissension to the works.

Lately just about all of my spare time has gone into my art. Whether it’s my illustrations, short animations, jewellery or t-shirt design, I really love what I do.


Go to Benk’s online store: benk.storenvy.com
See more of Benk’s work: benk.com.au
Follow Benk on Instagram: benk_rad
Comments

    Categories

    All
    Animation
    Digital Collage
    Illustration
    Video Art

    Archives

    September 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    November 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    June 2009
    December 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    October 2007
    June 2007
    September 2006
    August 2006
    June 2006
    March 2006

    RSS Feed

Picture

​Contact

email

Site Map

Art
Freelance

-    Folio

Like/Follow 'BenkArtist'

Facebook
Instagram

  • Art
  • Freelance
    • Freelance Folio