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Ben Hartley

Ben Hartley is an eco-anxious artist based in Bristol. Concerned with the environmental impact of the art world and it’s obsession with material perfection. Believing perfection to be a wholly unsustainable concept, Ben believes the rejection of it constitutes a radical act. Ben’s practice attempts to produce a sustainable approach to art making, using waste materials from the ever-expanding mass of indigestible rubbish from our capitalist society scavenged from the actual and virtual explorations of pre-apocalyptic urban space. These disparate materials are moulded by Ben into sculptural collages, two-dimensional and digital explorations, resisting the temptation of permanence, using inherently ephemeral methods such as fastening, tying and folding.

Ben graduated with a degree in Art & Visual Culture from the University of the West of England in 2019. He is currently a studio holder and associate member at The Artist Project Space.

 

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Works

Sculptural

  • Vase No.1

    Waste plastics, electrical wire, dried palm fronds.
    2020

  • Object No.5

    Waste plastics, wire, rubber bands
    2020

  • Composition No.12

    Waste plastics, car bumper, metal frame, rope, wire
    2019-2020

  • Objects

    Object No.1, No.4 & No.5.

  • Object No.3

    Waste plastics, air-dried clay
    2020

  • Object No.4

    Waste plastics, air-dried clay, dried buddleia flower
    2020

  • Vase No.2

    Waste plastics, cables, dried ragwort
    2020

  • Bundle No.1

    Cardboard, waste plastics, twine
    2019

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Works on Paper

  • Untitled

    Collage with waste plastics and clay on recycled paper
    2020

  • Untitled

    Collage on recycled paper
    2020

  • Untitled

    Collage
    2020

  • Untitled

    Collage on recycled paper
    2020

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Digital

  • digital collage of scavenged rubbish
    Blurred Mass No #1

    Digital collage

  • digital collage of scavenged rubbish
    Blurred Mass No #2

    Digital collage

  • sculpture made of scavenged rubbish
    Digital Object No #4

    Digital collage

  • digital sculpture of scavenged rubbish
    Digital Object No #1

    Digital collage

  • Digital Sculpture of scavenged rubbish
    Digital Object No #2

    Digital collage

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CV

  • 2019 – BA (Hons) Art & Visual Culture – University of the West of England
  • 2016 – Foundation Diploma in Art & Design – Strode College

  • 2020 – Assemblage, Fringe Arts Bath
  • 2020 – Something Orange, Test Space 
  • 2019 – Debris, Test Space, Spike Island, Bristol, UK
  • 2019 – That’s Nice, UWE Studios, Spike Island, Bristol, UK
  • 2019 – Dark Matter, UWE Studios, Spike Island, Bristol, UK
  • 2019 – Remember Me, Magdalen Road Studios, Oxford UK
  • 2019 – ginger beer: a second queer art exhibition, The Island, Bristol 
  • 2018 – ___ in the ___ with a ___, 262 Hotwell Road, Bristol UK
  • 2018 – Open Day, Hohensalzburg Fortress, Salzburg AT
  • 2018 – Spike Open 2018, Spike Island, Bristol UK
  • 2018 – HOVER CAR, F Block Gallery, Bristol UK
  • 2018 – Please Come In and Leave, Centrespace Gallery, Bristol UK 
  • 2018 – ginger beer: a queer art exhibition, The Island, Bristol UK
  • 2018 – Greyscale, Southbank Club, Bristol UK
  • 2017 – Buy or Burgle It, PRSC Outdoor Gallery, Bristol UK
  • 2017 – Spike Open 2017, Spike Island, Bristol UK
  • 2017 – FLESH, The Crypt, Bristol UK
  • 2016 – environMENTAL, Bruton Art Factory, Bruton UK

  • 2019 – Dark Matter, UWE Studios, Spike Island, Bristol UK
  • 2019 – ginger beer 002: a second queer art exhibition, The Island, Bristol UK 
  • 2018 – ginger beer: a queer art exhibition, The Island, Bristol UK

  • 2019 – RUNG Magazine Issue #002

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