Ben Crawford’s paintings for Between Addresses depict peaceful figures, remembered landscapes and dwellings; these scenes are rich with nostalgia. His experiences of living in both Ireland and Australia make for captivating artworks, there is a sense of both belonging and a longing for place. Ben’s approach to representation creates a beautiful balance in his paintings  - as viewers we can connect ourselves and our own memories to these works, which only enhance their significance.

ARTIST STATEMENT

“This new body of work is about the houses and places I’ve lived in throughout my life.

I’ve moved around quite a lot. Between the ages of two and twelve, my family lived in six different houses. In my twenties I moved in and out of the family home a few times before meeting my wife and eventually moving overseas to Australia, where we lived in a converted shed for a few years until we moved again and we’re where we are now. I guess that’s not such an unusual life and I’m sure many others around the world have had far more transient existences than me. Strangely, none of this moving around was too unsettling either. Each subsequent home was as nice if not nicer than the last- probably because my parents were such good home makers. But it’s interesting to me that each house conjures up different feelings and stories, distinct from each other, floating like little islands in my memory.

It was these more esoteric experiences I was interested in painting about, rather than creating ‘portraits’ of the houses I’ve spent time in, so I began by finding imagery that would spark some kind of recollection or emotion associated with these places. All the houses I’ve lived in have been old and in need of renovation, thus my search for suitable images yielded some interesting material. As I developed the compositions for the paintings, I loved the contrast between the hard, geometric shapes of the buildings and the organic nature of the landscape around them. This is something I’ve used as a motif in my paintings in the past, but it felt much more of an important presence in some of these works. These paintings aren’t just about buildings though. The landscapes they inhabit were the backdrops for all my adventures while growing up and even today are an important presence in my life.

I find myself ‘between addresses’ in my art practice too. I look back at the paintings I’ve made over the past seventeen years since I graduated from art college and see familiar themes running through the work, but with the passing of time and exposure to new horizons there are noticeable markers of difference between the phases of my career. I’m interested to see what I take with me to this new stage and what gets left behind.”

BIO

Ben Crawford was born in Cork in the south of Ireland in 1983. Growing up, He was fortunate to always have a big garden to play in and later on a wild coastal landscape to explore. Ben has no doubt that this exposure at an early stage to the landscape has had an influence on his enduring interest in exploring it in his art practice. He also credits his love of story telling and appreciation for colour and pattern to his his parents, who provided a nurturing environment where art, music, food and reading was part of everyday life.

After finishing his degree in fine art in 2007, Ben exhibited with a few Irish galleries, including his first solo show in Cork city in 2008. But it wasn’t until he came to live with his wife’s family in Australia in 2011 that Ben started to pursue art as a feasible career. Initially working from a tiny old food trailer, Ben has slowly developed his painting practice over the past thirteen years, eventually building the studio he currently works from out of a converted shipping container.

Since graduating from art college, Ben has exhibited widely in Ireland, the UK and in Australia, and has had work selected for various art prizes.