By Ben Crawford
2025
acrylic on paper
40.5x31cm framed
ARTIST STATEMENT
"As some of you may know, I hail from Ireland originally. I often paint about the strange dual identity I have acquired due to living here in Australia and these three paintings again tap into that ongoing internal dialogue. The narrative that weaves through these pieces is loosely based on the old Irish legend of Tír na nÓg. In this story a young man meets and falls in love with a woman and they travel from his home to an enchanted island paradise where no-one grows old. Time behaves unconventionally in this land and unbeknownst to the young man, three hundred years have passed.
The allegory was pretty obvious and I wanted to insert myself into the narrative. So here I am in Three hundred years went by, contemplating homesickness and the passing of time. That’s my wife and children in Tír tairngire* immersed in the magical landscape and there’s our home perched amongst the otherworldly trees in Tír dhúchais (tír tairngire)**. These three paintings are connected by the thread of duality, the linking of worlds- both real and imagined, remembered and wished for."
* ‘Land of Promise’
** ‘Motherland (land of promise)’
BIO
Ben Crawford was born in Cork in the south of Ireland in 1983.
Growing up, Ben was fortunate to always have a big garden to play in and later on, a wild coastal landscape to explore. He 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 storytelling and appreciation for colour and pattern to 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 an old 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.