Thursday, October 20, 2011

BEN HEINE






BEN HEINE (born June 12, 1983 in Abidjan, Ivory coast) is a Belgian multidisciplinary visual artist. He is best known for his original series "Pencil vs Camera", "Digital Circlism" and "Flesh and Acrylic".

EARLY LIFE

Ben grew up in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He lived there 7 years, along with his parents and his 3 sisters. His father was a commercial engineer and his mother a dance teacher. Everything changed when the family came back to Brussels in 1990. Ben became a troubled and demanding child. He didn't like school at all. He finally became much wiser and more disciplined later on, after a stay in a boarding school (from 12 y/o to 18 y/o). In 1994, he discovered for the first time that all his energy could be canalized in visual projects, it was the very beginning of a never ending adventure in drawing and painting. As a teenager, he had many other hobbies and activities: beside writing poetry on a daily basis, he played drums, piano and guitar, he also used to play basketball and to run everyday. His interest for graphic arts was eventually the strongest one.

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

Ben has a degree in Journalism (Brussels, Belgium & Utrecht, The Netherlands). He also briefly studied Painting and Sculpture in Hastings, England but he is a self-taught person in Drawing and Photography. He learned several languages: French (1), English (2), Dutch (3), Polish (4), Spanish (5) and Russian (6). He loves languages because he loves communicating and interacting with people. He loves people.

PROFESSIONAL EVOLUTION

Following his studies, Ben has tried all kinds of different jobs but visual creation has always been his main concern. Since 2006 until now, his pictorial works have been published in famous Belgian and international newspapers and magazines (see "Press" page for more info) and they have been seen by millions of people online. Ben Heine’s artworks have been exhibited in Belgium, Great Britain, France, Canada, USA, Germany, Turkey, Romania, Brazil, South Korea and Spain. Ben is currently represented by several well-established art galleries in Belgium and abroad, such as the Gallery Garden (Brussels), the Appart Gallery (Brussels), Start/Stuff&Art (Cape Verde), the Art Movement (London), the Next Gallery (Jacksonville), the Radeski Gallery (Liège)... He has also participated in numerous art events such as the Affordable Art Fair, the Berliner List, the Accessible Art Fair, Music for Life, Antwerp Expo... (see "Exhibitions" page for more detailed info about the most important past and future shows).

PROFESSIONAL EVOLUTION

Following his studies, Ben has tried all kinds of different jobs but visual creation has always been his main concern. Since 2006 until now, his pictorial works have been published in famous Belgian and international newspapers and magazines (see "Press" page for more info) and they have been seen by millions of people online. Ben Heine’s artworks have been exhibited in Belgium, Great Britain, France, Canada, USA, Germany, Turkey, Romania, Brazil, South Korea and Spain. Ben is currently represented by several well-established art galleries in Belgium and abroad, such as the Gallery Garden (Brussels), the Appart Gallery (Brussels), Start/Stuff&Art (Cape Verde), the Art Movement (London), the Next Gallery (Jacksonville), the Radeski Gallery (Liège)... He has also participated in numerous art events such as the Affordable Art Fair, the Berliner List, the Accessible Art Fair, Music for Life, Antwerp Expo... (see "Exhibitions" page for more detailed info about the most important past and future shows).


DIGITAL CIRCLISM

This is a project Ben started in 2010 as well. It is somehow a synthesis of Pop Art and Pointillism. In this series, Ben usually makes portraits of celebrities with digital tools using only flat circles on a black background. Each circle has a single color and a single tone. "Trends Hunter", the world's largest trend community, said about Digital Circlism: "Through the use of graphic softwares and a whole lot of creativity, Ben Heine is able to create iconic faces from history and pop culture by drawing circles of various sizes and colors, in order to give them a dynamic and 3-dimensional appearance". The artist stated he has been making portraits for over 15 years now but it wasn't very long ago that he started developing this original technique. "As I've been working with digital tools recently, this came quite naturally, and I’m a big fan of Pop Art and Pointillism. Digital Circlism is a modern fusion of them". Ben takes inspiration from several photographs, then creates a brand new photomontage or a rough digital painting and he finally begins the long process of placing circles on a black background using image editing softwares and using his digital sketches as references (it requires between 100 and 180 hours of work for one portrait). In the people he chooses to portray, Ben often opts for celebrities he likes or admires, mainly singers or musicians, such as Bob Marley, Freddie Mercury, Eminem, Elvis Presley, Lady Gaga, Marilyn Monroe, Johnny Depp...



PENCIL VS CAMERA

"Pencil Vs Camera" mixes drawing and photography, imagination and reality. It’s a new visual invention, it's full of magic, illusion, poetry and surrealism. Ben published his first "Pencil Vs Camera" image in April 2010 but the concept is the result of a long graphic exploration and a logic consequence of his personal artistic development. Ben usually integrates an inventive hand made drawing in front of a realistic background. There are several methods to achieve the same effect (see "Interviews" for more info). Ben’s hand is always clearly visible; it represents the close connection between the viewer, the artist and the artwork. The drawing is always in black and white while the photo is often very colorful, this amplifies the contrast between the two disciplines. In this series, Ben likes to focus on people’s life, portraits, nature, animals, architecture... Among others, the main themes approached in "Pencil Vs Camera" are: Love, Freedom, Death, Friendship and Nature. Ben says: "I just make art for people. I want them to dream and forget their daily troubles. I used to write poems many years ago, I want to convey a poetic and philosophical meaning into my pictures, each new creation should tell a story and generate an intense emotion, like a poem, like a melody". Because of their originality and the visual innovations Ben brought in his artworks, this series has had a huge impact on the graphic design community and has generated several buzz on the Internet. Ben says the initial idea of this "Pencil Vs Camera" concept came by coincidence while he was writing a letter in his family house in Braives, Belgium.

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