Ben sketching by the Thames
Ben was born in Kilburn London and studied at The Hornsey College of Art from 1960-66 (now part of Middlesex University) learning the craft of oil painting & etching. He also spent one year studying in the National Gallery.
His main subject has always been of London. As a teenager he always enjoyed drawing bomb sites and old buildings.
Ben prepares his own canvases and grinds pigments with oil to make his own paints and always works from the subject on the spot, his paintings are a visual experience over a period of time
Most of his exhibitions have been of London, its parks, roads, canals and its quiet corners, almost forgotten by its residents. Some of his past exhibitions have been about the Parkland Walk, Islington, Covent Garden, Mayfair, the Temple and the River Thames.
Environmental concerns in 1973 led to his involvement in the campaign for the preservation of a disused railway line from Finsbury Park to Muswell Hill.
By showing his paintings of it at the enquiry, it is now the Parkland Walk. Ben's paintings helped with the preservation of the Parkland Walk, London N4 in 1976 & was an Artist in Residence at Finsbury Park in 1995-6.
Ben is well known for painting on the spot and in the most recent years he has been concentrating on the River Thames, South Bank from 2002 -2012.
One of his main inspirations is studying paintings from The National Gallery which he has been doing since he was an art student. His paintings are in collections across the UK and abroad.
"His stable compositions are attractively painted scrupulously modulated with harmonious tones"
Arts Reviewer D.G Lee