Spotlight Artist

Benjamin Cook

Midwest
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Featured in New American Paintings

Artist Statement

My paintings feature backgrounds of pieced-together drawings of imagery taken from my everyday life layered on top of one another, sketchbook-style, with colorful hard-edged lines painted on top. Through multiple forms of application, the paintings jump back and forth between references to traditional painting and mindless doodles. This process mimics the fluidity of browsing the Internet, moving from thoughtful political articles with global ramifications to humorous GIFs and skate videos. I am interested in how protocols of digital processes play out, and blend with an analog life. Image duplication, content layering, and identitycrafting through staged images blend and clash with one another within the figure–ground relationship. Through these paintings, I create abridged versions of a life that flows between many forms of mediation but remains unified through a single experience.

Artist's Additional works

Works shared by the artist outside of their featured New American Paintings selections

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Featured artwork

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