Ben is a multidisciplinary artist & musician living and working in the city of Bradford. He says of his artwork:
For me art is responding impulsively to the now, a flow-state, escapism. Working in this way, uninhibited by process or practice, means unbound creative freedom and possibilities.
Image: See Artist Website below.
Image: See Artist Website below.
Ben originally started a local degree course :
I studied for a degree at Bradford Uni in Graphic Design and Media that was subsidised by a local software company I was in-house designer for. I then got into bands and was a touring musician for 6 years, which took me off on that tangent and everything it brought. This got me into designing gig posters and creating events, festivals and zines; working as part of the local music and creative scenes and becoming freelance. I guess it went from there really.
His artwork includes art prints, posters, letterheads, newsletters, and murals. Past design commissions have included artwork for ‘Saltaire Inspired’, the South Square Arts Centre, the Bradford Review, and a poster and invitation for the 2019 David Hockney birthday celebrations at Cartwright Hall, Bradford.
Image: See Artist Website, below.
Ben has also designed murals for Bradford Council – his ‘Be Kind’ mural in Roberts Park, Saltaire, 2021 – and earlier his ‘Council Pop’ street mural on a shop hoarding on Darley Street, Bradford city centre. The Darley Street mural was sponsored by the community arts group, Brick Box, in association with Bradford Council, The Arts Council, and West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Ben’s design was inspired by the subterranean journey of the Bradford Beck, with its colour, shape and abstract forms interpreting local landmarks, heritage and culture on its journey to meet the River Aire at Shipley.
I love print & paint, taking on commissions or work that speaks to me. I make popping art prints you can BUY HERE. With a background of over 20 years in the graphic design and print industry, I tend to seek out the more meaningful, joyful work these days. I particularly enjoy making BIG ART in the public realm, painting murals, walls, things, but can bend and flex to take on unique projects dependent on requirements, time and budgets.
I use a variation on a bold and primary colour palette as my work is primitive, primal, intuitive, impulsive & responsive. I do believe in bending the rules. The bold aesthetic of a CMYK palette (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) are often used as a link to my print heritage, making for punchy work. Composing form, texture, collage, photography, line and colour intuitively informed by nature or whatever subjects I am studying at the time, laying down lighter colours and ‘overprinting’ with black, much like printing but using a brush. The harmony of forms and the energy of line. Abstraction, geometry, playfulness, joy & fun — which I feel we need more of in a dark world.
Image: See Artist Website below.
Image: See Artist Website below.
Artist Contact:
Website: Ben Holden
Instagram: BJthebear