Ben has created illustrations for a wide variety of projects and clients. Drawing is at the heart of most of the projects he works on. Here are a few examples. An illustration for The Barbican Centre, a project with HeartnSoul at The Hub, an editorial for Plantain Papers, Portrait and Tour info for poet Aja Monet and a drawing of The City.
Ben has painted murals at Tate Britain for The Black Flamingo Open Studio a collaboration with poet Dean Atta (top image) He was co-comissioned by Croydon Council and You&Me Architects to design and paint a mural for Thornton Heath- an area close to his heart (bottom image.) Other murals he’s made have been for Lewisham Council, The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Greatcoat Films, Bodega 50 and The Owl Barber Shop.
Comics are such a brilliant medium for story telling and communication.
Between 2008-2012, Ben made Snizz Comics, adventures of he and Gabriel, a young autistic man.
Since then he’s collaborated with many others, telling stories as varied as a history in radio, an artist and her cosmopolitan piggie and a Nigerian woman’s difficult early experience of being in London.
His comics have been published in Straight No Chaser, Strike! Magazine and are in the Wellcome Collection’s new ‘Being Human’ Gallery .
They’ve been used as campaign tools at the House of Commons, a gallery event guide at Tate Britain and a brief history of fermented foods in a restaurant menu.
Ben is currently working on a series exploring parenthood.
Ben’s designed logos and branding illustrations for a number of people. Here are designs for Future Bubblers, the talent discovery and development big idea from Brownswood Music. Below this, a logo for Cornish based film company Phono Films, hip-hop jam night Imaginary Millions and ‘Kultured’ pop-up fermented foods restaurant.
Posters for Imaginary Millions, Era Suite, Counterpoint at Tate Modern, Aja Monet in London, a season of music from around the world and Strata East Live at the Barbican .
Ben started making gig posters when he was active on the DIY music scene between 2006-2012.
He’s made posters for many arts events since.
Ben worked with Could Be Good creative studio to create animated visuals for the legendary Strata East Live show at The Barbican in 2015. They have also collaborated on DJ visuals for Gilles Peterson and a music video for singer Lizzie Emeh.
Ben encourages particpatory artwork with visitors at festivals and events. People contribute through words, conversation and drawings which he turns into site specific installations, murals and paintings that capture the theme or event.
He’s made work at NOW Gallery, We Out Here, Bloomsbury, Ealing Jazz and Village Green Festival-Metal.
Have an event or festival you’d like him to appear at? Get in touch!
Photo Credits
Top image, Jenna Foxton
Second Image, Belinda Lawley
Third Image, Matt Clayton
Ben has over 10 years experience leading a variety of creative workshops. From drawing and comic based workshops to themes on music, collage and zine-making.
He’s done a lot of work with schools, care homes, community centres and art organisations.
He has a particular interest and experience working on intergenerational projects and also with people who have learning differences and/or are autistic.
He’s been Artist in Residence at Treehouse School and has led projects and workshops for SEN and mainstream classes including a 3 year project with Tate Schools and Teachers- Diggin’ the Gallery
Organisations he’s worked with include:
The Wellcome Collection, CCA Goldsmiths, Magic Me, Bethlem Hospital, Battersea Arts Centre, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, South London Gallery, The Lyric Theatre, Leyton Orient FC, The Albany, HeartnSoul, London Symphony Orchestra and The Barbican Centre.
He also has experience co-creating projects with arts organisations and advising on project development.
Photo Credits
Top Photo- James Lyndsay and Michael Pheasant
Top- Cover design for Strata Records, The Sound of Detroit, Reimagined by Jazzanova.
Next- Cover design for ‘Brownswood 10 Versions’ released in 2017 to commemorate 10 years of Brownswood Recordings.
Middle- Cover design for DJ Yoda’s Home Cooking album released April 2019.
Bottom- Cover design for hiphop duo ‘Harriett’ (Damani Nkosi & Ill Camille)
Ben is currently developing a series of work called- ‘Rhythm Compositions’ exploring the relationship between music, painting and performance.
Photo Credit- Mary Lemley
Ben has worked with arts organisations, academics and designers to turn meetings, project proposals, reports and ideas into drawings and diagrams. Clients include Wellcome Trust, King’s College London, HeartnSoul, Touretteshero, CRAE and UCL.
The work you see below has been done with arts organisation HeartnSoul, Kings College London and The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design.
Drawing on Air is a monthly show on Soho Radio. It’s an eclectic mix of music, poetry, guests, news, reviews, special features and audio description.
Hear the show every 4 weeks, Monday’s 12 – 2pm on the Culture channel or listen again here.