Ben Watson – BA (Hons) Fine Art: Painting, Wimbledon College of Arts
Ben Watson’s graduating project explores unwanted and found objects and materials, culminating in a series of diverse but cohesive final pieces.
His final set of paintings are textural, playful and at times abstract, staying true to the trial and error alluded to in the title. “As soon as I took away the fear of destroying a painting with a spill or smudge, I began to realise that controlled chaos gave me more satisfaction than a picture-perfect painting,” he says. The name, ‘Trial by Marble Dust’, represents the path of a creative mind when using the process of trial and error to make something, as well as being a nod to the materials used in Ben’s work.
Describing his art, Ben says it is an “exploitation of naturally formed decay and ‘happy little accidents’ that we see day to day but might not notice. The cracking of old paint on an outside window ledge or a splatter of concrete that was accidentally dropped by a builder.” Ben’s work is characterised by candid, gestural mark-making and the use of discarded materials, such as items found in a skip outside his studio, or off-cuts from MDF table corners and boards. “I found some old CD reader, lasers and a big spikey piece of acrylic that, when projected through, created an awesome glow - combined with silver gilding and textures it began to look like an alien artefact or glowing hot piece of metal, just after a catastrophic crash down to earth.”
A common thread through Ben’s work is not only a sense of freedom and chaos, but also the motif of a black circle. “I started making digital works with basic gradients behind them to almost represent an eclipse, or more so a huge event that hasn't happened yet and is unlikely to happen, but sometimes they slip past that probability and occur.” After diving deeper into his research, Ben realised that the black circle also represented the ending of a cycle, preparing for a new one, or a period of transformation or grief. “To me this really relates to us as students and tutors, saying goodbye to Wimbledon College of Arts and its Fine Art courses – it wasn’t an intention of mine, it just happened.”
Since starting at UAL, Ben’s style has completely transformed. Prior to starting the course, he was completing commissions of dogs, cats, people and places, staying true to the image he was given and trying to capture it as he saw it. “Now, I’ve realised that yes, I enjoyed painting these pieces, but it wasn’t really what I wanted to create, and it has taken me the past three years to discover what that desired style actually is.”
“When I completed commissions, I had in my mind that if the painting wasn't photorealistic, then it really wasn't worth painting at all. It would really surprise me when the painting was nowhere near the photo reference, but people would look and comment on the piece with such admiration that I just didn't understand. After completing my BA at Wimbledon, I have come to realise that the work isn't about a pristine finished piece, it's about the journey and process you take to create whatever you create, whether it be a portrait or a splodge.”
Two key members of UAL staff were integral to Ben’s time at UAL, inspiring him to play with his medium and thought process. Studio assistant George Hill-Baker played a huge part in the inspiration and creation of Ben’s work in the past year, encouraging him to consider materials that had never crossed his mind, like plaster and dust. His tutor, Jin Han Lee, also played a pivotal role in guiding Ben’s creative practice and research and made him feel empowered throughout the course.
Looking back on the past few months, Ben says: “The way all of fine art across the university came together to create a fantastic degree show, regardless of the situation, was incredibly inspiring and I’m so proud to have been a part of it.”
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