Ben Fernandez: Transfiguration

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am a mixed media artist who is deeply interested in spirituality as a means of reaching viewers viscerally and emotionally. My art establishes a connection between myself and viewers of all backgrounds, enabling them to engage with my work and gain insights to contemplate and act upon in their own lives. Whether at a smaller scale or a larger installation size, my work facilitates such responses using a diverse range of materials, most often through implied movement, directional force, and color. Some media, like textiles, alcohol ink, and light, appear to possess qualities of the ethereal and transcendent through their organic or fluid properties, whereas others, such as wire mesh, found objects, tape, and stainless steel, display such effects in surprising and unexpected ways. Contributing to these discoveries is a similarly multifaceted selection of artistic influences, including the dynamic suspended entities of textile artist Diana Orving, the rigid yet flowing forms of wire mesh sculptor Eric Boyer, the monochromatic spatial compositions of found wood sculptor Louise Nevelson, and the tonally visceral atmospheres of realist oil painter George Bellows.

As I combine these many sources of inspiration into my artistic sensibility of the spiritual, I feel compelled to respond to the current situation of division, unrest, and conflict faced by my emerging generation by drawing attention to important, universal topics and issues concerning humanity. I believe that art, whether evoking a sense of comfort and peace or feelings of unease and confrontation, is a way into the soul and a vehicle through which one can ignite a spark of personal transformation that empowers each of us to connect with others on a common spiritual level.