Circle Game, 2019, Handmade milk paint, burnt wood, 8.5″x8.5″x3″
Bear and Bros from “Who Also Will Not Yield”, 2017, ink on paper, 8.5″x11″
Fight from “Who Also Will Not Yield”, 2017, ink on paper, 8.5″x11″
Kegs and Eggs, 2018, Acrylic, ink, collage, 28” x 24”
ARTIST STATEMENT
I make art about the nostalgia for America’s “Golden Age”, which is really about how American histories, mythologies, and tall tales relate to toxic masculinity, white culture and nationalism. Inspired by early American woodcuts, medieval depictions of saints, and children’s drawings, I make drawings, sculptures, and videos of a visual mythology where humans, beasts, and gods interact. The resulting version of America is both a surreal mythic past and an absurd dystopian future.
Ben Pinder is an interdisciplinary artist who creates a surreal visual mythology based on nostalgia for America’s “Golden Age”. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Ben was raised in Vermont, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania and is currently in New York. In addition to working in more traditional media such as painting, drawing and video, Ben’s work has involved interventions such as starting “The Mythic History of America, for America Super Pac” and creating a fictional “Travelers Guide to Red Hook” that was then hidden in various stores throughout Brooklyn. He created a collaborative zine of poetry and drawings with poet Meghan Dunn and collaborated on a live music performance and video with Justin Wixson. Among other venues Ben’s work has been exhibited at Brooklyn Arts Council, the Icebox Project Space in Philadelphia, Smack Mellon and Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts. He received his Masters in Fine Art from Pratt Institute and stuck around Brooklyn for six years before moving to his own compound in the Hudson Valley.