Benedict (Ben) Webb (born 1977) is a Dunedin, New Zealand-born artist, dividing his time between working in New Zealand and Germany. He is the son of New Zealand artist Marilynn Webb.
Working largely with a mixture of oil and metallic pigments, Webb's work takes old photographs as its starting-point. His images are frequently portraits from Weimar Germany in the years preceding World War II, though he has also used still lifes as subject matter. These photographic images are recreated in large format, then distressed by the addition of pigment to form works which evoke strong reactions of melancholy or nostalgia, both in terms of their subject matter and their treatment. His work has been compared to the "gaudily tragic" expressionist art of the Weimar era, with portraits of " figures whose faces seem to express the unbearable heaviness of a past trapped behind their eyes."
His earlier hand painted works are now very collectable but are very hard to find.
Famous quotes containing the words ben and/or webb:
“And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And, lo! Ben Adhem’s name led all the rest!”
—Leigh Hunt (1784–1859)
“Renunciation: that is the great fact we all, individuals and classes, have to learn. In trying to avoid it we bring misery to ourselves and others.”
—Beatrice Potter Webb (1858–1943)