Ben Harral is a
self-taught interdisciplinary artist from Austin, Texas
Rooted in mediums such as 2-dimensional visual art (painting, drawing, and collage) spontaneity is invaluable to process, giving rise to a distinct style that is both unique and impersonal. When he leaves the studio, spontaneity becomes a spirited expression of himself.
Folk art traditions of the American South, abstract expressionism, therapeutics, Buddhism, the avant-garde, and environmentalism all inform his work. He begs the question, "Is the art the art object itself, or the conversation happening around the object?" Either way, the work did not make itself...
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If my art allows even a moment of contemplation for the public, the art has gone beyond its original purpose..
It keeps me on top of what pins me down
My intentions start at the therapeutic effect of using my hands and engaging my intellect. The relationship between working in the studio and my sense of mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical well being is a positive feedback loop.
The human experience of suffering and the unbroken continuum of phenomena (interconnectedness) are important subjects to me. The tendency for expression is why I have a studio space, but what draws me out into the neighborhood and streets is a drive to fuse art and activism into a way of being. Historically, the land I live on and the folks who once walked it....
it's all in the work.
2 dimensional visual art (collage, painting, and drawing) is the base of my working process. However, I have used mediums including sound, performance, service, writing, poetry, finding objects and various martial art forms.
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