Ben Reeves (artist)

Last updated

Ben Reeves
Born1969 (1969)
Vancouver, British Columbia
EducationBFA, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (1993); MFA, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, UK (1995)
Known forcontemporary painter

Ben Reeves (born 1969) is a contemporary artist whose paintings reflect his experience of the West Coast of Canada. He lives and paints in Tsawwassen, a suburb outside of Vancouver. [1] He works from imagination and memory to depict semi-photographic, impressionistic, often suburban spaces that border on representation and abstraction. [2] His work, he says, is about paying attention to what he sees. What he observes is a source for his art. [3]

Contents

Career

Reeves was born in Vancouver, B.C. At the age of 16, he was given a copy of a book on the Group of Seven, Joan Murray's The Best of the Group of Seven, and found the work of Tom Thomson in particular a revelation. [4] He grew up in the Lynn Valley on the North Shore of Vancouver. From 1987 to1989 attended Simon Fraser University in Vancouver for his first and second year arts and sciences, then switched to the University of British Columbia in Vancouver where he received his BFA in 1993. In 1995 he received his MA in Fine Arts from at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London, England. [5]

He was a lecturer at University of British Columbia from 2002 to 2003. From 2006 to 2011 he was an Assistant Professor and from 2011, an Associate Professor at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver. From 2023, he has worked as Associate Dean in the Faculty of Visual Art and Material Practice in the Audain Faculty of Art [6] and on the Faculty of Graduate Studies at Emily Carr University.

Work

Reeves has several bodies of work. He investigates subjects from life or his imagination such as views of the street through rain on a windowpane, a snowstorm through fogged lenses, or sights of a person through puffs of cigarette smoke; [2] as well as the structures of tents, Vancouver city lights seen from a distance, the suburban landscape and seaside beach views. [7] In his writing such as his observations about the colouristic genius of Tom Thomson he also is sharply perceptive. [4]

Critics speak of the "ongoing material investigation of paint" that marks his practice [7] and of his varied use of paint application. [8]

Reeves is represented by the Equinox Gallery in Vancouver and by the Nicholas Metivier Gallery in Toronto.

Selected exhibitions

Selected public collections

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Group of Seven (artists)</span> Group of Canadian landscape painters (1920–1933)

The Group of Seven, once known as the Algonquin School, was a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933, with "a like vision". It originally consisted of Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945), Lawren Harris (1885–1970), A. Y. Jackson (1882–1974), Frank Johnston (1888–1949), Arthur Lismer (1885–1969), J. E. H. MacDonald (1873–1932), and Frederick Varley (1881–1969). A. J. Casson (1898–1992) was invited to join in 1926, Edwin Holgate (1892–1977) became a member in 1930, and Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald (1890–1956) joined in 1932.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Carr</span> Canadian artist and writer (1871–1945)

Emily Carr was a Canadian artist who was inspired by the monumental art and villages of the First Nations and the landscapes of British Columbia. She also was a vivid writer and chronicler of life in her surroundings, praised for her "complete candour" and "strong prose". Klee Wyck, her first book, published in 1941, won the Governor General's Literary Award for non-fiction and this book and others written by her or compiled from her writings later are still much in demand today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vancouver Art Gallery</span> Art museum in British Columbia, Canada

The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a 15,300-square-metre-building (165,000 sq ft) adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Francis Rattenbury, the building the museum occupies was originally opened as a provincial courthouse, before it was re-purposed for museum use in the early 1980s. The building was designated the Former Vancouver Law Courts National Historic Site of Canada in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawren Harris</span> Canadian painter (1885–1970)

Lawren Stewart Harris LL. D. was a Canadian painter, best known as a leading member of the Group of Seven. He played a key role as a catalyst in Canadian art and as a visionary in Canadian landscape art.

Roy Arden is an artist who is a member of the Vancouver School. He creates sculpture from found objects, oil paintings, graphite drawings and collage, and curates and writes on contemporary art.

Jin-Me Yoon is a South Korean-born internationally active Canadian artist, who immigrated to Canada at the age of eight. She is a contemporary visual artist, utilizing performance, photography and video to explore themes of identity as it relates to citizenship, culture, ethnicity, gender, history, nationhood and sexuality.

Shary Boyle D.F.A. is a contemporary Canadian visual artist working in the mediums of sculpture, drawing, painting and performance art. She lives and works in Toronto.

Ron Terada is a Vancouver-based artist working in various media, including painting, photography, video, sound, books, and graphic design.

Daina Augaitis is a Canadian curator whose work focuses on contemporary art. From 1996 to 2017, she was the chief curator and associate director of the Vancouver Art Gallery in British Columbia.

Elizabeth McIntosh is a Canadian painter. Her work explores geometric abstraction. Her work is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Canada and Art Gallery of Ontario. She lives and works in Vancouver.

Laiwan is a Zimbabwean interdisciplinary artist, art critic, gallerist, writer, curator and educator. Her wide-ranging practice is based in poetics and philosophy. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Tsēma Igharas, formerly known as Tamara Skubovius, is an interdisciplinary artist and member of the Tāłtān First Nation based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Igharas uses Potlatch methodology in making art, to assert the relationships between bodies and the world, and to challenge colonial systems of value and measurement of land and resources.

John Vanderpant was a Dutch-Canadian photographer, gallery owner and author. He made his living doing portrait work while becoming known as a major member of the International Modernist photography movement in Canada. He was a key figure in Vancouver's artistic community.

Kim Dorland is a contemporary Canadian painter based in Toronto. He is best known for his thickly-painted, fluorescent-imbued landscapes and super-thick portraiture and his use of multiple painting mediums per canvas.

Michelle Jacques is a Canadian curator and educator known for her expertise in combining historical and contemporary art, and for her championship of regional artists. Originally from Ontario, born in Toronto to parents of Caribbean origin, who immigrated to Canada in the 1960s, she is now based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

John Scott was a Canadian multimedia painter, sculptor, and installation artist.

Ash K. Prakash D.F.A., is a philanthropist and scholar of Canadian art.

Ian M. Thom is a Canadian curator, author, and art historian, well known for his exhibitions and major catalogues and books on Canadian Art and international art. In his 30-year duration at the Vancouver Art Gallery, his unceasing dedication to Canadian art and the Vancouver Art Gallery collection, has contributed to better understanding the achievements of Canadian and world art.

Doris Shadbolt, née Meisel LL. D. D.F.A. was an art historian, author, curator, cultural bureaucrat, educator and philanthropist who had an important impact on the development of Canadian art and culture.

Sarah Milroy is the executive director and chief curator of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario, responsible for the 2021 exhibition and editor of the book Uninvited: Canadian women artists in the modern moment (2021), as well as co-editing with Ian Dejardin, the previous director, Tom Thomson: North Star (2023) and contributing to numerous books on art, including Mary Pratt, From the Forest to the Sea: Emily Carr in British Columbia, David Milne: Modern Painting and co-editing Early Days: Indigenous Art at the McMichael. She is a champion of the art of Canada.

References

  1. ↑ "Artists". metiviergallery.com. Nicholas Metivier Gallery. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Vogl, Rhiannon. "Proposal for Purchase" (PDF). www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  3. ↑ "Artists, Films about". /metiviergallery.com. Metivier Gallery. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 Reeves, Ben. ""No Dress Rehearsal". Tom Thomson, North Star (edited by Ian A. C. Dejardin and Sarah Milroy) (2023), page 121". www.gallery.ca. McMichael Canadian Art Collection and Goose Lane Editions. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Biography" (PDF). website-metiviergallery.artlogic.net. Metivier Gallery, Toronto. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  6. ↑ "Faculty". www.ecuad.ca. Emily Carr University of Art & Design. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 "Article". evergreenculturalcentre.ca. Evergreen Cultural Centre. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  8. ↑ "Article". www.gallerieswest.ca. Galleries West Magazine. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  9. ↑ "Exhibitions". www.semanticscholar.org. Sematic Scholar.
  10. ↑ "Exhibitions". www.mbam.qc.ca. MBAM. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  11. ↑ "Collection". collection.museumlondon.ca. Museum London. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
  12. ↑ "Collection". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.