Benjamin Britton

Benjamin Britton’s paintings, mash-ups of abstraction and representation, hit viewers with a tornado-like swirl of colors, forms, and semi-recognizable images, fueled by inspirations that he lists as “recollection of specific events, fantasies, and landscapes combined with issues of national and personal identity, mythology, and the collapse of those identities and myths.” These concerns are centered upon what he sees as the clash between nature and culture, out of which our modern identity is forged. In mostly large-scale compositions appearing fit to burst, he covers every available inch with textile-derived patterns, consumer and industrial objects, heavily abstracted human and animal figures, and fragmented landscapes, knitted together with gestural brushstrokes and swirls of pigment. “I want images and textures to become powerful enough to take the imagination on an adventure,” Britton says about his work, which does exactly that—at warp-speed.