We attended the private view of Artist Ben Turnbull's ongoing visual commentary of America's history. Running through until the 17th of July it presents a span of 15 years of work for Ben. Having no formal art education Ben's clear talent for strong commentary in his work is born out of a previous career in film set design and interior design. Neither did Ben set out to be a career artist, but just felt he needed to create something.... get a seedling of an idea out of himself and into a solid object. This for me is the kind of art that is suffused with authenticity, it's honest.
Ranging from the humorous such as "Bring me the head of Saddam Hussain" through to the beautiful of "Hero I and Hero II" the works show their depth and intricacy the more you look and the longer you look.
Set in historical chronological order, although not created in that order, the works feature mixed materials from assembled pieces through to sculpted or carved from scratch. Many of the pieces are constructed from tiny cuttings from American comic books, collaged to produce the whole piece. Some of them you could spend hours visually dissecting on close examination.
Staged at the Saatchi gallery in the Duke of York's square in Chelsea, this exhibition should definitely be on your list to visit very soon!
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