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The contradictions of a digital life,.. Ben Gavin, produces thought provoking observations on both geopolitics and the constant power play we engage in as social media users. `
Text by Mike Watson (ARTFORUM / ZERO BOOKS) READ HERE
More recently in a globalised and virtualised world, we are made to feel conscious of inclusion and diversity. Difference has never been more ideological. It has never been so ubiquitously high on the agenda..
Different + Painting, text by Adam Geczy (Bloomsbury UK) READ MORE
SOLO EXHIBITIONS AT CHAUFFEUR
DIFFERENT PAINTING
OCTOBER 15 - NOVEMBER 14, 2020
OCCUPATIONS ABOVE A SEA OF FOG
OCTOBER 11 - NOVEMBER 3 2018
TEXT by Anna Madeleine
The Sunflower (Charles Henry Pearson´s Thesis of 1893 on China, Globalisation and the West)
Two dinner plates, silicone and metal, unique
Diameter 28 (made in the UK) and 23 cm (made in China)
2025
I’m So Free (Lou Reed)
Broken iphone 9, iphone charger, digital image, sound composition 4’08” loop (MP3)
In collaboration with Benjamin Andrasko (GAVIN / ANDRASKO)
2020
Different #5
Epoxy resin and ink on carson paper, acrylic, varnish and wood
30 x 45 x 6 cm
2020
Different #2
marker pen on ink jet paper, varnish and wood
30 x 45 x 6 cm
2020
works on paper, private collection, Chang Mai
AFTERMATH
CARTEL Bangkok
August 7-31, 2019
Building on the Duchampian strategy of the readymade and the use of artwork titles to create provocative self-descriptive works, Ben Gavin’s practice incorporates and displaces objects, text and images.
Aftermath transforms the gallery into a Contemporary Art Fair booth with signage mounted above the entrance. The viewer enters into a meditative space filled with residue: dispersed foam and cardboard, bundles of discarded plastic, tyvek paper, wrapping, water bottles, various tape, crushed aluminium cans, screws in the wall and coffee take away cups – the debris of excessive production and consumption.
Aftermath is a multilayered reading. The intimacy of disposable materials fleeting in space without purpose imitates the obfuscated realities of the globalised spectacle of blue chip art fairs in the dying age of speculation. It questions their impact on local markets, ecologically, culturally and economically. By presenting Aftermath at CARTEL the artist metaphorically questions the vulnerability of cities with strong economical growth on the periphery of the Western art canon, such as Bangkok and alludes to the thriving local creativity of South East Asia as a place that demands it´s own international attention.
Exhibition and residency at CARTEL Bangkok courtesy of Mit Jai Inn and Kan Nathiwutthikun
Occupations Above A Sea Of Fog
Oil stick, emulsion, gelatine, pencil, charcoal on linen
230 x 190 cm
2017
Positive Criticism
Art Fair paper guide, acrylic and plinth
120 x 30 x 30 cm
2018
Swasbrook Collection Auckland
Installation view
Yellow Brick Road
Soil, works on paper, video, monitor, soft toy (globe) and plinth, wall based text in graphite
2017
Atelier Concorde Lisboa
Banal
DMG Business card, acrylic and ink
12 x 8 x 3 cm
2016
Private collection, Melbourne
Distinction
Glass, wood, vanish, sheet cover of 21st Modern Art publication and Distinction publication (by Pierre Bourdieu)
40 x 25 x 46 cm
2016
F... Contemporary Art
Frieze magazine cover, coloured gloss print 25 x 6 cm
2014
Swasbrook Collection Auckland
Delusions of Certainty (dots dots dots)
Vinyl in aluminium, branches, and rope
60 cm diameter, edition of 3
2022
Via Detour, Kassel, Germany
For Via DeTour, Gavin installed three upside down modified traffic control signs to embody a singular RGB data value (Red, Green and Blue dots) suspended deep in the forest to question consumption, ecology and the digital realm. How do we distinguish the real from simulation? What is simulation in real life? What is the real nature of reality?
Questions in which Delusions of Certainty response to with maximum implications about contemporary life and culture. The outcome is to keep in one’s memory a recurring theme that undermines the human condition to imposing weight of economical, social and political systems and values.
Request price for edition 2.
Satisfaction
Wallpaper, dimensions variable, edition of 3
2022
A History of Modern Art (On Loan)
Library books staked, plinth, list of male artist names, one female artist only
Dimensions variable
Edition of 3, COA and instructions.pdf
2010
I said
ink on paper, 29.7 x 21 cm
2005
B. 1981 Avoca Beach NSW
Lives & Works in Sydney and LIsboa
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 Flowers In The Attic CHAUFFEUR, Sydney, Australia - JUNE/JULY
2020 Different Painting, CHAUFFEUR, Sydney, Australia
2019 Aftermath, CARTEL, Bangkok, Thailand
2018 Occupations Above A Sea Of Fog, CHAUFFEUR, Sydney, Australia
2017 Yellow Brick Road, Atelier Concorde, Lisbon, Portugal
2017 Clinging to Debris, FORT DELTA, Melbourne, Australia
2013 White Cube... I love you. But you’re bringing me down - General Store, Sydney
2011 Make Me Look Like Debord in “68, - General Store, Sydney, Australia
2010 Drawn Upon, SCA Galleries, University of Sydney
2010 Again, Once Over Again, SCA Galleries Courtyard, University of Sydney
2010 Florist as a Private Collection, Foyer Gallery, Sydney Australia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Canberra Biennale, ACT (forthcoming)
2022 Via Detour, BaushausHotel Collection – Robins Nest, Kassel, Germany
2021 Paper, Michelle Perry Fine Art, Sydney, Australia
2019 No Colour, CHAUFFEUR, Sydney, Australia
2019 Kilgour Prize, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, Australia, Finalist
2019 Rhythm and Blues, w/ Antoine Aguilar and David Keating, CHAUFFEUR, Sydney
2018 The Practice of Everyday Life, After de Certeau, yuill/crowley, Sydney
2018 Dirty Pretty Things, CHAUFFEUR, Sydney, Australia
2017 General Store at Spring 1883 Art Fair, The Establishment, Sydney
2017 Enter Art Foundation, Berlin Art Weekend, Berlin, Germany
2016 The Form Colour Texture Of - General Store, Southern Highlands
2016 Restaging Modernism – General Store at Spring 1883 Art Fair, The Windsor, Melbourne
2016 Ride The Lightning – ArtBrussels, Brussels, Belgium (curator)
2015 POPPOSITIONS ART FAIR, Brussels, Belgium (curator)
2014 Nothing New Still – Curated by Sophie Kitson, William Windows, Sydney
2014 AS AN ARTIST YOU HAVE TO BALANCE BEING CLEVER ENOUGH TO HAVE AN IDEA AND STUPID ENOUGH TO MAKE IT A REALITY, ANU, Canberra ACT
2014 XVI – Franc Vila Prize, Luis Adelantado, Valencia, Spain
2011 A DAMN GOOD PAINTING SHOW! - General Store, Sydney, Australia
2011 Remnants in Documentation – curator Jasmine Kean, General Store, Sydney
2011 Double Life: Duple Trials curator Diana Ali, Malt Cross Gallery, Nottingham UK
2010 FEINKOST TRIENNALE – curator Aaron Moulton, FEINKOST, Berlin, Germany
2009 Print Matters, Chauvel Cinema, Paddington, Sydney
2009 Mein Doppelganger, curator Alex McIver, Tank Art Centre, Cairns, Queensland
2008 The Art World - curator Aaron Moulton, FEINKOST, Berlin, Germany
2007 Climate of Change – curator Bob and Roberta Smith, ASC, London, UK
2006 Trauma & Art: Shards of Delineating Absence - SpielRaum, Berlin, Germany (catalogue)
2005 ANONYME ZEICHNER Galerie Blutenweiss, Berlin, Germany
2005 TERROR? Intersection in the Arts, San Francisco, USA (catalogue)
2005 THE ATTENDER La Viande Gallery, London UK
2005 ERI:2 (EYELEVEL RE-INITIATIVE:2) Eyelevel Gallery, Halifax, Canada
2005 Behind Our Brittle Shells Nolia's Gallery, London UK
2004 WARATAH II: Oceanic Currents Knots Gallery, Sydney, Australia
COLLECTIONS
Swasbrook Collection, Auckland
Enter Art Collection, Berlin
Frederic de Goldschmidt Collection, Brussels
Private collections, NZ, Australia, UK, Thailand, Spain and Germany
AWARDS/PRIZES/GRANTS/RESIDENCES
2019 Finalist, Kilgour Prize, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, Australia
2017 Artist-in-Residence, Atelier Concorde, Lisbon, Portugal
2014 Finalist, Franc Vila Art Prize, Luis Adelantado, Valencia, Spain
2010 Winner of Zelda Stedman Scholarship, SCA, University of Sydney
2006 Artist-in-Residence – SpielRaum, Berlin, Germany
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Artshub, Small Galleries With Big Fair Impact, Fairley, G. 2018
Catalogue – Enter Art Foundation, Gallery Weekend Berlin 2017
Observer (USA) - Art World Descends on Brussels Despite Attacks—Just Don’t Call It an Art Capital – Voilen, G. April 2016 AnOther Magazine (UK) - A Game of Detection – Seymour H. April 2016
MAKMA (ES) – revista de arts visuals y cultura contemoporanea online 2014
TimeOut (AUS), Online, Cumulus Attacked By A Contrary Wind, July 2012
TimeOut (AUS), Exhibition of the Month, The Silent Hour, July and Sept 2011
RealTime Magazine (AUS), Gail Priest, Part1: Sydney Scene, issue 103. Page 40,
Trouble Art Magazine, White Cube, I love you... April Issue, page 19/20, 2010
Print Matters: Salon and Exhibition Guide page 2 2009
Umelec Contemporary Art Magazine (PR): Berlin / Prague page 24 issue 1 2008
Frieze, 'The Art World', Jan/Feb 2008 / Artforum, Jan/Feb 2008
Trauma & Art: Shards of Delineating Absence (publication) SpielRaum
The Attender' Frieze Magazine: March / April issue 98 2006
Exhibition Guide – The Attender, La Viande Gallery 2006
Anonyme Zeichner #1, Catalogue: Blutenweiss Berlin, Germany
Exhibition Guide - Beyond our Brittle Shells: Nolias Gallery, London
Collector's Edition (dis-pose journal) issues 1 – 4: London UK
Catalogue - Waratah Two: Oceanic Currents. House 418 Publishing 2003
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