We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Benjamin Ross a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Benjamin , thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Well, Long story short. I was a builder for 10years, owning my own Landscape building company in Sydney Australia. Hated how my life was turning out, I decided I wanted to end that life, and at that moment I felt I was already dead. I decided to go to Mexico on a surf trip were I was going to turn into a taco and surf my troubles away. Not realising how expensive the states really is for an Australian, I blew through all my money before even stepping foot in Mexico.
So I decided to connect with a few cafes, bars and surf shops to see if I could draw for them for some money (this approach really helped in the future). I didn’t really get to many connections as I didn’t have an art base behind me, but I did hear back from a studio in London about drawing a caricature doing some yoga poses for her walls.
At that time, Ive never drawn caricatures so I drew my self in all sorts of positions, she hated it, didn’t pay me, I cried but thats were Benny Cools started, I ended up painting my way through Mexico and California, but I never gave up the caricatures, hence the pastel Mexican colours I use in every painting I do. When I got back to my now studio, there was no looking back. Working as a builder, doing the hard yards definitely helped in my art career as its a lot of work to get clients, to keep clients and to get fans, endless months of emails, sleepless nights pumping out work, the critics always judging your work. But I wouldn’t change a thing, I now have a manger that helps me bring in the work, and I live very comfortable off these caricatures, any artists out there you have to put in the hard work, there is always going to be better artists but if you work harder then them, talk to a lot more businesses then them you will prevail. So I do say thank you to that London studio, even though at the time I hated that you didn’t pay me and that you brought on so much stress, anxiety, But thank you for letting me create this life I now live.

Benjamin , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

well yeh, for the folks that don’t know me, I’m Ben Ross, Unfortunately no correlation to Bob Ross, even though we were both in the defence force at one stage. I’m an Australian born Artist, I specialise in digital and mural art, I’ve painted around the globe painting Benny cools in all sorts of situations, from working with MLB, Topps, Boston Celtics, Nike and a few to many to name, I litterly just paint myself in a cartoon form. I live on the beach, I surf everyday I drink Tequila, I love to have fun, Dance, Sing, and be around family and friends. I’m also a massive romantic… So I try to paint these as-well as stories of my past into each design. To put it simply, I paint summer, I try to paint as if you were looking at my art you would instantly forget how shit life is, just to be taken to that better place. Where the sun is shining the birds are singing the tequila is flowing the waves… well the waves are as tasty as ever. I want to bring people to smile, and thats what I really want to achieve in my art. That life isn’t always bad, smile and enjoy the ride.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

As an artist its not easy to get started, coming from earning a good living as a builder to jumping ship to become an artist, its not just painting and hoping to get paid shitloads of cash. I knew I was in for a massive few years to build that base and collectors list. So for the first year, of becoming and artist, everyday I contacted on email 100 potential clients, every single day. It was hard, somedays I’d spend the whole 8 hours on emails talking to clients talking to gallery owners, trying to make money for the next week, I was charging next to nothing just top pay the bills, I was painting murals for cost of paints I was drawing for contra, I would digitally draw on walls I’d see down the street then show clients what I could do for there business. It was hard, Really hard, for that first year I lost a lot of friends, I stopped going out, I fought with my partner a lot, I can’t explain in words how hard that first year was, But it was worth it, In 3 years I have become one of the leading artist in Australia due to my work ethic. I make a shit ton of money per job compared to what I used to make and it’s all respect to that first year of solid work. I’ve had a lot of employees that just don’t want to do the work, they want to become the biggest artist and make a living, but you really need to put in the work, you need to network, find clients, talk to clients there is so many steps to be put top of mind, so when clients are looking for art, you’re on top of there mind. I want to scream this for the people in the back can hear, skill will only take you so far, if you work harder the 90% of people out there, you’ll make it.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Yes, of course, The biggest goal in my art career is to make people smile, to make people fee lat ease when they look at my art. Coming from a time when we had the pandemic, I believe thats what really made my art take off as my art is something to look at and smile at, something to be able to be lost in for a few minutes finding extra details that make your heart sing, you’re eyes will fall in love but your heart will beat like no other if you can put your self into the drawing then my goal is working. The thing that really drives me is I just want people to be happy. I want people to love, to be kind. I want the whole world to be tipsy, Imagine if everyone in the world was continually tipsy. Thats what I want with my art. To be happy.
Life can be so harsh, a lot harsher to some then others but everyone is fighting there own battles, and if I could make each and everyone smile then thats when I’ll feel like my goal is done.

Contact Info:

• Website: benross.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/benross_art/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benrossart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-ross-4256161b0/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenRossArt1
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0uA9JD8Vs39Cpb6GxnVvu2?si=FmBNc6XDR-Osn8P4zR-SjA
• Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/benrossart/boards/

Image Credits
First photo of my self – Was a shoot with Rollie Nation.