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

Benjamin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I don’t put much value in describing an artist as having natural talent. I am a firm believer that you need to be inclined towards the discipline of creating, while practice and consistency sharpens skills.

My parents gave me the rudimentary materials necessary to carve my own creative path. They appreciated fine art and we took frequent, memorable visits to see notable works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Brandywine Museum. I remember being particularly affected by Anselm Kieffer, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and the Wyeths. The scale of these works and physically contending with them made an impact on the importance of seeing things in person and the quiet reverence of examining art in that setting.
My father and grandmother were accomplished artists themselves so art was normalized at home. My grandmother taught classes in plein air painting and specialized in watercolor and monotypes. My father was an illustrator and cartoonist who drew everyone around him at least once.
Seeing both of them work and getting small advice was a gentle push in the right direction for me. In retrospect they made art and production commonplace. Eliminating the idea of preciousness and downplaying the monumentality of the process gave me the confidence to create and also fail.
All of these things would eventually culminate into me wanting to go to art school and my parents giving me their full support.

Benjamin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I gave a lot of general information about my upbringing and my family life leading me into art but what I left out was my general compulsion to draw. Growing up, I was fixated on developing my skill set and achieving the translation of imagery from my brain to my hand. That evolved when I went to art school and became focused on art history and the stories of movements, artists and their influences. This was seminal in how I wanted to present myself and my creative expression. My paintings explore the culture of everyday life infused with the fantastical. They have connections with Pop Art, Surrealism, and Expressionism. The imagery is created using automatism with the exploration of graphic line and the organic, haphazard, application of paint. With these gestures I employ social commentary and reference current events presented in a playful reminiscence of a children’s coloring book. The compositions are grounded by tangible characters including people, architecture, innocuous icons of American life, and other worldly anthropomorphisms.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I don’t make art with an audience in mind although it’s a great experience to have people interact with my work. It’s always an honor when someone loves something enough to bring it home with them and decorate their personal space. If they can share and celebrate my vision that’s something special. I have progressed as an artist and graduated to a bigger stage. Over the last 15 years, I have had the opportunity to work on large scale murals and experiential installations.
Having 2 kids in the last 5 years has changed my perspective on how my work is viewed. Having them experience it is what means the most to me now and hopefully it will spark their interest to make art too.

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

I make art on my own volition. It’s cathartic, therapeutic and a wonderful momentary escape from reality. It has maintained itself as one of the most fulfilling journeys in my life. Pragmatism has always taken away from full immersion because of bills, family and health insurance. I would eventually like to get to the point of generating a stable enough income from it to make art a full time job.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.benhowardart.com
• Instagram: benhowardart
• Other: [email protected]

Image Credits
Photo Credit: Matt Bender (portraits in studio) Photo Credit: Zave Smith (in front of green painting) Photo Credit: BeauMonde Originals (painting mural and in front of black and white mural)