Ben Weiner Figurative Paintings

Oceanic Pearls is an oil painting on prepared paper, sheet size 15.75 x 22 inches, signed, titled and dated verso, 'Ben Weiner Oceanic Pearls 2019' and framed in a contemporary white frame. Connecting two opposing styles—abstraction and photorealism—Ben Weiner creates hyper-detailed, lush paintings and videos of extremely magnified consumer products, including hair gel, chemical food additives, and deodorant. In his work, he presents such meticulously rendered, close-up views of his subjects that they read as pure abstractions. A through-line in Weiner’s various bodies of work is contemporary culture’s obsession with bodily enhancement through chemical products—whether by using hair products or taking illegal drugs. "My paintings of pearls and hair gel merge varied notions of art as creation with biological and mythological concepts of creation. Visually, the pearls seem to emerge from the hair gel, suggesting biological processes such as cellular division, or the primordial soup that preceded life on earth. The all-over, abstract qualities of the hair gel recall the abstract expressionists’ concepts of the sublime art object and art as a transcendent act of creation. Additionally, the pearl itself is a naturally produced object of profound beauty. I use it to symbolize my understanding of creation as a feminine power, intrinsically linked to beauty (as in Boticelli’s The Birth of Venus). Finally, the pearls are an ode to Audrey Flack, one of my early artistic influences." - Ben Weiner Ben Charles Weiner (b. 1980) is a New York based contemporary artist. His work bridges the seemingly opposite styles of hyperrealism, and process-based abstraction. Mr. Weiner has exhibited his work widely in the US and internationally, at institutions including The Carnegie Art Museum, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, The Boca Raton Museum of Art, and The Tarble Art Center. His work is in public collections including Microsoft, Sammlung/Collection, Progressive Insurance, and The Frederick R. Weisman Collection...