Ben Swails is an artist and designer. His latest piece on display at last months Free Range degree show, BRINK brings together these two creative passions to great effect. In the piece Circuit Board Diagram of a Robot from my Childhood, he couples the cold hard forms of a circuit diagram and the bold symbolic graphics of visual communication, with the tack and sensitivity of an expressive artist. The work is a declaration of boyish thoughts and desires, it somehow fluctuates between a proud statement of being a boy and the reality of being an angst ridden young adult.
Experiencing this piece is like taking a journey in time and space, to the culture of childhood. His personal visual language references all the wonders of our contemporary society from films and video games to sweets and Sat Navs. The work invites the viewer to navigate the various line and symbols, to become immersed into the act of looking. Whilst traveling through a 2d world you begin to build up a knowledge of the many repeated elements of iconography. Each element is recognisable because it seems so ingrained in culture. I found myself thinking about how natural it feels to see simple images and give them meaning. The more time you spend reading and transversing the black lines and clip art like emblems, the more engrossed you become in the character that this flow chart depicts. The piece becomes a portrait, with a greater sense of realism and detail than any photo or painting could provide.
Ben Swails has positioned himself and his work just on boundaries between fine art, design and boyish desires. The core of this work becomes the desire, confusion and disappointment of growing up. Through this piece he presents to us the hope that the promises of childhood would become reality as you become a grown up. However at the same time, as you read each piece of text, and follow lines and symbols it is evident that this hope is replaced by reality. Even with the knowledge, skill and technology of today the dreams of hover-boards, personal robots and super powers derived from our favourite films, stories and toys never came true.
Through attention to detail and sincere sentiment, Swails has created an art work full of boyish charm. Although it may hold within it a sombre sense of nostalgia, it also reminds us of the hope and excitement about childhood, and that is something to remember. Long live boyish dreams!
————Related Things——————
- Shows: BRINK Free Range at The Old Truman Brewery, London July 7th-11th 2011/ STEM. AUCB FineArt Degree Sow. Bournemouth June 23rd-30th 2011
- Articles:
- Sites: www.benswails.com
Frederick Nicholas
Various Artists
jackhoneysett
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