Recent Works from Kenya and Devon

Ben Oelmann presents a striking collection of drawings exploring pattern in the landscape.

"I am fascinated by landscape and trees. In Kenya and Tanzania, the landscapes are ancient, unforgiving and larger than life: huge skies, and bush patterns which have changed little in thousands of years. In Britain, the landscapes are softer and newer, but the changing seasons provide a wonderful complexity."

Ben tends to take a theme and explore it through a series of drawings produced in the studio: some are representational, some semi-abstract. Mainly monochromatic, some recent works do see a gradual inroduction of burnt sienna, ultramarine and paynes grey. He plans to work at an easel in the gallery throughout his exhibition.

Working in charcoal, chalk and graphite, Ben's main interests lie in line, tone and texture.
"Most of my recent work focuses on trees and hedgerows. My drawings are highly textural, full of accidentals and I employ a wide repertoire of marks, smudges, surfaces, patterns and tones. I use reflective graphite sticks and pencils alongside willow charcoal and compressed charcoal to create contrasts and rhythms. I create webs, routes and directions using a wide range of range of marks. I also tend to see the landscape around me in 2 dimensions, almost as a pattern or map."

"My taste in art is quite catholic, but artists I particularly admire include Poussin, Claude, Caravaggio, van der Weyden, Rembrandt, Breughel, Velazquez, Auerbach and Hockney."

Much of Ben's earlier work was abstract, but he now feels an increasing need for tangible reference points, and his years of travel have provided boundless inspiration and source material. Ben's career has been as an art teacher, initially in West London, and then in the Dominican Republic, Tanzania, Sri Lanka and, most recently, Somerset and Kenya.

Having studied Fine Art and Art History, Ben gained an MA in African Studies in 1977 and, in 1984, a Ph.D in West African Art.

For more information visit http://www.harbourhouse.org.uk/gallery-BOelmann12.html