Ben Brotherton graduated from
Canterbury with a 1st class BA in Fine Arts in 2002
and completed his MA in painting in 2004.
After 3 years as artist in residence and
teaching art at The King’s School, Canterbury,
Ben now lives in southwest France where he is setting up an arts
school and his painting is thriving under French skies.
Working directly from his subject, Ben’s paintings pinpoint a
specific visual focus – the far glimpse of
water on the horizon, the perspective
of colouring. His paintings are
considered and radiate a tranquility and calmness. Ben explains,
‘Painting from nature may be my attempt to understand the world;
it allows me the opportunity to engage with its constituents. From
the infinite chaos of experience a painting might be distilled.’
Inspired by Cézanne, Chardin, Corot, Matisse, Bomberg and their
counterparts, Ben’s painting are about the painted surface itself,
the light quality and the space. ‘Bomberg’s notion of “the spirit
in the mass” has become an important idea for me. I believe his
statement articulates the tension between the energy invested into
the painting by the artist, and the energy resonating from the
motif. It is a desire to understand the subject and the subsequent
painting.’
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