C Block Exhibition

New work on display in the C Block exhibition space

Once again, Ben Saling-Cohen of 12I has produced a body of incredible artwork for the 

C Block exhibition space. Come and see Ben’s work on display and allow your eyes to be surprised by the intricate colour explosions of perfectly manifested patterns. Here is what Ben had to say about his work.

“This collection of artworks exhibits a flowing slew of different shapes that create organic patterns when put against each other. They came to me close to the end of last year when I missed more than half of the last terms due to illness, I lost motivation to continue drawing portraits and landscapes, instead opting for messes of colour and scribbles, the first two artworks that came out of this were two paintings in grotesque colours, one of which displayed embroidery in the shape of Dadaist scribbles. 

After several weeks of filling up pages with scribbles, I realised I could mirror sections of them vertically and horizontally, which I did. An idea that eventually peaked in the artwork highest on the wall, where the pattern in the centre is reflected in these ways, I also used these scribbles to harness my recent desire to use coloured pencils with great strength so I can make their products completely opaque.

This proved difficult and time consuming after a while, so I often cheat by overlaying colour blocks with markers of similar shades to present a similar illusion. The two drawings on the right represent the main style I adopted in the holidays, where I wanted to capture the great billowing trees in my holiday house in north Gippsland, as well as what I felt at the tidal river in Wilson’s prom. This finally completed my vision to turn a product of my despair of illness and transforming it into the product of my inspirations.”

Benjamin Saling-Cohen