Biography
Benjamin Hunt was born in Boise Idaho in 1996 and is a 2019 Cornish College of the Arts Graduate. He is a multimedia Artist whose work links death and oritmenation together through Memento Mori, Vanitas and Ikebana wallhangings. He has shown In the International Contemporary Art fair in Kirchberg, Luxembourg, The Van Gogh Art Gallery in Madrid, Spain and Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, Washington.
Artist Statement
I express my identity as a Ukrainian American Artist by drawing and painting personal patterns that change the reality of my existence. I always felt like who I am is a secret trick up my sleeve, experiencing a hidden othering to alienate a universal acceptance. I never felt like America meant anything to me but I never knew of my Russian culture on the other side of the world. The only thing I could understand about the Ukraine were the patterns of textiles and food, like a unspoken family that I was taken away from. I want to know of who I would of become, if I knew where I was from. I don’t speak Russian nor do I really understand English. It seems my world was lost in the mix of not communicating anything that I could understand. My work links death and ornamentation together using the details of the frame, composition and the continuation of self journey through textiles, collage, paint, poetry and drawing. A spiritual exploration of trying different outfits on to better understand who I am becoming, in a world where showing your true color is prohibited in a societal agreement. My paintings look to unify a god face in the drawn image. The self portrait is my experience in an arranged still life of objects that are sacred. The Memento Mori, Vanitas and Ikebana are historical contextualization of my practice through different paintings and wallhangings. The wolf represents the mirage of culture and heritage that is undergoing transformation of an alternative journey. The Symbolism of the Wolf has alway resonated personally with me and the opposing aspects told through fairy tales. In Mesoamerica a common belief is that a dog carries the newly deceased across a body of water to the afterlife. In Japan they believe that Wolves are Prophetic and that they used to be human. It is also believed in Japan if a traveler does not return home a wolf will come to your house and howl signaling their death.
CV
2020
Collective Art Show, Van Gogh Gallery. Madrid Spain
International Contemporary Art Fair, Lux Expo, Kirchberg, Luxembourg
MASK PARADE, MoM, Seattle WA
Blooming Hearts, Jump, Boise, ID
2019
While Supplies Last Bellevue Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Forever Again, Specialist Gallery, Seattle WA
Double Fantasy, Cornish Collage of the Arts BFA Graduate
2018
Mood Flowers, Studio e, Curated by Anthony White, Seattle WA
Cloud of Smoke, Studio Current, Seattle WA
While Supplies Last, Mount Analogue, Seattle WA
Through Multiple Vessels, Cornish College of the Arts, L Space, Seattle WA
2017
Incidental Eraser, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle WA
2015
Solo Exhibition, The Crux, Boise ID
2014
Student Showcase, Art Source Gallery, Boise ID
Cornish Collage of the Arts, Art Merit Scholarship, 2015
Artist of the Year, Timberline High School, 2014
Scholastic Arts and Writing, Silver Medal, 2014
Publications
Valley Visions, 2013/14/15
Programs
Summer at Cornish, Art Intensive, 2014, Seattle WA
Compositionally, my work is very intricate in sentiment and symbolism, often relying on the imagery, philosophies, and principles of Astrology, Tarot, and Shamanism to come to terms of what is happening in relative memory and present motion. My environment is also shaped by feminism, universal human rights, transculturation, the painful impact of colonialism on indigenous cultures, and the replacement of traditional beliefs. It is important what material I represent and use within an artwork because all aspects deliberately suggest a larger connotation or conversation that relates back to human knowledge of society.
