Moving from traditional colour-field painting to working with light itself, their work explores mood, colour and the passage of time, creating immersive experiences that unfold gradually and invite reflection. Inspired by the rhythms of coastal living, familiar neighbourhoods and the sense of cycles returning, their artworks often mirror the gentle ebb and flow of life in Greater Geelong.
Ben Bjork
Could you please describe your creative practice?
It's changed a fair bit over the past few years, especially because I've transitioned from more traditional colour-field painting to painting more with light itself. It usually starts with an idea for a specific space, or a specific vibe or mood I'd like to bring to a specific space. Then I usually start putting together a unique colour palette for that space. From there it's almost like piecing together a narrative (albeit a very ambiguous one) or treating it like a movie - but a movie that has no characters or a definitive plot; I come up with how I want it to start, where I want it to go, how I want it to end. And then it's a case of figuring out the duration, how fast or slow it should unfurl. With most of my recent work time plays a major part, how a piece transitions and changes.
When did your creative journey begin?
I guess as a child, drawing and painting a lot.
What inspired you to pursue a career in the creative field?
It's just always been that way since I can remember.
How do you connect with the Greater Geelong area through your work?
Having grown up in Geelong, then moved away for almost twenty years, then come back again... this has had a huge impact on my work. Living close to the water, being back in the neighborhoods my wife and I grew up in, watching our son grow up in the same area, seeing how things and people have and totally have not changed... there's a real sense of things coming back around again. A kind of comfort in things progressing but also being a bit elliptical, the tide slightly shifting but still having a natural ebb and flow. As I write this, I'm realising that a lot of the work I've been doing lately does exactly this, works on a kind of gentle, gradual loop.
What challenges or barriers have you encountered in your career?
Mainly just the very slow process of coming up with a body of work I'm happy with. I have no complaints about external things that are out of my control.
Looking ahead, what would you like to achieve?
I would really like to have more works shown in institutional settings, like universities, museums, architectural sites, etc.
Where can we see/learn more about your work/projects? (links)
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