Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Tong.
Hi Ben, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I went to Calarts, which was a very conceptually rigorous place to study art. It was an amazing place to be while I was in my formative years, absorbing and synthesizing ideas about art. These days, my painting practice is more embodied, more intuitive—but the ideas I first encountered there, especially around the beautiful and the sublime, still shape how I see.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s a marathon. Perseverance is definitely a muscle that needed to be developed. In the beginning you have this idea that you want to be an artist and you have to figure out a way to do it and keep on going. Of course others have also taken this path and so you have some direction, but you also have to figure it out. The challenge is how to make it your own – both practically in life and in the work itself. For years I had to have many side jobs in order to make ends meet. The challenge was how to make enough money while having enough time and energy to maintain a studio practice. Doubt and determination here play opposite ends of an important dynamic. I now paint full time, but this internal rhythm still fuels the practice.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a painter and I really love working with the materiality of oil paint. I love the unpredictable way light interacts with various layers of mineral, pigment and fat. There is a fundamental quality to an image that comes together through this medium. I begin by making marks and applying colors and as the surface builds an image begins to form. Somehow this process allows for the unconscious to interact with the image. This is not unlike how seemingly random processes like the I-ching, Tarot, or reading tea leaves, can paradoxically illuminate a reality in the world more clearly.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
One of the best advise that my former teacher at Calarts, Charles Gaines, gave me was that you are an artist as long as you keep on showing up to the studio and making work every day. I’d say that this form of perseverance, along with finding a process that is enjoyable, has been some of the more important lessons I’ve learnt along the way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nightgallery.ca/artists/ben-tong
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tongbean/
Image Credits
Rosita Lama Muvdi
Nik Massey
Ed Mumford
