Background: Ben grew up in rural western, ny surrounded by stuff he had taken apart, action figures, comic books, computers, computer games, and a nurturing family.
Present: Ben manipulates vernacular craft forms with the mentality of a hacker, freely appropriating, cutting and pasting disparate elements to form new configurations and forms. He uses needlepoint as a vehicle for therealization of intangible digital ephemera; making icons, symbols and code palpable. He has been quoted saying the following regarding his art practice:
"The idea of three dimensional digital ephemera is inherently fictitious and carries an element of fantasy. I am interested in the idea of a hidden dimension where common computing symbols are mystic objects. The environments I create with these objects are a space for the vernacular of two seemingly different cultures (crafts and computers) to rub up against each other and create a new culture/tribe with psychedelic/spiritual depth. At times the reference to computer culture becomes heavily abstracted or disappears completely. In these moments the work deals more exclusively with the fabricated mysticism."
