Over the last fifteen years, Benjamin Hannavy Cousen has developed a new language of painting. The use of a syringe and needle to layer paint means that his works have evolved from painting into sculpture. Each work could be considered a becoming - a painting that is in the process of becoming a sculpture, the emerging form dictated by the process. Each work is related to a specific text and the artist has extracted the colours (colour words) from a book or story and layered them in a form of an archaeology of the ‘colour unconscious’ of the text.
Since 2015 Benjamin has been represented by Merville Galleries (www.mervillegalleries.com) and has had two solo shows in London - Recent Paintings (The Mall Galleries, 2017) and Rings of Saturn and Other Objects (Gallery 8, St James’s, 2022). His work has been exhibited at The London Art Fair and The British Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery and features in a number of private collections. He has a PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of Leeds and has published widely on visual culture, from Picasso to the film Pink Floyd The Wall. He currently works from a studio in Otley just north of Leeds.