Ben Boothby
“My paintings are built entirely from memories of architectural moments. They are mnemonic structures; holding a multitude of conflicting emotions from that place. Memory is a construction: layers of spatial ambiguities and shifting degrees of focus, scattered with representational details. I strive for this visualization of how memory exists, because I feel it shows how our minds actually function, on a cellular and chemical level. Memory is in flux, when we try to pin it down to examine the details, it will not sit still. Gestural splatters and hard edged abstraction are combined to create a complex visual puzzle. The goal is to capture the pulsation of memory vibrating in self-contradictions. While these paintings are made out of moments from my own narrative, they are left open to each viewer's personal associations. I hope to engage a viewer’s sense of nostalgia, as well as their curiosity. In order to make sense of the image, they access information from their own spatial memories - that align somehow with parts of the puzzle. Then the painting fulfills its purpose as a visualization of memory. “
BEN BOOTHBY now resides in Portland, Maine, happy to be home after 20 years of living out-of-state. That time away concluded with 9 years in Bushwick, Brooklyn. His paintings have been exhibited in NYC, nationally, and in Europe. He received his BA in Studio Art from Wesleyan University, Connecticut, in 1997. He earned his MFA from The Academy of Art University, San Francisco, in 2011. In the gap between degree programs he lived in DC, Iceland, and Oakland. From 2012 to 2019 he taught abstract painting for the Academy's online graduate fine art department. Now Ben is turning his attention to full time art production in his studio at Running With Scissors, in Portland.
Featured Works
