Ben Jack Nash is an installation artist working in smaller formats but also site specific architectural interventions and commissions. Born in North West London, 1978. He initially qualified into legal aid law representing prisoners, asylum seekers, mental health patients and others on society's margins. Recent solo shows have been held in Germany (2014) and France (2013). Group shows have included the Venice Arsenale (2016), York St. Mary's (2013), The Wilson Contemporary, Cheltenham (2015) and Bronden Strand Cultural Centre, Copenhagen (2012). The significance of his practise is recognised and shown by established industry figures such as Miguel Amado (MIMA) Richard Deacon, Richard Wentworth and Yinka Shonibare. He has been selected for a number of art prizes including Arte Laguna, Aesthetica Magazine and Cologne art fair's Bloom Award.
Ben Jack Nash is an installation artist working in smaller formats but also site specific architectural interventions and commissions. Born in North West London, 1978. He initially qualified into legal aid law representing prisoners, asylum seekers, mental health patients and others on society's margins. Recent solo shows have been held in Germany (2014) and France (2013). Group shows have included the Venice Arsenale (2016), York St. Mary's (2013), The Wilson Contemporary, Cheltenham (2015) and Bronden Strand Cultural Centre, Copenhagen (2012). The significance of his practise is recognised and shown by established industry figures such as Miguel Amado (MIMA) Richard Deacon, Richard Wentworth and Yinka Shonibare. He has been selected for a number of art prizes including Arte Laguna, Aesthetica Magazine and Cologne art fair's Bloom Award.
He how parts which make up our social architecture behave like the parts which make up physical architecture. Earlier work hones in on molten, gooey and abstract states of an economic collapse (‘[ ]~ No. 1’, 2009), ecological disasters (‘[ ]~ No. 7’, 2012), religious turmoil (‘[ ]~ No. 6’, 2012) or digimania (‘[ ]~ No. 8’, 2014). A fragmented physical state less restricted by space, he suggests, greases the wheels for social transformation, effectively sculpting the landscape of history from form to form.
More recent work draws attention to overlapping moments where these transformations take place in material or in society. Their detection is difficult, they possesses a mysterious nature, hidden away below the radar. He invites us to rely on impressions, fossils or ghosts left behind to deduce and imagine the original source. These might be inferences drawn from by-products, paraphernalia, residue or what lies on either side of the overlap.
QUALIFICATIONS
2003 MA University of Nottingham
2002 MA, Science-Po, Lille, France
2001 BA Manchester Metropolitan University
SOLO EXHBITIONS
2014 Standby, Gallery Zwingenberg, Darmstadt, Germany
2013 Kayserguet, Pavillion Henri-Louis Kayser, Strasbourg
2012 Sculpted Colour, Galerie Planet Theatre, Strasbourg
2011 Young Artists, Galerie Quédar, Strasbourg
COMMISSIONS
2013 Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Chelsea Old Town Hall, sculpture installation for launch of the ‘Nour’ festival of arts
2013 St. Albans, Herfordshire, private site specific sculpture commission
2012 Published book cover commission, ‘The Islamic Veil in Legal Discourse’ , Routledge publishers (UK)
2011 Jersey, New York, site specific wall sculpture (private)
2010 De Broutelles residence, Strasbourg, France, site specific wall installation (private)
2009 The Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France, site specific permanent wall installation
2008 Speak-it Productions, office headquarters, London, (private)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBTIONS
2016 Arte Laguna, Arsenale, Venice
2015 Creekside Open, APT Gallery, London
2015 The Open West, Wilson Gallery, Cheltenham
2014 [In]Visible, Shape Gallery, London
2014 Wells Art Contempoary, Somerset (selected by Richard Wentworth)
2014 Verve Sculpture Prize, Loud and Western, London
2013 Je crise, Jarny Cultural Centre, France
2013 Showcase, Nesta headquarters, London
2013 Aesthetica, York St. Mary’s Gallery, York
2013 Borders, The Arts Complex Gallery, Edinburgh
2012 Liquid Cities, Gallery Scoletta di San Giovanni Battista, Venice
2012 Global Village, Bronden Cultural Centre, Copenhagen
2012 Backlash, Soho20 Gallery, New York
2012 Group Show, Hotel Ripa, Rome
2012 Kodina, Arbeit Gallery, London
2012 Global Village, Château de Sully, Borgogne, France
2012 Global Village, Projekt 72 Gallery, Alkmaar, Netherlands
2012 Group Show, Gallery Palazzo Albrizzi, Venice
2011 La Place des Arts, Place Brogolie, Strasbourg
2010 Les Ateliers Ouverts, Strasbourg
2010 Rekult, Bucholtz-Ettinger, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxemburg
2009 SIHRG, Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, London
AWARDS
2016 10th Arte Laguna Art Prize, Venice arsenale, Italy, finalist
2016 IEAA, Dubai, shortlist
2015 Bloom Award, Art.Cologne art fair, Germany, shortlist
2015 Xerxes Sculpture Prize, Sepentine Gallery, London, finalist
2014 Shape Open, shortlist
2014 Wells Art Contempoary, shortlist
2014 Verve Sculpture Prize, runner-up
2013 Aesthetica Art Prize, sculpture and installation, (finalist)
2012 Aesthetica Art Prize, sculpture and installation, (finalist)
2011 1st Prize, Emerging Artists, Galerie Quédar, Strasbourg, France
2010 Gallerie Bertrand Gillig, Strasbourg, Rotary Art Prize, (finalist)
2008 Residence, Atelier 26, Strasbourg, France
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Anthology 2013, ‘100 Contemporary Artists’, Aesthetica magazine
Aesthetica Magazine, Issue 51 (February/ March)
Aesthetica Magazine, interview for online version
Creative Works Annual 2012, Aesthetica Magazine
Routledge Publishers (UK)
Derniers Nouvelles d’Alsace, Strasbourg
![[ ]~ No. 8 (v)](https://axiswebmedia.blob.core.windows.net/www/usermedia/5076917/work/208810/vygmkmfzaka2ircrevnmkg_large.jpg)
![[ ]~ No. 8 (v)](https://axiswebmedia.blob.core.windows.net/www/usermedia/5076917/work/210107/eyv5lfghq0ezkh2nvwff7q_large.jpg)
![[ ]~ No. 8 (vi)](https://axiswebmedia.blob.core.windows.net/www/usermedia/5076917/work/211241/bl7vftoqa0yjqw03u5xndq_large.jpg)
