Approved: 04.07.2011

Ben Rowe

Artist, Project manager, Technician

Approved: 04.07.2011

Rowe began with approximations of props from 1980’s and 90s science fiction film and television.  Using MDF, Rowe created mysterious still and silent objects from an unknown time and space or perhaps our dystopian future.

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Artist Statement

Rowe began with approximations of props from 1980’s and 90s science fiction film and television.  Using MDF, Rowe created mysterious still and silent objects from an unknown time and space or perhaps our dystopian future.

 

Through his meticulous, labour-intensive process Rowe became inspired by shapes, lines and inter-connections found within the objects he was referencing and making. Interested in the scientific origins of shapes and forms; the fanatical research of cult science fiction has transferred to mathematics and geometry, molecular diagrams, celestial patterns and astronomical theorists such as Kepler. Rowe’s science fiction has become science fact.

 

Using hand and machine tools, objects are painstakingly crafted from un-painted wood products such as birch plywood and limewood. Rowe stretches the limits of the material through his obsessive making process, choosing to use straight lengths of wood to create curves and circles. Sculptures become complex geometric structures, self-governed by rules of patterns and symmetry. Three-dimensional line drawings, requiring precise angles and intricate polygons. Yet out of this complexity remains a playfulness, a sci-fi aesthetic and a captivating mystery of origin and purpose.

 

Rowe lives and works in Bristol, UK.

 

CV & Education

Solo exhibitions

2011 - INCUBE8 VIII, Second Star to the Right and Straight on Until Morning , MOTORCADE/FLASHPARADE, Bristol

2011 - Second Star to the Right and Straight on Until Morning, Mission Gallery, Swansea

2009 - ONE, Part 5, Container, Bristol

 

Group exhibitions

2016 - #LookingThroughTheEyesOfMachinesAsHumans, Gallery Twenty-Two, Bristol

2015 - RWA Annual Open Exhibition, RWA, Bristol

2014 - RWA Annual Open Exhibition, RWA, Bristol

2013 - RWA Annual Open Exhibition, RWA, Bristol

2013 - Charity Shop Tour Shop, Coventry

2012 - RWA Autumn Open Exhibition, RWA, Bristol

2011 - Creative Machines/Minimalist Sculpture, TROVE , Curzon Street Station, Birmingham

2009 - Exeter Contemporary Open, Exeter Phoenix, Exeter

2009 - Two is One, None is One, Back Lane West, Redruth, Cornwall

2007 - The Wrong Place, Pro Cathedral, Bristol Curated projects

2008 - Thingerimmergum, Test Space, Bristol

 

Public commissions

2010 - Catalogue number: 9906753, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol