BEN HOWE

Join us for opening night drinks on Friday 22nd November, 6pm - 8pm

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Ben Howe (born in London, England) is a contemporary Australian painter. He holds a Master of fine art degree with distinction from RMIT University.

Known for his scientifically-surreal aesthetic, Howe has developed a method of image making that is at once hyper-realistic yet deeply concerned with the poetics of form and symbolism.

Using elements of documentation and a great emphasis on the transformative process of making, Howe's ambiguous paintings are mostly derived from preliminary explorations in other media such as sculpture or sequential footage.

Howe's artwork is exhibited globally. He has had seventeen solo exhibitions, and his work has been included in more than fifty group shows.

In 2021 he won the honourable mention in the Beautiful Bizarre art award. In 2019, Howe was a finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, and the Lester Prize. He has also been a finalist in the Black Swan Prize (2016), and the Metro 5 Award, (2012+2011). In 2017, he won the Hill Smith Prize at NotFair. Most recently Howe won the Lester Prize (2024) and the Eureka Art Award (2023) and was a finalist in the 2024 Archibald prize.

He has received residencies and fellowships, including those from the Ucross Foundation, USA (2015), Shangyuan Art Museum, China (2014), and SKAM, Germany (2007).

This will be Ben Howe’s second solo show at Compendium Gallery.