Benjamin Armstrong

Benjamin Armstrong
Australian, born 1975; lives and works in Naarm/Melbourne

Bones III 2021
dry pigment and oil binders on polyester
Courtesy of the artist and Tolarno Galleries, Naarm/Melbourne

Artist statement:

Skeletons are most often depicted as drained of life, but the two shown in Bones III are different. They stand under a flash of penetrating light, still living, and in doing so allow us, as viewers, to see what lies within the body. But what do we see? Irrespective of the many differences of the outside body, what we see at the core is always the same: bones.

Bones III is made using dry pigments and binders. They are mixed and applied via brush onto the polyester support or via brush onto a block which is then pressed against the support. These layered processes build the picture’s cool illumination and warm inner structure, almost like an afterimage burnt into the viewer’s retina.