Ben Heine
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By Peter A
This is a post prompted by the talents of a young artist named Ben Heine. His artwork has been showing up with great frequency on different blogs for quite a while, and it has been greatly impressing me since the first image appeared. Ben Heine is a young artist that is not satisfied to work well in one medium; he works extremely well in numerous mediums, including political cartoons, pencil drawings, realistic drawings, and paintings … and more. If there is one thing that I have been able to recognize after all the time I spent studying and practicing my own craft that is talent: the arts may not be interchangeable when it comes to ability, but when you are experienced in what you are doing it isn’t very difficult to recognize quality work and genuine talent when you encounter it in another.
In the case of Ben Heine, there is no question about it, he possess tremendous artistic ability and a keen sense of timing for his political cartoons. His ability to convey his ideas through the visual medium is the kind of talent that does not come around too often and should be encouraged at every turn. This is especially noticeable when you look at his paintings, found at his main website, not his blog. One painting that I’m particular drawn to is his “Visage Téléscopique”, a large acrylic painting that depicts a head that seems to be drawn as a relief map … it is tremendously effective.
Ben was born in 1983 and is producing the work that he is today at the age of 23. As a composer and writer I have spent over fifteen years involved in pedagogy, so I have absolutely no reservations in saying that this “youngster” is well beyond the stage of a “developing” artist. He will mature in his work and his technique will be refined, but it is quite obvious that the artistic mind behind the work is fully engaged in what is being done. That is why I have decided to write this post.
Enjoy the images, and be sure to visit Ben’s blog and his main website. Thank you for reading, and thank you Ben; may your talent continue to grow beyond your wildest imagination.
That is the end of the pictorial tribute to Benjamin Heine. I would have loved to include an amazing portrait entitled “E=MC2” which is on his website, but the image couldn’t be downloaded, so you will have to go visit there yourself to see just how amazing this talent is, though this small sampling of his work should give you an idea. Once again, thank you Ben, and keep up the great work. Maazel Tov!
