Ben Heine Biography (2014)

A Prolific Self-Taught Multidisciplinary Artist 

Ben Heine is a Belgian artist who has produced through the years a huge number of artworks. He is currently best known for his original series "Pencil Vs Camera", "Digital Circlism" and "Flesh and Acrylic". He has a degree in Journalism and is a self-taught person in drawing, digital photography and music (piano and drums). His graphic creations have been exhibited widely in Europe and more recently in Asia. His favorite art movements are Surrealism, Pop Art, Geometric Abstraction, Expressionism and Social Realism. He started creating electronic music in 2011. A documentary about his work was released in 2012. Ben is married to Marta and their son Theodor was born in August 2012. 

A Belgian Boy Born in Ivory Coast With an Interest in Drawing 

Ben was born in 1983 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he spent the first seven years of his life, with his parents and three sisters. The whole family relocated in Brussels, Belgium, in 1990. His father was a commercial engineer and his mother a choreographer and a dance teacher. As a young boy, Heine was attracted by the things young men are happy to explore such as sport, music and friends. Heine started drawing at 11 year old and quickly understood that graphic art was a powerful tool of communication and expression. At that time until recently, his curiosity for drawing was his keenest interest. 

Academic Background and Love for Languages, Art and Music 

Heine undertook studies in different countries, including Ivory Coast, Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands. Ben has a diploma in Journalism completed with distinction at IHECS school of Journalism in Brussels. He also studied History of Art, Painting and Sculpture at Hastings College of Arts & Technology in the UK and at the Académie Royale des Beaux Arts in Brussels. Throughout his academic training, he was also able to learn several music instruments (drums and piano) and several languages. Besides perfectly speaking French and English, the artist is quite fluent in Dutch and Polish and speaks some bits of Spanish and Russian. 

A Popular Artist With an International Mindset 

Hundreds of millions of people have seen Heine’s creations. He has exhibited and published his artworks all over the world since 2006. The artist presented his pieces of art in countless fairs and galleries in Belgium, South Korea, the UK, Romania, The Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, the US, Turkey, Brazil, and Spain. His pictorial works have been published in some of the most famous newspapers and magazines (see "Press" and "Exhibitions" for more info). Moreover, Heine has a huge presence on the Internet as well, and his works continually pop here and there on social media and online news outlets, making him one of the most watched artists on the web today. Ben is an enthusiastic traveller, he has visited hundreds of cities and countries, each one of them being a huge source of inspiration for his creative projects. 

Pencil Vs Camera: When Imagination Meets Reality 

Pencil Vs Camera is an original visual concept invented and popularized by Ben Heine in April 2010. It is the artist’s special trademark and one of the most creative art concepts of the 21st century that has influenced a big number of other creators. Pencil Vs Camera blends drawing and photography in a unique way. The idea was the result of a long artistic exploration and a logic outcome of Ben's evolution: "I wasn’t satisfied with only drawing or only photography, so I had to find a way to merge the two and this is how Pencil Vs Camera was born." ("Cultural Voices" June 2014). Ben’s hand is always visible because it represents the connection between the viewer, the artist and the artwork. In these images, everything seems possible and Ben likes to tell a story and convey timeless messages using imagination, illusion, poetry and surrealism. Starting with simple sketches, Ben brought major innovations to the concept in 2012 and 2013, adding colors and black paper or increasing the drawings’ size (more info in the comprehensive chronological bio below). Since 2012, several smartphone applications emulate Heine’s Pencil Vs Camera’s style. Many creators have borrowed from Heine’s brilliance and started to fashion for themselves, something of a replica. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. (see "Interviews" for more info) 

Interview for Cultural Voice

Portrait of Ben Heine by Rolando

Ben and model in a science Museum

French, they say, is the language of love. Ben Heine, graphic artist, musician, and photographer dabbles in a different sort of love, the love of art. This cultural aristocrat, if there ever were one, is a man of diverse culture, a speaker of at least six languages, Heine is the quintessential cosmopolitan, without the usual air of self-indulgence and smugness which typically attend folks who have achieved as he has. 

A Gallery Of Talent

Rainbow Canyon

“It is not the fact that being an artist is something I wanted to be absolutely, it’s just that art came to me, I didn't have any choice” Ben proclaims poetically. “It’s the only thing I am not bad at. I am not anything else, so I guess, I am an artist.” Heine naturally eschews praise, refusing to rest on his laurels. “Art is not a goal in and of itself, it’s just a description. Every person is an artist; it’s just that sometimes they don’t know it. We are all able to express things. All we need is to find the right tools, the right time, the right people and the right place to do so.”

Ben playing the piano in his studio

An aspiring musician with an unmolested love for electronic music, Heine plays the piano and the guitar but considers himself the consummate drummer. “Music is more powerful,” he interjects, a startling confession for an artist whose claim to fame is a non-musical endeavour. “I started playing music two years ago secretly,” that is, until he developed the confidence to share his passion with the world. His love for music marries well with his love for graphic art, “It complements my graphic work and it helps me to grow as an artist.”

Ben's Bob and Marilyn portraits

This is readily apparent in Heine’s graphically artful recreation of Bob Marley, who he says, inspires him because of “his message and values of universality and inclusivity.” It is these “timeless themes that inspire my work, as well as notions of freedom, happiness, love and friendship, it gives me hope and strength and it helps me to live a better life.”

The Birth Of “Pencil Vs Camera”

Heine started putting pencil to paper when he was only eleven years of age. Traditionally trained and schooled in journalism and communications at the prestigious Belgian university, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), where he began, and later completed his studies at IHECS Journalism High School. 

Project for Museum Night Fever

Heine tried his hand at political cartoons. This brief encounter was far less charitable to him than he had hoped, “it only brought me trouble.” His political activism, at the cusp of his youth, unleashed a string of criticism and threats. In the end, Heine felt it was perhaps wiser to spend his talent elsewhere and walked away from political cartoons, vowing never to return.

PvsC Behind the scene

All was not lost, however. It was his training in photography during his studies that wedded his drawing to his camera. “I wasn’t satisfied with only drawing or only photography, so I had to find a way to merge the two and this is how Pencil Vs Camera was born.” Arguably the most successful artistic collection Heine has created so far, Pencil Vs Camera, hopes to “bring some imagination and surrealism to the photography,” creating “an interesting combination.” This series of artworks is considered as one of the most creative ones ever.

Ben shooting at Teide volcano

The collection began in 2010 and was the only one of its kind. Today, others have borrowed from Heine’s brilliance, and started to fashion for themselves, something of a replica. Many schools worldwide started teaching Ben's techniques to their students. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery...

Social Media Buzz

3D Pencil Vs Camera in progress

Heine lit social media ablaze, commanding an impressive 220 thousand “likes” on Facebook. He notes that “Social media helps. It creates each time a mini- buzz for your art.” But Heine is quick to qualify that its effect on sales remains to be seen. Heine receives some, but limited, sponsorship from private entities. He admits that much of his income is generated from the sale of his art work and via art exhibitions. When opportunity allows, he also partners with other artists to create artistic collaborations.

Above the clouds in Tenerife

In a raw, reflective moment, Heine reminds artists not to be careless with their work. “I started naively, when I was young, being very generous and providing high resolution pictures to others. Nowadays if you hand-out high resolution samples of your art, you’re dead as an artist,” he exclaims in a sullen voice. 

Heine also advises that artists give “150%, so that they don’t regret anything” and finally, “to ignore” naysayers who say “you can’t do it.” When all is said and done, Heine hopes his legacy is one of “innovation” and he is remembered as “a creative artist and a champion of peace and love. I hope young people will be inspired by what I’m doing.”

Ben's Babies

Ben Heine and his son Theo

Married, with a new-born son, Theo, Ben reveals, “I am very proud of him. It’s one of the things I am most proud of. I don't even remember how was my life before he was born. He changed me, he changed my life. Being a father is really something you learn slowly. I hope I'm a good father.” And, with a deliberate word of interjection, “And all of my artworks, they are my babies as well, each one has its own character.”

Illustrating "Los Gigantes"

Many a generation of artists look to the drawings of Da Vinci, the paintings of Picasso and Rembrandt, they may yet, one day, look with favour upon Ben Heine. I’ll leave it to art historians to decide the legacy of Pencil Vs Camera, but I can, and will say, it’s sketching its own path to be soulful art to a hungry tech-savvy generation.

----
Note: This interview was written by Derefe Chevannes and originally appeared in Cultural Voice, a magazine released in Jamaica and worldwide.

Interview for Flickr (*)

Photographer literally draws life into his photos (You can also read the following interview on Flickr Blog or find the above audio interview on Yahoo Screen).

Ben Heine for The Weekly Flickr

In this edition of The Weekly Flickr, we profile Belgian artist and photographer Ben Heine. To call Ben Heine’s photography “cool” or even “eye-catching” is a bit of an understatement. His images are mesmerizing. Ben’s Pencil Vs Camera series perfectly blends illustrations in surprising but clever juxtapositions.

Ben Heine has created a form of art that is truly all his own. Einstein once said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Ben Heine is using art to show that if you can see it and believe it, there are no bounds to creativity! 

Pencil Vs Camera - © Ben Heine

“In my work, I’m really trying to interact with the viewer,” the Belgian artist tells The Weekly Flickr in the accompanying video. “I want to make them laugh or smile, and if I can, surprise people so that he or she doesn’t understand how it’s made. I’m having so much fun and I want them to feel the same.”

Usain Bolt, Text Portrait

.

© 2009 - Ben Heine

Please, enlarge for better quality and to read Bolt's biography...

Usain Bolt is a Jamaican sprinter and a three-time Olympic gold medalist. He holds the world record for the 100 metres, the 200 metres and, along with his teammates, the 4x100 metres relay. He also holds the Olympic record for all three of these races. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Bolt became the first man to win three sprinting events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984, and the first man to set world records in all three at a single Olympics. In 2009 he became the first man to hold the 100 and 200 m world and Olympic titles at the same time. More

.
.

Wow !

.

© 2009 - Marcin Bondarowicz

.

New portrait of me by
Marcin Bondarowicz (*)
.
The technique is incredible.
I'm looking better than in real life!

.

Thank you, Marcin.
That's another unique
birthday present!
.

(*) Marcin Bondarowicz is a professional Polish cartoonist and illustrator. He is also a specialized painter and photographer. He was born in 1976 in Starachowice, Poland. He lives now in Poland as a freelance artist. He regularly publishes his cartoons on several Websites and collaborates with a wide range of magazines and newspapers. Read his full bio

.

BEN HEINE INTERVIEWS

 

 

© 2012 - Ben Heine