ABOUT
Ben Crawford is a figurative painter. He mostly paints about his life, exploring the story telling possibilities of distorted memories and dreams. Surreal elements transform the landscapes he paints into somewhat mystical realms, bursting with colour and charged with mystery. Figures, architecture and landmarks drawn from his life imbue Ben’s paintings with a sense of narrative, anchoring his work tentatively to reality.
Born in Cork, Ireland, Ben studied painting at CCAD and graduated with a first class honours degree in fine art in 2007. He now lives with his wife and two daughters in southern Queensland in Australia, painting from his studio situated in the verdant landscape of Currumbin Valley.
CV
DOB: 1983
EDUCATION
2007 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork, Ireland.
SOLO SHOWS
2025 A stranger in a strange land, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2024 Between Addresses, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2023 A Slow Migration, Curatorial and Co, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2023 All Was Lost And Found In The Song Of The Butcher Bird, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2022 The Unwritten Places, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2021 An Outlaw for My Love, Curatorial and Co, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2020 Eighty Eight Miles Per Hour, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2008 The Sheer Unspeakable Strangeness of Being Here at All, The Shaw Gallery, Cork, Ireland
GROUP SHOWS
2025 Landscape Salon, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2025 ART/house, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2024 London Art Fair, Candida Stevens Gallery, UK
2024 Offspring Project, Charity Auction, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2024 Tethered to Gravity, Candida Stevens Gallery, UK
2024 Miniatures for Macmillan, Candida Stevens Gallery, UK
2023 Summer Salon, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2023 Darlings, Curatorial and Co, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2023 If You Could Save One Place, Candida Stevens at London Art Fair
2022 Darlings, Curatorial and Co, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2022 Place - Displace, Candida Stevens Gallery, UK.
2022 Offspring Project, Charity Auction, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2022 Art on a Postcard, Charity Auction, UK
2022 Women Up North, Charity Auction, Curatorial and Co, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2021 Darlings, Curatorial and Co, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2021 Natura Morta, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2021 Art for Charity Collective, Online art auction, Instagram.
2021 Selection of works alongside other Boom artists, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2021 Top 100, The Auction Collective, London UK.
2021 Bucolia, Blue Shop Cottage, London UK.
2021 A Space Between, Online art auction, Art For Charity Collective, UK. 2020 Darlings, Curatorial and Co, Sydney, NSW, Australia
2020 Art For Charity Online Art Auction, Instagram.
2020 Nearness, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2019 Marking Time, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2018 BAM Arts Prize, Thom Gallery, Byron Bay, NSW, Australia
2018 Memory and Paint, Boom Gallery, Geelong, VIC, Australia
2017 We’re Closer Than You Think, Lismore Regional Art Gallery, NSW, Australia
2017 Spotlight Artist September, Retrospect Galleries, Byron Bay, NSW, Australia
2010 Happiness, The Lavit Gallery, Cork, Ireland
2010 Winter Show, The Lavit Gallery, Cork, Ireland
2008 Two Man Show with Brían Crotty, Crackpots Gallery, Kinsale, Ireland
2008 CASe '08, The Lavit Gallery, Cork, Ireland
2007 Recent Graduates Exhibition, Joan Clancy Gallery, Dungarvan, Ireland 2007 Fledglings, The Lavit Gallery, Cork, Ireland
2007 RDS Student Art Awards, RDS, Dublin, Ireland
2007 Degree Show, Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork, Ireland