Ben Gooding
Degree:
BA (Hons) Fine Art/ MA Fine Art
University:
Cambridge School of Art/ Central Saint Martins
Graduation Year:
2004/ 2008
In all his work Ben is interested in following a very simple system which is devised prior to execution and cannot be deviated from during the course of production. There is an abandonment of colour, of gesture, of the expressive, and instead he instates an almost mechanistic methodology that minimises the decision making process and emphasises a systemic approach. The work has an almost meditative quality, the repetition of a single form synonymous with a mantra, yet there is a stark mathematical edge underpinning each piece.
Although there is an almost machined quality to the aesthetic, they are very much hand made objects. Ben is attempting with each piece to follow through the process as accurately as possible, however there are invariably “mistakes” present. This presence of the human acts to undercut the implicit abandonment of any expressive or gestural mark making. One is thrown into relief by the other. The work occupies a space between this pure reductive detachment of authorship and an acknowledgement of the hand made.
