Ben Grasso's paintings depict houses in a suspended state of destruction and construction, evoking a sense of melancholy in a world where recent disasters — economic, natural, and man-made — threaten the sense of comfort and refuge that we humans find in our homes.
The work has a certain thrilling energy of a big-budget action flick, but also hits closer to home since many of us, particularly in the aftermath of hurricane Irene and facing the 10th anniversary of September 11, have some emotional tie to the process of re-building. Read an interview with Ben Grasso on It's Nice That and view more work on his website.
Images: Ben Grasso
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Dreamlike, yet certainly many people can relate to them.
Disturbing. Also, really emphasizes how flimsy US home construction is. I've never understood why a wealthy nation like ours doesn't use more solid materials.
paintings of imaginary houses blowing away in imaginary storms are factual evidence of poor building standards. I did not know this, thank you.
matthewg -- the drawings reflect/reinforce the fact that we use what's called "balloon-frame construction" which entails lots of little pieces of wood. There are examples of hurricane-proof houses which have worked, and they are invariably made from poured concrete.
The drawings brought this to mind for me. Art is supposed to stir thoughts and emotions. Wisecracks, too, I must concede...
Katrina should be high on the list of inspiration too:P
Oddly because of the big-budget SFX visual idiom it evokes (some equi-distant, logical process of disassembly), they're vague enough to resemble stop-motion capture of something that shifts shapes, en route of transitioning to another state of being (damn you Transformers.)
Makes me think of Cornelia Parker: http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=21260&searchid=9849
Good ref to Transformers, koonark!
Reminds me of this artist also: http://www.jonathanandersonpaintings.com/
"paintings of imaginary houses blowing away in imaginary storms are factual evidence of poor building standards. I did not know this, thank you." Hahaha, lol. I wanted to click like, but this isn't Facebook
A little Dorothy Gale, a little Rene Magritte. I like them.
I love this guy's work - big, dynamic pieces that unsettle rather than lull. It's the polar opposite of the peaceful sailboat-on-a-lake school of motel art.
like it, thanks
Love these. Unsettling, yet almost peaceful... a single moment of explosion frozen in time. Very graceful.