Australian Penthouse

REALITY BITES

Australian artist Ben Frost creates art that entertains as much as it aggravates.  And that suits him just fine…

Interview:  Kate Hutchinson

What inspired you to become an artist?
“It’s better than a normal job—and I can nap whenever I feel like it.”

What would you do for a buck if you couldn’t make art?
“I would probably be the guy in the factory who tests disposable lighters.”

What’s behind the style of art you create?
“I believe that any creative endeavour is about trying to process and figure out the world around us. I’m still trying to come to terms with how saturated we all are with advertising, television, the media, and what this means for our society. I don’t pretend that I’ve come up with any answers, but being able to critically assess how we live and why we’re so obsessed with ridiculous things like Britney Spears and Fly-Buys, is my main motivation.”

What have you been working on recently?
“Lately I’ve been working a lot with artists on Stupidkrap.com, the art portal I run.  It’s always funny when I call  a new supplier or client, and say: “Hi, I’m calling from Stupidkrap..”, the irony is quite delicious. We make prints and help promote Australian artists in exhibitions and projects, mostly out of Sydney, but also in other States as well.”

How do you stay inspired?
“I spend a lot of time trawling the Internet and in second-hand book stores looking for bizarre images that I can find new ways to subvert.  In my art practice, I’m only as good as the images I can find to work with,  so I have to be constantly updating my library of pictures to keep it fresh.

“I have boxes and boxes of strange old magazines I bought on Ebay and scraps of packaging I found on the street somewhere.  I love going through the supermarket aisles and buying products based entirely on the merit of its packaging design–it’s totally inspiring. The packaging on the Ratsak box is my favourite; I always look at it when I visit the supermarket, even though I don’t have rodent problems.”

Do you have other interests, outside of art?
“I sing in a punk band when we have time to rehearse and do gigs.  I also like watching really bad movies.”

What can we expect from you this year?
“More exhibitions closer to home. I have shows planned in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. You can get updates on my exhibitions by joining the mailing list at my website: www.benfrostisdead.com”

What do you think makes your work popular?

“I make Pop Art, so there’s heavy use of popular imagery in my work that most people can instantly recognise. I think people also enjoy seeing their favourite—or least favourite—icons and logos manipulated and subverted to create new dialogues that you [otherwise] wouldn’t get to see.

“Pop Art [offers] a way to ‘take the power back’, because you can have some control over the images that companies and the media are always  ramming down our throats.  You can take these images and characters and alter them to show the kind of twisted things they probably do behind the scene—like Astroboy giving you the finger, Pluto and Goofy doing it doggy-style, or Bambi giving birth to a stream of baby Bambis.”

Didn’t some guy slash one of your paintings at a recent exhibition?
“I’ve made a few paintings that speak too directly for some people to be able to process.  I did a painting of two children preparing to shoot up drugs in an idyllic setting, with an aeroplane crashing in the background.  The piece was displayed in an area of Brisbane where there was a marked increase in the use of intravenous drugs by younger people, and it caused some controversy but at the same time it also created healthy discussion about the context of what [the painting] means and [why] it was displayed [there].

“I think many people are frightened of the reality of their own environment, and rather than try to do something to change it, they compensate by being overly critical of people who are trying to express what is staring them in the face.”

Is there a specific piece that you are especially proud of?
“I’ve always really liked the painting ‘Kmart After Dark’.  It was one of the first paintings I made when I returned [to Australia, in 2005] after living in Tokyo, and I feel like it captures the frenetic and fluoro energy of what it’s like to walk through Shibuya—or Kmart, for that matter.”

Do you have a favourite gallery to exhibit your work?
“The solo show I did at Brooklynite Gallery in New York [in June 2009], is definitely my favourite. It’s in this intense section of Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, and there’s this great grassed area out the back where DJs play and you can continue [viewing] artwork from the gallery space inside through to the outdoors.”

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
“Hopefully, I will have made the ultimate painting that will end world hunger, prompt world peace, and help Brad and Angelina work out any difficulties with Jennifer Aniston.”

See more of Ben’s work at: http://www.benfrostisdead.com