Ben Beeton

Ben Beeton
An Earthen Memory of Lake Mungo
Multi-media
2005
$3000

Artist Statement

It has struck me in my travels through Australia how little we as Australians know about our natural heritage, not to mention its natural history.  My artistic practice draws its inspiration from an understanding of the natural environment and its evolutionary history. Through a fusion of photography, computer generated images drawing and painting I aim to produce artworks that hold a balance between a subjective and objective appraisal of the natural environment. I am fascinated by the ancient past and how it relates to the present environment. I believe that the myths that attach both indigenous and non-indigenous Australians to the land can be informed on a deeper level through the work of contemporary practitioners who inform themselves about Australia's natural history in order to incorporate this information into their artworks. In conjunction with these ideas is the notion that all elements of landscape are comprised purely of ‘star dust’.  By ‘star dust’ I mean elements that are neither born or die, but merely change form in endless recombination’s.