“This piece means a lot to me. It was a test of wills, me versus the canvas.” Ben Randall in GIGANTIC

Sydney-based abstract expressionist Ben Randall is one of the amazing artists in GIGANTIC at Tyger.

We are delighted to welcome back the brilliant Ben Randall for GIGANTIC - our upcoming show of artists working on a grand scale.

Join us to celebrate the opening of this spectacular show on Saturday 26 April, 1-3pm. Register now to secure your spot at this FREE event - you'll be first to see all the works in GIGANTIC, and you’ll get to meet the artists involved.

Ben’s rich and vibrant abstract paintings draw inspiration from music, nature and human emotions. His work in GIGANTIC is the breathtaking ‘Somehow, Somewhere’ - a stunning 2.5x1.5 metre oil on canvas painting on an EPIC scale. 

It’s a superb piece by one of our favourite artists, and we are so thrilled to have it in GIGANTIC.

We can’t wait to share it with you.

Ahead of the show opening, Ben told us about his battle of wills with the canvas, the challenge of creating an artwork on scale that also works up close, and finding beauty in the details.

Tell us the story of this work. What inspired it?

“Somehow, Somewhere is about that place we go to find peace and tranquillity. This could be a physical place that offers a sense of awe and wonder, or it could be a mental place where you seek inner clarity and calm.” 

“Inspiration is drawn from my natural surroundings; for example, when the wind blows it bends and bleeds all the colours, much like how a kaleidoscope works. In our worlds there are highlights and shadows, but true beauty is drawn from the details of how we live. If you look close you will see it, you will see what others don’t. That’s where the magic lies.” 

“This piece means a lot to me. It was a test of wills, me versus the canvas, and there is a lot of “me” in this painting. The “me” that I have imbued in this painting is my Somehow, Somewhere.”

Tell us about how you created your work.

“This piece underwent many iterations as I battled with the size and scale of the canvas. Ideally, I wanted to retain the same style as my past work, but struggled with how I could achieve this.” 

“As I started to build up the layers, the composition started to emerge and find form. It took many cups of coffee and hours of sitting, thinking and procrastinating to make this happen. The layers helped me create a sense of depth and movement to the artwork.”

“There was also a lot of mixing of painting, I used bowls to mix my paint in, and mixed linseed oil and solvent with the paint to achieve these textured brushstrokes. I upped the size of the brushes I would normally use, and truthfully, the artwork was completed with I think only two types of brushes.”

“Colours are important to me in my work, and finding the right placement of colorizing this painting was a challenge. I wanted the audience to enjoy the painting from afar, but then, when up close they can find these random hints of detail. Almost like finding a colour that shouldn’t be where it is placed, but yet, there is resides and somehow it works.”

What particular challenges came from working on a piece of this size?

“Where to start?”

“I had to figure out how to scale up in a meaningful way, a way that showcased my style. It took me months to figure that out. In the end I thought, if I had to cut this massive canvas into smaller pieces of work, would the smaller pieces hold their own? And that’s how I kind of started making progress.” 

“With this style of painting I didn’t want the viewer to feel chaos nor a sense of disorder. Because honestly, this painting, every brush stroke and colour that has been utilized; has been carefully thought through.” 

“I wanted to find a way to bring the viewer into the artwork. I spent hours figuring how to achieve this, and this is where the colours played a big part, and so did the layers I built up.” 

“The last challenge was, I kept running out of paint! I spent a small fortune at my local art shop on paint alone.”

What do you hope people feel when they see your work?

“A sense of piece and tranquillity, mixed with a gentle power.” 

“This piece is about finding beauty in the hidden details of life. I want people to find themselves when they look at this work.”

Register now for the opening of GIGANTIC on Saturday 26 April, 1-3pm.