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By: L.M. Cerny
Ben Christianson, Artist
I had first met Ben as a child – his mother babysat me occasionally at their horse ranch where we spent most of our days playing in the lush green landscape of Northern Wisconsin. He is the youngest of four children, and has been interested in art about as long as I’ve known him.
Ben is now in his second year at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design for a degree in Painting. I had been visiting him to watch him paint as I played guitar at his East-side duplex, where he lives with four other art students, when we discussed doing an interview. He said he’d be happy to, so we set up a time.
It was mid-March, and the weather outside was downright terrible. I picked him up from his class at MIAD with several of his paintings, and then headed to his place. As I drove, he read me a brilliant narrative he described as “quantum awakening” he had written and just presented to his class. He was elated,
"There was this slow clap - it was great!"
We arrived at the duplex, and I helped him carry his paintings upstairs. The decor of his living room was quite unusual. Every inch of the walls were covered with obscure and mismatched wall-hangings, some of animals, some embroidered with sayings like, “Home Sweet Home.” There were over 80 - apparently collected by his roommates over the years. We sat down and began the interview.
Luke: “How did you begin with art?”
Ben: “My brother was really good at drawing dinosaurs, I thought that was really cool, and I wanted to be cool like him, you know?”
L: “So is it safe to say that having older siblings played into it?”
B: “I mean, yeah, I needed to have something. I was the youngest and my brothers were always really good at everything, so while they were sleeping, I was drawing.”
L: So when do you think you really decided to become an artist?
B: “I always liked painting and drawing, but one day Connie Friesen, an artist from Wabeno, came to our school for a presentation, and we hung out pretty much all day, just painting and stuff like that. We helped a lot of kids that day with painting and drawing and, at the very end of the day she let me do a painting for the last hour. I did a painting of John Lennon with these huge brushes and a bunch of paint, and that’s the first time I’ve done anything with that many colors. By the time the painting was finished, I had a crowd of people around me cheering and I was just like on top of the world, just loving it. It was the coolest feeling ever. Then after school, I got in my buddy Jeff’s truck, and he was like ‘You just made that?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, dude you know what? I’m gonna do this. From now on I’m gonna paint.’ That’s pretty much how it started.”
L: “So when you finished high school, was it pretty much a no-brainer to go to school for art?”
B: “Yeah, I mean, I went for graphic design by mistake at first because I thought I’d be doing a lot of drawing and stuff, but they were mostly teaching us computer stuff. But yeah, right away I was geared towards making art.”
L: “If I’m not mistaken, I know you first went out to Minneapolis for graphic design. What happened to make you decide that wasn’t for you, and to come back here and pursue a more traditional approach?”
B: “Well Minnesota was a ride. I took the ticket and puked.”
L: “What do you mean by that?”
B: “Well, not literally, but I guess I went through some hard times and learned a lot. But I figured it out and got through it. After that I went out to Colorado before I came back here.”
L: “Right, was there anything that happened there, like any artistic realization or anything, which was essential to what you are now as an artist?”
B: “Yeah definitely being out there lead to the devotion I have now as a painter. Colorado was huge for me because it was kind of a wake-up call. I just had a lot of fun painting. I went out there to paint stuff and snowboard and meet girls and just have a good time. Pretty much everyone out there went because they were trying to get away from problems in their life – which is pretty much what I was doing – and just get out in the peace and quiet to snowboard or whatever. I got really lucky though, I met a friend from our hometown by chance, Josh Bowman, and we were both really into painting, so that’s what we did. We just painted all the time. When I got back, I had a renewed way of painting. I was a lot better, more confident in my style, and more passionate than I had ever been.”
L: “Well you have a really unique style, and I think the paintings I’ve seen you do post-Colorado are of that style. Did that come from your, I guess, renewed sense of being after coming back?”
B: “The style I have now pieced itself together over time. It’s hard to explain, but I kind of always had an idea of what I wanted it to be. I was at my friend’s house one day and made a drawing, and I was like ‘This is it, this is how I want to do it from now on.’ It’s been four years since then, and I’m still drawing the same thing, and I’m loving it.”
L: “Right, I mean it is the same, but it’s not in a sense, I think it’s more defined now, don’t you?”
B: “Yeah, I mean in the past year or so, I’ve changed my thinking. It still looks similar, but my drive is in a different way. A lot of cultures have different words to explain the focus involved, but I guess I’ve been meditating more and thinking about things more philosophically. I feel more enlightened and closer to my mind’s eye than I’ve ever been. To be honest, I don’t really want to be defined or pigeon-holed in a certain way. It’s definitely a spiritual thing that I’m dealing with, but I don’t know what word to use for it.”
L: “That’s understandable. What are some of the biggest influences to your art?”
B: “Nature is my main influence. I strive to collect the divinity that can be found in nature in my paintings. My mind collects things like trees, lakes, fire, and the northern lights and my hand does its best to reproduce what I enjoy about them.
L: “You mentioned you are planning on going on the road this summer to sell your art at some music festivals.”
B: “Yeah, it’s going to be crazy. It’ll be a hell of a good time if it works out. If not, I’ll work at a grocery store probably, so I’m really keeping my fingers crossed. But yeah, I definitely hope I can get it up and running right away and make it roll. I’m definitely a little nervous right now because I have a lot of stuff to paint and prints to make to get ready for it. It’s a pretty big checklist. My first stop is Summer Camp, IL May 27-29.”
L: “You know you can do it, it’s just a matter of getting it done right?”
B: “Yeah, I mean, it’s a possible thing. I think a lot of up and coming artists could take advantage of things like this if they just put a little more faith in themselves. I know there are a lot of artists out there that don’t think they’re ready for it. I’m a little nervous, but I’m still trying to get it done. Sometimes I feel like I should wait. I know this really amazing artist, but she’s in school and she refuses to show any of her art right now. She wants to wait until she is done with her Master’s degree so she can use all her previous ideas in the best way possible. That’s probably a really good way to go because then nobody has any preconceived notions of what kind of artist you are. When I’m old, I will probably be painting things much differently, but people are going to already think of me as this trippy painter. I don’t want to be like a child star, who everyone loves when they are young, but then when he grows up no one really likes him because of the way they still think about him. So you know, I might be going about this in the wrong way right now, who knows, but I am having a great time.”
L: “But at the same time for a young artist to go out and have people accept his art, I mean, that has to be pretty fulfilling and driving in a way.”
B: “Yeah, definitely, I keep meeting more and more people. There was a time when I was scared of blowing opportunities so I didn’t really go after them. Now I’m starting to realize that there are more opportunities than I can handle out there. Even if some things don’t pay, it’s something art related, and it’s something positive. It’s better than sitting around. Instead, you could go do a free live painting or something. Not that this advice will work for everyone, but I think it’s healthy.”
L: “Right, I mean, it’s hard being an artist because there will always be people who don’t like what you are doing.”
B: “Exactly. My roommate had a friend over, and this guy was saying, ‘Yeah, I hate when people are irresponsible with color. When I see the color yellow, it just makes we want to vomit. When I see color, it just makes me sick, color should just be like an accent to the eyes or something.’ I was insulted at first, because how could he say that right in front of me, a painter who uses tons of color. But then I thought about it, and reminded myself that everyone has different preferences and tastes. You cannot prove the beauty or significance of a piece of art. If you love what you’re doing others will agree. I know there are people out there that have dreamed what I paint. It’s frustrating to have an amazing vision and not have the ability to share it with anybody. My goal is to be able to share that vision. I must teach my brush to reproduce the most powerful moments my brain produces. And in doing this I can connect with people on a conscious level. This is what we call the artist's gift and the artist's curse. Either way, I’ll keep on painting for better or worse.”
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interview and article by: L.M. Cerny
This interview was done 3/23/2011 in Milwaukee, WI. The content belongs to Little Gunner Media, a subsidiary of The Neylon Group, LLC.
One moment that I will never forget (especially sitting ringside) came from a lethal back-side kick that Chuck Bergs landed early-on, in his victory over Jake Varney. The devastating kick really encapsulated the energy and violence on display that night.
