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bencowan.com

About

    Thanks for visiting the website. Please enjoy the paintings and feel free to email me. Ben cowan.benjamin @ gmail.com

    I paint the landscape using a variety of painting and craft methods in an effort to reveal a materialistic connection to the idea of the sublime. I’m trying to tie together my love of plein air, nature, the history of abstraction, and contemporary art. The underlying naratives of domestic themes and everyday life are chosen to link the insignificant to a bigger life picture, the supernatural, and spirituality.

    It is not the sentimental view point but the earnest seeking to see beauty–in the relation of one tone against another–which expresses truth–the right attitude. If you’re a thoughtful humble student of nature, you’ll have something to say–you don’t have to tell a story. You can’t add a thing by thinking–what you are will come out.
    Charles W. Hawthorne
    Last Updated at 9pm on 01/22/09

Current

    Couple Plants a GardenBehind the Lumber Yard

Paper Works

Parks

Indoors

Archive

Resume

    Education
    2011
    Indiana University, Bloomington IN Candidate for Master of Fine Arts, Painting.

    2006
    International School of Painting Drawing and Sculpture, Umbria Italy.
    School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting.
    2003
    Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor MI, Associate Degree, Graphic Design.

    Exhibits
    2010
    Visual Overload, Fuller Gallery, Bloomington, IN
    MFA Annaul Show, SOFA Gallery, Bloomington IN

    2009
    Benjamin Cowan House Show, Gillock Gallery Presents, Chicago, IL
    Marion Kryczka and Benjamin Cowan, Gillock Gallery, Evanston, IL
    Plein Air Et Al, Recent Paintings by Benjamin Cowan, James Hajicek, Jill Zylke, Chicago, IL
    SAIC Off Campus Exhibitions: Northern Trust, Chicago, IL

    2008
    One Man Exhibit, Swirl Wine Bar, Chicago, IL
    Milwaukee Avenue Art Walk, Logan Square Neighborhood, Chicago, IL
    Fall Festival, Around the Coyote, Chicago, IL
    Barewalls, SAIC, Chicago, IL
    Art On Track, Chicago IL
    Ox-Bow Winter Benefit, SAIC, Chicago, IL
    SAIC Off Campus Exhibitions: Chicago Housing Authority Office, Chicago, IL
    Highland Park High School, Highland Park, IL

    2007
    Barewalls, SAIC, Chicago, IL
    Chicago Loop Alliance, Invitational Live Auction, Chicago, IL
    Big Sky, SAIC SUGS, Chicago, IL
    SAIC Off Campus Exhibitions: Slayton Research Partners, Chicago, IL
    Your Backyard, Fuse Box Collective, Chicago, IL

    2006
    Joseph Albers: To Open Eyes, Gallery One, Ann Arbor MI
    Undergraduate Exhibition, SAIC, Chicago, IL

    Professional Experience
     2009–2011 Assistant Instructor, Indiana University

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