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Ben Venom: All this Mayhem

Ben Venom: All this Mayhem
Library Shelf Location 18.VENO
Publication Date 2019
Description

All This Mayhem is a major exhibition of new and recent work by internationally renowned, San Francisco-based artist Ben Venom, exemplifying his interest in the DIY aspect of punk culture combined with the tradition of quilting.

Featuring large-scale textile pieces, customised jean jackets and clothing, Ben creates stunning, expansive patchwork designs that often incorporate skulls, tigers and heavy metal lyrics - with his practice framed within wider counterculture contexts, and the legacy of post-war American art and craft.

Ben’s early influences come from the street - punk rock, heavy metal, and the skateboard community, leading the artist to apply his more recent work in many directions - from major museum exhibitions to commercially-driven branded commissions. At the heart of Venom’s work is his use of re-purposed materials to create textile-based pieces, contrasting the often menacing and iconic counterculture components of gangs, punk/metal music, and the occult with the comforts of domesticity.

The reclaimed fabrics that are used in Venom’s work contain a multitude of personal histories, some donated by music fans and friends, with everyone’s unexplained stain, tear, or rip included. These salvaged pieces are sewn into a larger narrative and become a part of a collective history within the work. The fragility of the materials and their assaulting imagery are brought together in the form of a functional piece of art.

The collision of traditional quilting techniques with elements tied to the fringes of society re-contextualises both the perceptions of quilting as an art form and the use of counterculture motifs in art.

ISBN 9781907796241
Quantity 1
Pages 48
Editors Deborah Kermode, Lindsay Bishop
Format Paperback
Publisher Midlands Arts Centre
Category Artists' Monographs A-Z
Keywords Heavy metal, DIY culture, Quilting, subcultures

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