Ben Edmunds (b. 1994, Norwich, UK) creates his colour field paintings by layering mists of fabric dyes, sprayed directly onto washed canvas. Over time, the colours shift and bleed into one another to create a spectrum of gradients across the painting: erasing definite distinctions between green, blue, purple. Using only three dyes: cyan, yellow and magenta, Edmunds is particularly interested in blue as a colour that almost doesn’t exist in nature. It appears in his paintings only as an ever-changing combination of cyan and magenta, something that shifts between sky and the sea. As an open-ended colour, it represents dreaming, exploration and
adventure.

For Edmunds, painting is an adventure for artists and viewers, drawing from his personal history of sailing, windsurfing and cycling, he frames abstraction as an adventure sport. In 2019, Edmunds registered his company Aspirational Equipment - a pseudo-sports brand for romantics, creating “tools for dreamers”. Under its umbrella of paintings, objects and functional garments, it questions the supposed anti-utilitarianism of painting and asks the question “What can an artwork do?”

Norwich

Barcelona

L21 Gallery

Gent

Tatjana Pieters

Mallorca

Hong Kong

THE SHOPHOUSE

Tokyo

Kaikai Kiki Gallery

Ben Edmunds

London

Royal College Of Art

It's there to find // if you have the time

As you still wonder why

All the time we spent here II

Escapist

Until the dream is done 