BEN HEINE (born June 12, 1983 in Abidjan, Ivory coast) is a Belgian multidisciplinary visual artist. He is best known for his original series “Pencil Vs Camera”, “Digital Circlism” and “Flesh and Acrylic”.
Following his studies, Ben has tried all kinds of different jobs but visual creation has always been his main concern. Since 2006 until now, his pictorial works have been published in famous Belgian and international newspapers and magazines and they have been seen by millions of people online. Ben Heine’s artworks have been exhibited in Belgium, Great Britain, France, Canada, USA, Germany, Turkey, Romania, Brazil, South Korea and Spain.
Ben Heine says he has been deeply influenced by Belgian Surrealism, German Expressionism, American Pop Art, and Social Realism. Abduzeedo, a leading online platform in Art & Design said about him: “His galleries are filled with great stuff and he can walk beautifully between several art directions, creating amazing pieces in any way he goes“.
Ben has a degree in Journalism (started at “Université Libre de Bruxelles” (Belgium) and completed at “IHECS” (Belgium) & “Utrecht University of Applied Sciences” in The Netherlands). He also briefly studied History of Art, Painting and Sculpture at “Hastings College of Arts & Technology” (England) but he is a self-taught person in Drawing and Photography. Through his studies, he learned several languages: French (1), English (2), Dutch (3), Polish (4), Spanish (5) and Russian (6). Ben loves languages because he loves communicating and interacting with people. He loves people.
Now we present you, his artworks known as PENCIL VS CAMERA
“Pencil Vs Camera” mixes drawing and photography, imagination and reality. It’s a new visual concept invented and initiated by Ben Heine in 2010. It’s full of magic, illusion, poetry and surrealism. Ben published his first “Pencil Vs Camera” image in April 2010 but the series is the result of a long graphic exploration and a logic consequence of his personal artistic development. Ben usually integrates an inventive hand made drawing in front of a realistic background. There are several methods to achieve the same effect . Ben’s hand is always clearly visible; it represents the close connection between the viewer, the artist and the artwork. The drawing is either in black and white on white paper or in color on black paper, while the photo is often very colorful, this amplifies the contrast between the two mediums. In this series, Ben likes to focus on people’s life, portraits, nature, animals, architecture… Among others, the main themes approached in “Pencil Vs Camera” are: Love, Freedom, After Life, Friendship and Nature. Ben says: “I just make art for people. I want them to dream and forget their daily troubles. I used to write poems many years ago, I want to convey a poetic and philosophical meaning into my pictures, each new creation should tell a story and generate an intense emotion, like a poem, like a melody”. Because of their originality and the visual innovations Ben brought in his artworks, this series has had a huge impact on the graphic design community and has generated several buzz on the Internet. Ben says the initial idea of this “Pencil Vs Camera” concept came by coincidence while he was writing a letter in his family house in Braives, Belgium.
You can find Ben on:
web site: www.benheine.com
facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ben-Heine/45292293615
deviantart profile: http://benheine.deviantart.com/gallery/25132782
