Ben Stack Biography

Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1959, Ben Stack, had his first formal art education at the age of 16 in the Kunstacademie Maastricht Holland, where he studied watercolour and drawing techniques while working night shift in heavy industry just outside of town. He had his first solo exhibition at the Huygen-Jaeger Gallery, London, in 1979, received a travelling scholarship to the University of California at Irvine in 1982, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art (Hons) from Trinity College Dublin, in 1984. He then spent four years painting and travelling through east and central Africa, exhibiting in Nairobi, Mombasa and Lusaka. Stack has consistently explored the connection between visual and auditory forms of art. In his work, the abstract qualities of music and sound are expressed through the medium of paint on canvas, using colour, shape, tone and gesture. He suggests that the  adjectives we use to describe sound (and taste), are also relevant when talking about visual art.  A heavy Wagnerian passage of music is expressed in his series of paintings titled "Stumbling Between the Immensities". There is a dark beauty in these works, using black, sienna, umber and earthy green oxide, with accents of gold and vermilion. By contrast, Debussy is expressed with a lighter spectrum of white, yellow, orange and cerulean. Stack has exhibited in Ireland, England, Holland, Kenya, Zambia, USA, Canada and Australia. His work is held in private and corporate collections worldwide. He has three vivid children and is currently living in Sydney Australia exhibiting with Wentworth Galleries.