My artwork and what drives me centers around the concept of contemporary artifacts. Studying pottery, vessels, and utilitarian objects of other cultures has told us a great deal about who produced them. My goal as an artist is to create objects that are contemporarily relevant and honest artifacts. Making a piece that reveals our culture, that embody our way of life—that is my goal. These pieces ask questions and allude to problems that we all should be asking.
Reconsidering and reevaluating what and how we consume as a species is the most crucial task before us today. For this belief, consumption is a major theme of my work. I am fascinated by an inability to maintain our ‘needs’, a disregard for what we consume, and it’s effects. I began making art to confront my own issues around consumption, and that beginning lead directly into an affront on our society’s role in over consumption.
Contact me at Benjamindarrowvalentine@gmail.com, contact Christopher West at Christopher West Presents.
Graduated from Earlham College with Academic and Departmental Honors in Metalsmithing, May 2009.
My work is presently on view at Dean Johnson Gallery.