Benjamin Ward is a contemporary painter and documentary filmmaker (b.1975, Melbourne), with his professional practice based in the Northern Territory (1996-2024), working extensively with the Aṉangu peoples of the Central and Western desert regions and Yolŋu peoples of North East Arnhem Land. He currently resides in Brisbane, Queensland.

Ward’s charged canvases address universal themes that resonate with a specific contemporary complexity. Alternating between minimalist large-scale abstractions and smaller, intimate landscapes, figures, and still life, these paintings reject narrative clarity in favour of philosophical commentary on painting itself. “Every object perception is a micro-narrative”, gives an example of his occasional contrarian philosophical positioning regarding ‘art’ and its slippery nature.

Ward’s abstract work presents the visual field as a space to behold, where the viewer is situated in front of a visual void. The ‘moiré’ or ‘interference patterns’ are the observable effect produced when two or more waves overlap and combine to form a new, third wave pattern. These third-wave patterns only exist when witnessed by an observer, which is akin to the double slit experiment, and references the quantum moment of reality. The figurative paintings are seemingly just moments in time, captured without obvious significance or narrative, yet they invite the viewer to imagine what is perhaps outside the canvas edge, or indeed, behind the scenes that are presented. 

Ward's paintings simultaneously communicate and withhold; they deliberately encourage the viewer to become mindful of their own participation through consciously observed engagement with the work.

If you would like to enquire about his paintings or documentary film work, please make contact.