Biography
Benjamin Dobbin, is a British Architect, Designer and Artist. (MA hons, MArch, ARB)
Artistic by nature from an early age - a love of technology and design led to studying Architecture at Edinburgh University, graduating with distinction in 2001.
His architectural career led him to Foster + Partners, where Benjamin currently leads a studio of architects and designers in San Francisco, working on a range of large and small design projects around the west coast.
Benjamin has continued to progress his personal interest in art and develop a unique process of digital abstract art. Whereas Architecture is the formal and conscious vehicle of his mind and talents; Art is the domain of the sub-conscious and provides a complimentary counterpoint to his work as a designer. Benjamin’s art is centered around themes of synaesthesia, landscape and palimpsest, forming a visual diary of interconnected pieces.
Artist's statement
Growing up in the early age of the personal computer, I started to transcribe art onto the screen using the Commodore Amiga (Warhol used the same package in the 80s). At the time, I was influenced by graphic novels and abstract art, in particular the detailed work of the Japanese artist and animator, Katsuhiro Otomo. Anything with a distinctive, intense graphic style I became drawn to; buying early techno records because I was captivated by their artwork. Whilst studying Kandinsky I read about synaesthesia (conjoined senses) and this gave a name to what I had always felt about the connection between sight and sound and has become a predominant theme in my work.
I've developed a process of continually visually ‘remixing’ my work as the defining act.
I start a new piece by working from the last piece I finished. As such there is no original picture- each one carries the DNA of it’s predecessors and they are all linked in a continuous chain. The process of working a piece involves cutting, revolving, enlarging, super-imposing, blurring, and heavy modulation of colours.
The works bear a witness to their process of formation, containing marks and scars that were manifested through that series of actions and persist without conscious design. I dwell a lot on these many small details which tell the story of how the piece was made.
When you set off from where you’ve started its very hard to return to that place. Whilst the processes are always the same, the result is always unique to the environment in which I made it. The further possibilities that could lie on this serendipitous journey ahead is what motivates me to keep creating new work.