ben van der wel
– visual artist, drawings, art on paper, silverpoint
– fragmentation, deconstruction, and artisanal reassembly of images into a visual language, patiently articulating questions
– amsterdam-ish
– member of nederlandse kring van tekenaars (wikipedia) 2024-
– silverpoint advocate in the Netherlands: extensive tutorial and webshop zilverstift.nl
– founding member of dutch artist collective art allies 2023-
– board member of dutch artist collective popinnart 2018-2022
– ran a let’s-visit-gallery-openings-together mailing list for fellow artists, 2024 transformed to Instagram account @amsterdamgalleryopeningtracker with marlien venema. because high thresholds are to be overcome, art to be seen and colleagues to be met.
education:
– master of arts in johann wolfgang von goethe’s dilettantism theory (university of amsterdam), graduated on goethe’s 258th birthday
– privately schooled in the visual arts by jan van der pol and rien monshouwer (both accomplished artists and former teachers at the royal art academy of the hague)
– obtained a typewriting certificate on a remington travel writer
personal:
– father and partner (the latter since last millennium)
– spent twelve years being paid to crawl on my knees between dusty antiquarian books, transformed it to a hobby
– used to climb quite high trees until a vicious attack by a rather large book took out my shoulder
– used to be a local rock band’s mascot in a long-forgotten era
