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Living the Dream...of an illustrator
Other | Thursday 20th November 2014 | Izaradz
Bob Marley once said, "Possessions make you rich? I don't have that type of richness, my richness is life, forever". This got us thinking about what it means to be 'rich' and 'living the dream'. We came to the conclusion that some lucky individuals are already doing it through the love of what they do and perhaps don't realise it! This collection of features is dedicated to the accounts of the figurative billionaires "living the dream" in an unconventional paradise.
In the first feature of the series, we focus on the journey of Ben Clark. Over the past few years, Ben has been creating stunning installations, unique printed t-shirts and exciting passers-by with intricate street art. On top of that, the octopus, tropical birds and shaman ethnic faces that you may have seen on the stages of Outlook, Hideout and Gottwood festivals, were not just figures of your twisted hallucinations. Ben is also the mastermind behind the luminous aesthetics that gave these stages another wild dimension.
We asked him about his career so far, his love of animals and future Fables fantasies!
Why the name “Fables”?
The name came about while I was working at Outlook Festival in Croatia, I was talking to a friend about the fact that none of my work has ever been based on strict reality and is in fact twisted by the stories I have heard and the word Fables came up. I realised that it perfectly suited the surreal and mythical inspirations behind my artwork and it just kind of stuck!
With that in mind, how would you describe your work in three words?
Intricate. Bold. Surreal.
We see that you have been doing the artwork for stages at a bunch of festivals this year, was there a highlight? Or perhaps a favourite piece that you have done?
Probably the totem tower I illustrated for Urban Shaman at Gottwood Festival where I illustrated the faces of a three tiered tower installation. On the first section I painted huge shamanic faces, which you could crawl through the mouths of, into an ambient chill out area. The middle section of the tower had a different face on every side and a huge fibreglass elephant head with a smoke machine billowing through its eyes. Finally the top section housed a laser, which shot into the sky. The team was a joy to work for and the installation ended up travelling to Shambala and Noisily festivals, where I heard that unspeakable debauchery had happened inside it!
Is there anything bad about what you do?!
Well although the festival was a joy to work with; I guess due to pure misfortune it would be the work I did for secret garden party. Ross (the other member of the Fables creations team) and I were given a week to paint a giant yellow brick road dance-floor in front of the amphitheatre stage, being constantly exposed to rain and dust we ran into countless problems. We ended up building a makeshift tarpaulin gazebo and varnished the entire floor once we had fully illustrated it, only to have the stage team roll up on the day before the festival and declare that the concrete dance-floor was unsafe to dance on and cover the entire artwork with a massive black rubber safety sheet for the duration of the festival. Not one festival-goer got to see the fruits of our labour, but the festival itself redeemed the experience!
What would you be doing if not this?
I have always been torn between my love for illustration and my passion for wildlife and zoology, I would definitely be doing work for conservation or caretaking of endangered animals if it weren’t for my current work as an illustrator. The key thing now is to find ways I can combine both my interests and illustrate for a cause that supports the conservation of animals and the prevention of deforestation, there is a few projects however that I have in the pipeline that do just that and I’m very excited about
So, if you could be anyone else for the day, who would you be?!
David Attenborough, no questions asked. He’s the guy.
What are your plans for the future, more festivals?
Producing more clothing for the Fables line of t-shirts is my main priority at the moment! But with regards to production work I love festivals and will continue to illustrate and build installations for various festivals throughout the summer. Plans for Shambala, Parklife and Gottwood are already in the pipeline. However it is work in production for events, both club based and corporate that allow me the budget to build and illustrate the most ridiculous, outrageous structures and stages. As long as I can continue building my illustrations on a large scale where they can be appreciated by a dancing crowd, I will be happy.
Ben is currently the architect behind the installations and stage aesthetics for Good Life in Leeds.
If you want to have a look at more of his stunning designs, check out the Fables website and Facebook page.
