Ben Weiner is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 contemporary art

Contemporary art

Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...

ist. Represented by Mark Moore Gallery in Los Angeles and Benrimon Contemporary in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, he lives and works in Queens, NY.

Weiner was born in Burlington, VT and grew up in Dobbs Ferry, NY. He graduated from Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

 in 2003. His hyperrealistic oil painting

Oil painting

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...

s depict macroscopic

Macroscopic

The macroscopic scale is the length scale on which objects or processes are of a size which is measurable and observable by the naked eye.When applied to phenomena and abstract objects, the macroscopic scale describes existence in the world as we perceive it, often in contrast to experiences or...

 still life environments of unnatural substances such as hair gel

Hair gel

Hair gel is a hairstyling product that is used to stiffen hair into a particular hairstyle. The results it produces are usually similar to, but stronger than, those of hair spray and hair wax, and weaker than those of hair glue.-Types:...

, pearls, and oil paint

Oil paint

Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and varnish may be added to increase the glossiness of the...

 globs. Weiner derives imagery for paintings and videos by magnifying and photographing commonplace materials of artifice, such as beauty products, art supplies, and artificial food ingredients. His work focuses on the experience of imitation in daily life in the digital age, as well as the merging of object, subject and medium.

Weiner’s work has been included in exhibitions at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is located in Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA. The Aldrich has no permanent collection. It is one of the United States's leading contemporary art galleries and special exhibition spaces . The museum is an international leader in museum education .The Aldrich was...

, The Carnegie Art Museum (Oxnard, California)

Carnegie Art Museum (Oxnard, California)

The Carnegie Art Museum, formerly known as the Oxnard Public Library and the Carnegie Cultural Arts Center, is a Neo-Classical building and art museum located adjacent to Plaza Park in Oxnard, California, United States. It opened in 1907 as the Oxnard Public Library and was later converted into an...

, The Riverside Art Museum

Riverside Art Museum

Riverside Art Museum is an art museum in the historic Mission Inn District of Riverside, California. A non-profit organization, its mission is to "to serve the varied communities of the Inland Empire by providing visual art of the finest quality and related educational and interpretive...

, and Artspace

Artspace

Artspace is a contemporary art gallery and non-profit organization located in downtown New Haven, in Connecticut. Artspace’s mission is to connect artists, audiences, and resources; catalyze artistic activity, and redefine art spaces. Since its founding in 1987, Artspace has helped nearly 3,000...

. His work is in collections including Sammlung Mondstudio (Germany), Progressive Insurance (OH), and the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation.

Ben Weiner also designed video

Video

Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...

 projections for the interdisciplinary theatrical production of La Historia de Llorar por El by Ignacio Apolo, which showed in Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

 in the summer of 2006.

External links

• Ben Weiner's official site
• Mark Moore Gallery
• Benrimon Contemporary
• Ben Weiner on artnet.com
• http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/nyregion/connecticut/04artsct.html Celebrating a Decade of Artists on the Verge, The New York Times
• http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/nyregion/connecticut/04reviewct.html A Show Goes Heavy on a Traditional Medium Yet Feels Fresh, The New York Times