Ben Durham

Home is important to Ben Durham but not in the clichéd way that romanticizes growing up or suffuses adolescence with the golden glow of nostalgia. Instead, he melds image and word to create word pictures of lives gone awry. Born in Lexington, Kentucky, he derives his source material from that city’s police blotter.

Durham holds a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis and now lives in Richmond, Virginia. His work has been shown nationally in both solo and group exhibitions. He is currently working on a new series of drawings that, like Text Portraits—the series depicted here—deconstruct likeness to amplify hidden meanings.

→ Ben Durham's artist statement

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Jack, 14
Graphite text on paper, 2008
Suzanne Morsfield; courtesy of Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York City
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Amanda, 13
Graphite text on paper, 2008
Private collection
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Betty
Graphite text on handmade paper, 2009
Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy
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Kris
Graphite text on handmade paper, 2011
Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman, courtesy of The FLAG Art Foundation
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National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

November 16, 2012 through August 18, 2013

Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock

October 25, 2013 through February 9, 2014