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Ben McLaughlin
Ex Libris , 13 March - 24 April 2021
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Ben McLaughlin: Ex Libris

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Overview
Ben McLaughlin, Ex Libris

The tiny and evocative oil-on-panel paintings in Ben McLaughlin's third solo exhibition at Hosfelt Gallery were mostly made in 2019 and 2020, and they mark a time of global uncertainty, tension and precariousness. Yet the London-based painter’s intimate, often dream-like tableaus are a reflection of the slower, more interior-focused lives many of us have found to be the flip-side of pandemic shelter-in-place.   

 

With the technical facility of a Dutch master and a muted palette, McLaughlin creates eccentrically cropped, ambiguous scenes that are drawn from childhood memories of growing up in a home he describes as more "like a collage, with books and papers everywhere” than a flat in London. He considers them “chronicles of the last century.” And though they do not romanticize or pine for a “better time,” they are unquestionably about memory:  both its persistence and its instability.  

 

Recognizing that books summon memories, McLaughlin titles the paintings in this exhibition after books in his parents’ extensive library. But the pairing of book title and painting is randomly assigned and intentionally unrelated to subject matter. This disconnect between title and image allows the work to hover in a zone of continually shifting meaning. Often simultaneously bucolic and slightly ominous, McLaughlin’s imagery, in conjunction with his appropriated titles, conjures an open-ended, multivalent narrative that is particular to the viewer.

 

Additionally, some works appear to fade at the edges, or have incongruent blotches of paint blocking out a portion of the scene. These function as interruptions in the visceral feel of a recollection, pointing to the unreliability of memory, like the sharp intrusion of doubt when retelling a past incident. And yet, despite the insistent uncertainty in all of the work, a quiet serenity persists. A living room at dusk, a Target parking lot, a bulletin board bristling with notes — each tableau feels like a private and personal refuge, a place of brief respite in a turbulent world.

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Works
  • Man in forrest looking to the right with pair of binoculars
    Ben McLaughlin
    Songbirds, 2020
    oil on panel
    8 1/4 x 11 5/8 in
    21 x 29.5 cm
  • white trash can with swinging lid on black background
    Ben McLaughlin
    Samuel Pepys, The Years Of Peril, 2021
    oil on panel
    7 1/4 x 4 3/4 in
    18.4 x 12.1 cm
  • victorian style home with bay view window
    Ben McLaughlin
    A Foot on Three Daisies, 2021
    oil on panel
    10 1/4 x 7 3/4 in
    26 x 19.7 cm
  • fourteen people stand on wooden platform overlooking mountains
    Ben McLaughlin
    John Cheever, Collected Stories, 2021
    oil on panel
    8 1/4 x 11 3/4 in
    21 x 29.8 cm
  • three people crouches over table looking at boxes next to doorway
    Ben McLaughlin
    Prescription for Anxiety, 2020
    oil on panel
    8 1/4 x 11 3/4 in
    21 x 29.8 cm
  • two jets flying in grey sky
    Ben McLaughlin
    Lovely Is The Lee, 2020
    oil on panel
    8 x 6 1/2 in
    20.3 x 16.5 cm
  • man crouched over bed inspecting sheets
    Ben McLaughlin
    Children's Stories From Longfellow, 2019
    oil on panel
    8 1/2 x 11 3/4 in
    21.6 x 29.8 cm
  • outside target store in parking lot with large black smear in center
    Ben McLaughlin
    Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm, 2020
    oil on panel
    8 1/4 x 11 3/4 in
    21 x 29.8 cm
  • wall covered in small sheets of white paper tacked to wall, moving with wind
    Ben McLaughlin
    Lands and Peoples IV, 2021
    oil on panel
    8 1/4 x 11 3/4 in
    21 x 29.8 cm
  • Large white parachute hitting ground in open forrest are
    Ben McLaughlin
    The Colossus, 2021
    oil on panel
    8 x 11 3/4 in
    20.3 x 29.8 cm
  • plot of tilled soil next to road with electric tower
    Ben McLaughlin
    The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, 2021
    oil on panel
    8 x 11 1/2 in
    20.3 x 29.2 cm
  • destroyed room with wooden debris scattered about
    Ben McLaughlin
    The Magic Walking Stick, 2021
    oil on panel
    8 1/4 x 11 1/4 in
    21 x 28.6 cm
  • man pruning dead tree
    Ben McLaughlin
    English Social History, 2020
    oil on panel
    11 5/8 x 8 1/8 inches
    29.5 x 20.5 cm
  • Black alarm clock that reads 8:35
    Ben McLaughlin
    The Life of Our Lord, 2021
    oil on panel
    4 x 6 in
    10.2 x 15.2 cm
  • Man and little girl over looking hillside and water
    Ben McLaughlin
    The Wonderful Story of the Sea, 2021
    oil on panel
    8 1/4 x 11 3/4 in
    21 x 29.8 cm
  • little boy bent over with shovel in dry grass at night
    Ben McLaughlin
    A Time of Gifts, 2021
    oil on panel
    10 1/2 x 8 in
    26.7 x 20.3 cm
  • black leather car interior of rear passenger seats with door
    Ben McLaughlin
    05:26, 2013
    oil on panel
    6 x 10 1/2 inches/15.2 x 26.7 cm
  • two men sit at table with papers, books, and microphones, painted in black and white
    Ben McLaughlin
    The Complete Gallery of the Animal Kingdom, 2021
    oil on panel
    7 1/2 x 9 3/4 in
    19.1 x 24.8 cm
  • vertical lines of white to black gradient
    Ben McLaughlin
    The Pageant Of The Century, 2019
    oil on panel
    4 1/4 x 6 1/2 in
    10.8 x 16.5 cm
  • dark bathroom scene with open toilet and sink
    Ben McLaughlin
    00:55 Iron Man II, 2013
    oil on panel
    11 1/8 x 7 5/8 inches/28.3 x 19.4 cm
  • Dark street view of trees and faint lights from far away cars driving down wet road
    Ben McLaughlin
    Palgrave's Golden Treasury, 2021
    oil on panel
    8 x 11 3/4 in
    20.3 x 29.8 cm
  • hotel room with dark brown leather couch, floor lamp, coffee table and coasters, next to mini fridge and microwave
    Ben McLaughlin
    05:35 Cruise with Stelios, 2013
    oil on panel
    4 7/8 x 8 5/8 inches/12.4 x 21.9 cm
  • hand inserting key into doorknob
    Ben McLaughlin
    Reference Atlas Of Greater London, 2020
    oil on panel
    8 1/4 x 11 3/4 inches/21 x 30 cm
  • red white and blue balls raining down on black surface
    Ben McLaughlin
    Drawing and Painting for Young People, 2021
    oil on panel
    8 1/2 x 11 3/4 in
    21.6 x 29.8 cm
  • Dried up river bed in middle of brown hills and dried up valley
    Ben McLaughlin
    Danube, 2017
    oil on panel
    8 x 12 inches/20.3 x 30.5 cm
  • man working at desk in dark room with single overhead light
    Ben McLaughlin
    The Ghost Road, 2021
    oil on panel
    7 1/2 x 11 in
    19.1 x 27.9 cm
  • fence next to side angle of plain house with one window and two chimneys
    Ben McLaughlin
    The Rise and Fall of the Matinee Idol, 2021
    oil on panel
    8 1/4 x 11 3/4 in
    21 x 29.8 cm
Installation Views
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News
  • HG Magazine Issue no. 28

    HG Magazine Issue no. 28

    Studio Visit with Birgit Jensen; plus Liliana Porter, Ben McLaughlin, Isabella Kirkland, Patricia Piccinini, Cornelius Völker Read more
  • HG Magazine Issue no. 27

    HG Magazine Issue no. 27

    Liliana Porter in the press & virtual event; plus Ben McLaughlin, Rina Banerjee, Isabella Kirkland, Patricia Piccinini, Max Gimblett, Lordy Rodriguez, Bruce & Jean Conner Read more
  • HG Magazine Issue no. 26

    HG Magazine Issue no. 26

    Liliana Porter: The Riddle / Charada & Ben McLaughlin: Ex Libris open; plus Todd's 50 favorite novels, Alan Rath @ Art Basel OVR Read more

Related artist

  • Ben McLaughlin

    Ben McLaughlin

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