Ben Javens: Untitled

Untitled, by Ben Javens.
15% of the gross sale of this print goes to 826 National.

Ben Javens is a freelance illustrator living and working in Birmingham, England. He is originally from a small Yorkshire town called Ossett but moved away to study fine art at university. He is a member of the outcrowd collective, is represented by the UNSEEN agency, and has worked for clients such as the Guardian, Time Out Magazine and the record label Static Caravan.

About the print:
My work generally has some kind of basic idea or theme but this piece just kind of happened. Like most of my images involving a girl, this was inspired by my girlfriend, Jenny.

This is a two-color, hand-pulled screenprint on 300gsm cartridge paper.

PURCHASE $40!

What has inspired you recently?
A lot of my inspiration comes from listening to music, which being a bit of a record nerd, occupies a lot of my time. Most recently I've been listening to a come back album by Dion (of Dion and the Bellmonts) that came out in the late sixties, and has some great cover versions of songs from the time, like Purple Haze and Everybody's Talkin'. As for art, I've recently been coveting the work of Jim Flora who designed some pretty ace record sleeves and Paul Rand who, with his wife Ann, made some really cool kids books.

How long have you been screenprinting and how did you get into it?
I first started screenprinting about five years ago when I bought one of those student starter kits. I think the first thing I printed was a t-shirt, and I soon realised how great a thing the process was. It did take me a while to realise that I'd only witnessed a fraction of screenprinting's greatness, but this all changed once I started printing on paper and with more than one colour. Cue light bulb.

Why did you choose to pair 826 National with your print?
I don't have a particularly academic mind. Other than in art, as a kid I didn't really excel in any subjects at school. I did okay in English, which I'm sure is due to having my dad take the time to sit me down and help me with my reading and spelling. Based on my own small insight into how one-on-one teaching can help with learning, I'm sure that the work that 826 National does will benefit countless number of kids who, like me, just need that extra bit of attention to kick start their imagination and interest in learning.

How have you seen art transform the world around you?
Up until two years ago I was wasting away in a dead end job that sucked the very life out of me, but thankfully my own art forced me out of the rut I'd gotten into. Since then my world has changed a lot. Though it is difficult to pay the bills some months, I'm so much happier and I even feel better physically - I don't seem to get ill or run down anymore.



If you could pick one artist to mentor you, who would it be?
That's a pretty tough question, but I think it would have to be Marcel Duchamp. He was one of the first artists to inspire me when I was 16 and just starting out at college. I didn't really know anything about art and had the same misconceptions about it that most people do. I thought that art had to be some grand thing only achieved by great people, and that it was out of my reach. With the help of artists like Duchamp, I soon realized that art could be anything anybody wanted it to be and that anyone could make it, even me. The older I get and the more my work develops, the more I know this to be true. So if nothing else I'd like to thank him for that.

Who are some artists that other people should know about?
I'm not the best person to point out what others should look at, as most will probably know more than I do, but in no particular order here is a list of some artists I like and think others might too: Margaret Kilgallen, Rob Ryan, Cat Johnston, Sister Mary Corita, Ben Newman, Simon Peplow, Stuart Kolakovic, Albrecht Durer, Marcus Oakley, nomono, Tom Gauld, Nigel Peake, Joseph Cornell, Alice Stevenson, Al Murphy, Lucy Mclauchlan, George Maciunas, Gwenola Carrere, Patrick Gildersleeves...that's probably enough, right?

What do you have planned for 2010?
The year is off to a pretty good start. I'm already in the thick of it, with a 7" single cover under my belt and I'm also working on an album cover for Andreas Soderstrom's solo project, Ass. I have plans to make a batch of new prints and I'm going to try and put together a small run of screenprinted books. An exhibition would be tops and I also want to make some headway on a children's book project that I'm working on with my friend Simon Peplow. To sum up, 2010 will hopefully be filled with work, work and more work...things have changed, because saying that four years ago would have brought me to tears!