Benjamin Hannavy Cousen is a painter and a writer living in the North of England producing very physical paintings which reveal ‘colour intensities’ which arise from and register the memory of reading. The sculptural density created through his invented syringe method for applying paint follows a protocol derived from the order of colour words as they appear in literary works. He discovers a dimension of literature while also creating a physical tapestry of colour whose application produces, unanticipated, sculptural presence of the materiality of paint.
Since 2015, Benjamin has been represented by Merville Galleries and has had two solo shows in London - Recent Paintings (The Mall Galleries, 2017) and Rings of Saturn and Other Objects (Gallery 8, St James’s, 2022). His work has been exhibited at The London Art Fair and The British Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery and features in a number of private collections. He has a PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of Leeds and has published widely on visual culture, from Picasso to the film Pink Floyd The Wall. He currently works from a studio in Otley just north of Leeds.