Ben Tankard; Going Wild!
The humble monopoly board, the classic penguin & famous album artworks are transformed under the careful stroke of Tankard. His iconic pop art style is full of rich colour that demand your attention as soon as you step into their stratosphere. Tankard’s most iconic and popular works are his Penguin Book series. He has tackled the greats, from Ray Hadbury’s Fraenheit 451 to Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and created stunning pieces that celebrate iconic stories hidden beneath the humble orange cover.
Ben Tankard has the uncanny ability to breathe fresh life into classics that have far too often sat on our shelves, covered in dust.
Tankards latest series to arrive at KAB Gallery is a little different. Aptly titled “Wild Penguins” the new series is a continuation on the exploration of the Unpopular penguins through new mediums & techniques! The fresh new original pieces are a little smaller in size, a perfect fit for a shelf in the bookcase or in the corner of your office. With 30 titles to chose from, it’s hard not to find your favorite classic in the mix!
Each original artwork is started on a base of the very pages of the book it is inspired by. Tankards paintings literally cover the words penned by the likes of Stein, Darwin & Stevenson as the penguin book covers do. Paint, collage, lino printing and drawing on the paper bring these classic books to life. There is a constrained chaos in Tankards Wild penguin series. Each piece hovers on the border of untamed, the words peep through the paint as if they can no longer be contained.
They are Wild.
The juxtaposition between the wild nature of these pieces & the reformed classic lens by which these literary masterpieces are so often viewed lies at the very essence of why Tankards works are so successful. His accolades and following is growing by the day. Tankard is currently featured in the Grand Designs Australia Sourcebook (January 2019) and was just recently announced as winner of DP’s World Emerging Artist Award 2018.