Benjamin Armstrong’s sculptures slide between the homely and the uncanny. Writing about Conflict (Monash University Collection), ‘in which a pair of eyeballs shaped from wax sit at the edge of an egg shaped table top supported by impossibly thin legs’, Dr Kyla McFarlane noted that Armstrong triggers both an emotional and intellectual response in viewers … an ‘involuntary physical shudder of horror and delight registers deep in our own bodies’.
Benjamin Armstrong creates glass and wax sculptures that slide between the homely and the uncanny. Writing about Conflict (Monash University Collection), in which a pair of eyeballs shaped from wax sit at the edge of an egg shaped table top supported by impossibly thin legs, Dr Kyla McFarlane noted that Armstrong triggers both an emotional and intellectual response in viewers … an involuntary physical shudder of horror and delight registers deep in our own bodies.
Dr Kyla McFarlane, Swells and Shudders, Before the body – Matter 2006
Born in 1975, Benjamin Armstrong lives and works in Melbourne. He has participated in numerous exhibitions including NEW09 at the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, Melbourne and Primavera, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney 2006. In 2010 his work was included in Before & After Science, the 2010 Biennale of Australian Art. His works are represented in key public and private collections including Monash University Museum of Art, The University of Queensland, Queensland Art Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia and the British Museum, London.