My name is Ben Etten and I am a Minneapolis-based artist that works in printmaking (screenprint and relief) and drawing.
All of my images are hand drawn, something that is incredibly important to me. I have always been fascinated by images that reveal the artist's hand: when you look close enough, you can see the individual marks that the artist made. They disappear when you step back further and the full image emerges, but up close? Just individual, hand drawn marks. That is the magic of art to me, and I strive hard to make sure that comes through strongly in my own work.
I am a complete studio rat. It's where I am most comfortable, and I need to be comfortable in order to create. The subjects I draw are almost always based on something real (sketch on location, photograph, etc.), but for the image to feel like mine, I have to redraw it, often multiple times, with the image changing each time. I think this takes the subject out of reality and makes it my own. It isn't a fast process, but it's how art works for me. It's what it takes for an image to really become mine.
When I am not working on art, I am an avid reader, I love music and playing guitar, and I spend an embarrassing amount of time talking to my cat.
Follow @pessimistic.press on Instagram to see sketches, process videos, new work in progress, and more!