Born in 1981, Ben H.
Summers studied Fine Art at the Slade School of Art in London.
Summers recalls being interested in drawing from a very early age,
taking inspiration from the natural world, the human form and built
spaces. Music has always had a huge impact on him, to the extent that
after graduation in 2003, he pursued a career as a professional DJ. A
combination of DJ work, illustration work and art direction, lead him
to make the decision in 2010 to combine his love for music with his
passion for art and the brand “Beats in My Brush” was born. Since
then Summers has had a solo show, participated in Artists Wanted, a
big art event in New York, as well as several collaborations and
group shows. His work explores various themes including desire,
relationships, race, pop culture and social media. Ben H. Summers is
now focusing on his U&I project, a series of intimate portraits
of modern families in their own homes which explores diverse family
identities in the 21st century. Summers kindly took time
out of his busy schedule to discuss his work and his thoughts on art
and success.
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| Generation Gamers (U&I series). Oil on canvas. (c) Ben H. Summers 2012 |
Adelaide Damoah (AD):
Could you tell me a bit about your background please.
Ben H. Summers (BHS): I
guess the first things I started to draw were animals and nature.
Trees... Because I grew up in the country, I had this fascination
with how trees were formed. The work was quite random and very nature
orientated. But then at the same time, I would just go and sit and
watch Tom and Jerry, Spiderman, or whatever cartoons were on TV
incessantly. My dad was in the military, so before we settled outside
of Bath, we moved around a fair bit. I can't really remember very
much about that time as I was under the age of four, but because of
his profession, he was based in different countries. He used to bring
back model planes... You know, those air fix models, I don't know if
you remember those?
AD: I have no idea what
that is!
BHS: Just model planes,
that kind of thing. It was those three influences really. Nature, my
dads military influence and cartoons... But also my mum’s fashion
magazines had an influence on me. I remember flicking through and...
Not perving! Because I was too young to even know what that was, but
I remember trying to copy a lot of the models that were in the
magazines. Whatever was around me from a young age that I found
fascinating, I would start sketching. In terms of where I draw my
influences from today, it is kind of exactly the same. I take
inspiration from absolutely everywhere, which is why my style hops
from one subject to the other.
AD: I noticed that.
BHS: It's not clearly
identifiable yet. It will be in time.
AD: Would you say that
you have always known that you wanted to be an artist?
BHS: Yes. It was my
first passion. It was the first thing I was good at. I felt I had
talent so I was proud of that aspect.
AD: Was there a
specific point when you thought you would like to take it further and
become a professional artist?
BHS: Yes. When I was 13
or 14, at secondary school. I was never really good academically. I
guess the academic side of what I do is something that I have had to
work at. I wasn't strong in a lot of subjects at school, but I was
strong at art and it was really my first art teacher and subsequently
my next art teacher who took me under their wing. They both suggested
that I run with it as they thought I had something. It was really
their encouragement that pushed me. Had I not had their
encouragement, I probably would not have followed through, as weird
as that may sound, just because I was not that confident as a
teenager.
AD: You went to the
Slade School of Art in 1999. Was it fine art that you studied?
BHS: Yeah it was fine
art painting. It was great getting in there. I was over the moon to
get in because my grades were appalling at A level! I got in there on
the basis of a really strong portfolio. I think I was one of the
youngest to have joined the course at that point. Most of the people
who started with me had done foundation courses. It was quite a lot
to handle to be honest, coming from country roots, so the beginning
of it was an interesting time, but it was a great place to go.
AD: When you say it was
a lot to handle, do you mean that it was emotionally difficult to
deal with being critiqued?
BHS: Both. I remember
in my first year, I really thrived in the environment and I was
making work that I had never really made before. For a start, I
stopped painting and I was doing these weird installations in my
space, which were site specific. They got a lot of attention and they
were kind of interactive as well so anyone who walked past would come
and be a part of it and try to help. I remember making this house
over my space at one point out of bin liners and scrap wood. It
sounds totally insane now! Probably sounds insane to you as well...
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| Trooper. Copyright Ben H. Summers |
AD: Yeah!
BHS: I plastered the
inside of it with drawings and weird bits of text and photos that I
had found. People walked through.. I made a little door on one side
and then I made an exit the other way. I had every single tutor
walking through saying, “This is great, this is first class stuff,
honours degree work!”
That was the first year
and then something happened after that. I think it was being taken
over by London to be perfectly honest. Music was already a massive
part of my life then. I had just slowly started to get more
interested in going to different places in London and having random
conversations with people, sketching around town, sketching events of
the day in storyboard format and spending way too much money on
records!
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| Sketch in Madam Jojo's, London. (c) Ben H. Summers 2013 |
My work kind of changed
at that point. It suddenly became very comic book like. I started
doing these enormous storyboards on huge roles of paper from events
that had happened to me that week. All of my peers, my friends who
were in my year loved it, but none of the tutors could understand it.
I ended up becoming despondent with the environment and I was slowly
but surely spending time away from the studio.
I was getting into
music more, so I was starting to have odd DJ gigs here and there.
Finding it hard after a while was just really due to the way my work
changed and the reaction to it.
It was definitely an
important process looking back at it now, but at the time, it pushed
me away from university and from being in that kind of art school
place. I very nearly quit towards the end of the third year. A few
difficult things were happening personally and my mind just wasn't in
the right place. One tutor got behind me and said, “Look, I know
you have got a lot of other things going on, but you have got to
finish it.”
So I did graduate. I
was proud that I saw it through because I would have definitely
regretted it had I decided to drop out. Call it being a bit too young
and naïve, who knows. But, I finished, I graduated and that was on
paper so...
AD: That's the main
thing. Would you say that was the reason why after graduation, you
got more into the DJ work?
BHS: Yeah definitely.
By that time, I was more interested in music to be perfectly honest.
The two have now culminated. They are very much one and I understand
that now. But from the point of view of having fun and getting
instant gratification from Djing and spending time in clubs and
getting into dance as well... It was just a lot more instant for me,
a lot more appealing. I was meeting some really great people and
having lot of fun. From that point, I hardly did any art work. It was
strange. Just because I was more intent on getting the latest tunes.
The latest reggae seven inch, or the latest house tune or whatever it
was for my set. Slowly but surely, I just started doing more gigs in
and around London and getting involved with promoters.
AD: How long did you do
that for?
BHS: I left in 2004. I
did that on and off for about three years and then solidly for
another four years, in between having to do other bits of work to
keep things afloat. I had a really great time doing it. I still do
DJ, but I have been so busy with the art that the DJ work has taken
second place for now.
AD: I read that around
that time, you were doing illustration and being an art director and
that kind of thing.
BHS: Yes. Between 2006
and 2009, I was DJ-ing on average eight times a month, mainly within
London. I started to get opportunities to do other creative stuff on
bigger projects. I ended up doing firstly some illustration for
Amnesty International and that was during the Dafour crisis- at a
time when it was at its worst.
A friend that I had met
through Djing put me in touch with one of his friends who put me in
touch with Amnesty International. I had not drawn for ages. It had
been about two years, which was totally unlike me. I did not know
what I was going to be like. So I ended up doing these portrait
sketches. I looked at some footage and some images and went from
there. I could not go to Sudan and get involved in that way. So with
these sketches, I just had to watch lots of footage of what was going
on. I did about 10 sketches from my imagination. Just from what had
sat in my mind... Two of them were quite heavily sketched portraits
of young Sudanese women and they ended up using them. They were used
as flashing gifs on the Sudanese wing of the amnesty International
website. It was up there for three or four months. I think I only got
paid £200- £300 for it, but that was still pretty good to be
honest. I surprised myself because it was at that point that I
realised that I could draw better than I had ever been able to draw
in my life. I then decided to engage my visual art side again.
From that point on,
whenever there was an opportunity to get involved visually again, I
did. So the art directing came up- and that was because a friend was
making a comedy short for E4. It was hilariously funny and
innovative. For that, I was working alongside the director, doing
everything from building props to doing sketches for the promo video,
then working with one of the production companies on some graphics.
So for three years, I was juggling DJ-ing. It was great. I would have
loads of gigs, then have a quiet period and I would get a big
commission with someone. A great commission was some live painting
work for Vauxhall with my artist friend Daisuke Sakaguchi- which was
part of the 2006 motor show at the Excel centre.
AD: Nice...
BHS: So for 12 days, we
were on the Vauxhall stand and they had skaters with BMX riders doing
tricks while we were on the side spraying these big canvases. So
yeah, it was quite a fun time. I feel like I've just waffled on.
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| HL Table. 2012 |
AD: No, you haven't.
And then in 2010, Beats in My Brush was born!
BHS: Yeah, so after
taking more time out to really think about what I was doing, two
years ago, I was in a weird place again career wise. A lot of things
were not working out generally and I was doing lots of different jobs
to tide me over... Unless you are someone who has a very firm career
path, which obviously art doesn't always lend itself to, you are
going to have to do odd jobs and just a lot of things had changed by
then, I got into recruitment.
AD: I did that!
BHS: Oh did you? I got
into recruitment through having done a bit of youth work and I just
wanted to do something I thought would help people. So I worked in
recruitment, in the Welfare to Work sector for a while.
But then it got to 2010
and I was pretty despondent with where I was going and I made a
decision to decide once and for all what I was going to do. By that
time, I had started to have a lot of artistic ideas again. Every day
I would have these ideas going around in my head and which for me is
a good indicator of where you are as an artist. There is a great
quote from Ernest Hemingway about the creative process. One of many,
in which he talks about writing, obviously because he is a writer,
but it is a very good quote about being in the right place to just
let your ideas flow. I then decided to start painting again and aimed
to get a studio. I wanted to channel what music had done for me in
terms of opening up my own life to different cultures, people and
ways of life and I wanted that to be a part of it. Slowly but surely
the name came about. As the name suggests, it is basically the music
within the paintbrush or me putting the brush to canvas. It just
popped into my mind. I quite liked it, it was funny sounding and
people remembered it. I made a logo and all of a sudden, I had an
umbrella to work under. After that, I decided that whatever I did
would be under that umbrella of Beats in My Brush, with eventually,
the aim of making what I did into an organisation of some sort. This
is looking a long way ahead and trying to make it into some kind of
creative company with a difference.
AD: I like it.
BHS: Maybe even
representing other artists. That’s something I am thinking about
long term.
AD: I am thinking along
those same lines!
BHS: One thing I would
say is that I have always been incredibly ambitious. I don't think
anyone should be cagey about saying that they are ambitious or that
they want to make lots of money... Or just that they want to be
successful and I am not necessarily talking about the money as being
success. That is a different conversation maybe... I mean just
believing in what you think you can achieve and money is a factor in
that. Especially if you want to grow things and I think trying to
facilitate what you are doing as a big idea. Achieving financial
success is something really important, obviously we all want it, but
it is definitely something that I know is going to be integral in me
achieving what I want to if that makes sense?
AD: Yes it does. Going
back to your work. I read that your work focuses on race, desire,
relationships and social media. The one that caught my attention, the
“Like Me” piece... I love that picture. Is it a painting or a
drawing?
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| "Like Me 1" Charcoal and acrylic on paper. (c) Ben H. Summers 2012 |
BHS: It’s a drawing.
Its compressed charcoal and I used water to push the charcoal around.
It is a messy medium, you have to use your hands and fingers to
smudge it. I remember one day wondering how it would move if I added
plain water to it and it is strange, it totally breaks up and kind of
becomes fluid in a way, so you can get some really great movement
with it. So anyway, it was compressed charcoal and white acrylic
paint on top. I guess at the time, I had just been thinking really
long and hard about Facebook. I admit, I probably spend too long on
there if I am perfectly honest. I know you probably do as well!
AD: Yeah!
BHS: It's on my
blackberry. Every time a notification goes off I am wondering what it
is... I thought about it in terms of the amount of time added
together that you must accumulate just looking on your phone.
Also, on a deeper
level, your life is on there and there is that need to be liked and
accepted. It has become a format for that now, for anyone and
everyone to get some bit of recognition, however small it is and that
question about it really interested me. There are really busy people
on Facebook who are obviously really busy and it is part of their
career. I appreciate that part of it as an artist because it is a
very useful tool to make connections and promote. Then there are
people who are really busy and who are never on Facebook, just
because their career does not lend itself to that. Then there are the
people on there who are kind of in between, who just post what they
have done with their day and its that daily acceptance, “Oh I have
been liked, it's great to be liked, oh thats made the next 15 minutes
of my life.”
It is just kind of
interesting to me. I mean, what did we do before then on a daily
basis? I just started thinking about these things and I started
laying some drawings down. I have always been interested in religion,
although I am not religious myself. That suddenly linked in with this
idea about worship and about what has become peoples new religion,
what they are really obsessed by.
So then the image for
like me kind of just popped into my head with an altar and a Facebook
logo as the crucifix. In a lot of my work, I like to play around with
directional light and shadow. That is definitely from watching things
like Heartbeat and Art Attack as a kid! This is probably going to end
up being an installation and I am going to make the altar. I am
currently in talks with a church to use one of their spaces... So it
is going to become something a lot bigger and a lot more public.
AD: That image stayed
in my head the whole day when it showed up on my Facebook stream. I
shared it on my page and people had some interesting things to say
about it. Do you think that idea is something that could be a turning
point for you?
BHS: I think it could.
But going back to that whole idea of style and my change of style not
being accepted at university, I still find it very difficult to stick
within a consistent, commercially acceptable style if you want to
call it that. I have been told that that is what I need to do by
galleries and agencies. They tell me that I have some cool work, but
that there are too many different styles for them to work with. I am
now at a point where I am asking myself if I need to do that in order
to almost assist them in a way, or whether to just do what I am
doing... Come up with ideas and make them as big as I possibly can so
that people take notice and I have got people knocking on my door.
When you look at a few artists who have done that, and I guess Damien
Hirst is an example, because love him or hate him, he is fantastic at
self promotion.
AD: Thank you! I agree.
BHS: More than arguably
he is an artist or painter. But if you were to take each of his works
and place them in different galleries, people who didn't know who he
was would assume that they were by totally different artists. The dot
paintings, the medicine cabinets, the shark... There are a few
others, but he just really interested me from that point of view.
I remember seeing a
recent program on him before his big retrospective at the Tate. It
was the one where he was being interviewed. Prior to seeing that
program, I didn't really know if I liked him or not. But after
watching that program, he got through to me from his own experiences
at art college and having to pick from painting, sculpture or
drawing. He said that it did not appeal to him and he wanted to go
somewhere where you could just do “Art”. That is why he went to
Goldsmith's, because they just had an art course and that was it.
That is the way that I
am. I know that maybe in the next 2 years or so, on my site, you will
see a whole portrait series. That will look like a set. There will be
all the “Like Me” stuff. That will look like another set. There
are a few others that I am working on that will look like complete
shows in themselves. I have realised that that is the way that I
work. At that point, and only at that point will I feel comfortable
to start approaching people with specific collections of works to see
what they say. People may disagree, but that is the best way that I
work.
In my studio at the
moment, I have the Next Generation Gamers oil painting, which is a
detailed oil painting. Then I have the drawings, then I have a
concept sculpture that I am working on. I hop from one to the other
and when I get bored with one, I go and do the other. That is the way
I work.
AD: Nothing wrong with
that, do you. For me, art is about capturing the spirit of the times
that you are living in. The Zeitgeist. For me, that Like Me piece is
exactly that. That's why I got so excited about it because that is
what I have been preaching since I got into this game. But moving on
from that, one of the things you say you focus on in your bio is
race. Can you tell me a bit more about that?
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| Cherie's Escape 2. |
BHS: It is a topic I
will keep returning to and it is one that I have not fully explored.
I don't think I have reached the strongest point with it. That will
take a long time, a lot more research and experience. It has governed
nearly every aspect of my life. I guess there was limited access to
other cultures in our community. I just remember being very affected
by racial issues from a young age. It was just one of those things
that really annoyed me- the ability of one person to decide not to
accept someone else because of their so called race or skin colour. I
can safely say that it is the thing I feel most strongly about in
life.
But it’s the need to
celebrate it currently that I find most engaging. Some of the pieces
I have on my site at the moment are a celebration of that. It is what
I am exploring with my ‘Uand I’ series. Many of them are my close
friends and relatives in their own spaces, surrounded by objects that
are important to them while trying not to make them look too stylised
or staged. I will be painting people form every spectrum, culturally,
within the identity of the family and how fantastically varied but
universally important it is. I think it will be a very long, ongoing
series that I’d like to take to different countries.
AD: Getting back to the
subject of success... When was your first exhibition?
BHS: That was the Slade
degree show. I did a couple of things afterwards. One was in a venue
called Mash in London. I did that some of my friends from other
colleges who were also experimenting with ideas. That was actually in
what is now a restaurant called Vapiano on great Portland Street. It
was a bar/restaurant with a gallery space at the front. That was
about five or six years ago now, must have changed hands at least 3
times. Following on from that only just last year really because that
was the first time when I had enough work to show. That was in a
little space called Nolias Gallery in London.
AD: I have exhibited at
Nolias Gallery! Supermodels was there! Nolia is lovely.
BHS: Have you! No way..
Yes, she is lovely. She is like a whirlwind. I walked in and I was
infected by her enthusiasm and her need for deciding to do things
right there and there and that is the way she works. She kindly let
me have the space. She has a little shop on one side and the space on
the other side. I hired the space for two weeks. The show was called
“The Eccentric Native.” while I was there, I was doing drawings
on site and selling them. Lots of people came in. It was really good.
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| Milky Way. (c) Ben H. Summers 2013 |
AD: Did you sell work?
BHS: I did sell work
yes. I sold three paintings and lots of drawings just because I was
sitting in the window drawing with at a desk. I think that got
peoples attention. A lot of people working in the area just popped
in. That was a turning point. After that it was just about getting
back in the studio and doing more work.
AD: Would you say you
are full time now or are you supplementing the art with other stuff?
BHS: I am supplementing
it with other stuff just because I like to have as much money in the
bank as possible. I know I am not quite there yet. I can't say that I
am making a living off art. It is what I project, because I think it
is important that you let people know that this is what you do, even
if you are doing other things on the side. What you say is what your
passion is. There is a temptation to think about other people my age
whose careers are on the way, but one should not think like that as
it’s a potentially negative way of thinking. Everyone’s flowers
bloom at different times.
AD: Any other shows?
BHS: I was involved in
another exhibition at Nolia's, called Waves and flux, which was a
whole bunch of artists and that was just on for a day. I also got
involved with something called “Artists Wanted,” which took me to
New York.
AD: I saw that on your
Tmblr. How did you get involved with that?
BHS: That was
interesting. I set about entering as many online competitions as I
could. That is the most recent thing that I have done. It was a
bizarre competition because I think the organisers didn't expect
the kind of response that they got and that was very clear. The
response from all around the world was huge and it became a mini
phenomenon for about a week I guess, especially in the US. Basically,
you upload your work and you set about trying to get people to “like”
or “collect” your work. Then what happened was the top 1000
people got short-listed. I had enough collections to get my work
screened in Time Square. It was great, so I just thought, whatever
happens, there are going to be thousands of people there and it was a
fantastic opportunity. So off I went to New York in the summer of
2012. As I suspected, there were lots of people. However, it was a
bit watered down for my liking and I know a lot of other artists felt
that.
AD: What do you mean
watered down?
BHS: They screened
people’s work on these big bill-boards in Times Square for four
seconds each. They had not really told people about that. It was a
very short window of time to even get some decent photographs. So
there were hundreds of people standing in front of these screens
waiting for theirs to pop up and then just quickly snapping photos
and then you would hear all these little cheers from around the
crowd. It was a totally bizarre event and obviously the organisers
logo was just everywhere. So it was very obvious. It was to promote
Artists Wanted and that was the ultimate goal. Fair play to them.
They tried to do something different and ultimately from an
entrepreneurial point of view, it was a big marketing success. It did
bring a lot of people together, so there were two sides to the whole
experience. Once my ego had recovered, I can’t lie, I had a really
good time. There was a great after party. Quest Love from The Roots
was Dj-ing and I met loads of really cool people. I made contacts in
some really random places and I think it’s just a New York
attitude, that New York vibe that really hit home. I made some
gallery links in Queens and Miami and with invites to come back out
to New York from other contacts, so it was very worth while.
AD: There is this
whimsical, often romanticised idea of the “starving artist” which
is often perpetuated by the media. Has that ever been your
experience? If so, how have you dealt with it?
BHS: I have a strange
relationship with money in the sense, that from an artistic point of
view, it is very frustrating if you can't make the work you want to
make because of money. Materials can be expensive. That is why I have
always had a few different streams so to speak. The notion of the
starving artist, I don’t think it helps to be honest. It just
really annoys me when companies come to you to commission work and
ask you to do it for free. That is usually not from people within the
art world. Sometimes it is to be honest, but it is usually from the
corporate world.
That doesn't just
apply to visual art of course, it is especially so for dancers trying
to make their careers. I think that romanticised idea, like you said,
had been created and it flows around everywhere, so that when it
comes down to doing work for people and the money side comes into it,
there is this strange view that we don't need to live or that we
don't need to pay bills. At the same time artists without any
business acumen can let themselves down. If I ever became influential
enough, I would recommend some kind of employment law to be passed
whereby it was compulsory to pay artists. I have turned down some
fantastic “opportunities” in the past just because I know my
worth and I am proud of that. A couple of them may have lead on to
some good stuff, but purely from the point of view of living and just
having to pay for things, I have had to say no. It is important to
know your worth.
AD: You live and you
learn. What would you say has been the biggest challenge you have had
to face as an artist and how did you overcome it?
BHS: It is challenging
all the time because as well as making work, you have to be your own
marketing advisor and sometimes legal advisor. You have just got to
be clued up in so many different areas and that is what I am starting
to realise. But that is interesting. That is a challenge to me and I
relish that. And I am like you, I want to run this as a business,
rather than someone who is struggling, because the fact is, there are
easier ways of making money. In tandem with doing my first solo show
in 2011, I am just getting as clued up about business as I can. I
have been on some business courses and met some really great
entrepreneurs. The business side really interests me and that is why
I said at the beginning that I want to take what I do and grow it
into something that could be an organisation. Something that can have
some real benefit and make money in different ways. So, I have not
been tested enough yet as an artist. Maybe as other things, but as an
artist, I can't say I have had the biggest challenges yet.
AD: What would you say
is your biggest achievement as an artist and how did you go about
achieving it?
BHS: I think on a
really simple level, just getting quite a lot done in a very short
space of time. It has only been a year or so since I made the
decision that this was what I was going to do every single day and
this is what my life is about. In that time, I have built my own
website, I have taken in a lot of information, I have promoted
myself, travelled and made lots of contacts. This year (2012), is a
poignant year for me, on many levels, but definitely from an art
point of view. So that is my biggest achievement. In terms of
specific art work, I am very happy with what I have created so far
and the ideas have yet still to be developed. There is a lot more to
be done. I firmly believe, If you set about trying to achieve
something, take the right steps and learn from your mistakes, then
you will get there. It is as simple as that.
AD: What would you say
is your personal definition of success in the art world?
BHS: I know where I
would like to be. With the art world, I think it is about trying to
get your work seen by as many people as possible. Artists for me are
like goldfish. If you put the goldfish in a small bowl then they stay
small. If you put them in a big bowl, then they grow. There are
probably many analogies like that. You are a product of your
environment and also how much space you have to work in. I think
success is about being in a really good place with your work, having
strong ideas, having the chance to show the work to a massive
audience and achieving some recognition along with that and being
known for the work that you might make. The monetary side of it is
important. Of course it is. If you can sell your work for the amount
of money that would make you happy and afford you the kind of
lifestyle you want, then that is brilliant. That is what a lot of
artists want. There are some who would rather stay true to the craft
as much as possible and money never ever comes into it, but I am just
realistic. I would like to make a very good living from selling work
because there are other things I would like to do with that.
AD: By your definition,
would you say you were on your way?
BHS: Yes, I would. I
know that the next two years is going to be crucial. Once I get stuck
into something, I just run with it. I am 100 per cent determined. I
think that you will see my best work to date happen over the next few
years.
AD: Have you got a
strategy to get to this success place?
BHS: The first thing is
to complete the series of work that I am currently working on. Get
them to a point where I can market them a lot better. Then literally
press, network and blog like crazy. Then springboard from that and
get as many shows as I possibly can. But also the right shows. I will
develop the online side of what I do. I have a store, which is just
selling prints at the moment. But I do have about 20 T-shirt and
accessory designs that are just designs at the moment, nothing has
been made. But I quite like little things. If I can put my stamp on
something that is ornamental and go in someone’s home, then I would
like to do that as well. There is a plan!
AD: Very cool. So what
advice would you give to any artists wishing to follow in your
footsteps?
BHS: Go into something
a little bit more normal? No, I am joking, of course not... I would
say try and be as disciplined as you can. I am saying that because I
am not the most disciplined person. I think you really have to. You
have got to get in the studio as much as you can and be comfortable
in the place that you are working in as well. Try and work out the
best way that you create. Whether it is in a studio your bedroom or
wherever. Get to know your process and just be happy with what you
are making. I don't think you should pay attention to what people say
so much. Opinions will always be present. Not everyone is going to
like what you do and that is a fact. Also, if you are really sure of
an idea, you should go with it because some people somewhere are
going to identify with what you do. Just go for it. That is the thing
I feel most strongly about, now being on the other side of that
process.
AD: Do you have
anything coming up where people can see your work?
BHS: At the moment I am
just trying to make more work. There is nothing in the pipeline as
far as new shows, but I am always posting stuff online and I am
working on the U & I series. As those get completed, they will be
blogged and posted everywhere, so look out for those.
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Ben H. Summers during a session for the U&I project in 2012
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