Ben Heine

The Museum Of UnCut Funk will never get enough of  our newly re-eleced Black President of the United States. As we continue to document his presidency in our Funky President blog and our Barack Obama comic book collection, we will also continue to look for artists who create the hippest and koolest portrayals of President Barack Obama. Ben Heine is definitely one of these artists.

BEN HEINE (born June 12, 1983 in Abidjan, Ivory coast) is a Belgian multidisciplinary visual artist. He is best known for his original series “Pencil Vs Camera”, “Digital Circlism” and “Flesh and Acrylic”.

EARLY LIFE

Ben grew up in Ivory Coast. He lived there 7 years, along with his parents and his 3 sisters. His father was a commercial engineer and his mother a Modern Jazz dance teacher. Everything changed when the family came back to Brussels in 1990. Ben was a demanding child and he didn’t like school at all. He became wiser, more disciplined and a studious person later on, after a stay in a boarding school (at the “Collège Saint Vincent” (Belgium), from 12 y/o to 18 y/o). In 1994, he discovered for the first time that his energy, his fears, his emotions and his ideals could be canalized in “visual projects”, it was the very beginning of a never ending adventure in drawing and painting. As a teenager, Ben had many other hobbies and activities: beside writing poetry on a daily basis, he played drums, piano and guitar, he also used to play basketball and to run everyday. His interest for graphic arts was eventually the strongest one.

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

Ben has a degree in Journalism (started at “Université Libre de Bruxelles” (Belgium) and completed at “IHECS” (Belgium) & “Utrecht University of Applied Sciences” in The Netherlands). He also briefly studied History of Art, Painting and Sculpture at “Hastings College of Arts & Technology” (England) but he is a self-taught person in Drawing and Photography. Through his studies, he learned several languages: French (1), English (2), Dutch (3), Polish (4), Spanish (5) and Russian (6). Ben loves languages because he loves communicating and interacting with people. He loves people.

PROFESSIONAL EVOLUTION

Following his studies, Ben has tried all kinds of different jobs but visual creation has always been his main concern. Since 2006 until now, his pictorial works have been published in famous Belgian and international newspapers and magazines (see “Press” for more info) and they have been seen by millions of people online. Ben Heine’s artworks have been exhibited in Belgium, Great Britain, France, Canada, USA, Germany, Turkey, Romania, Brazil, South Korea and Spain. Ben is currently represented by several well-established art galleries in Belgium and abroad, such as the Gallery Garden (Brussels), the Appart Gallery (Brussels), Start/Stuff&Art (Cape Verde), the Art Movement (London), the Next Gallery (Jacksonville), the Radeski Gallery (Liège) and others (see “Partners” for more info). He has also participated in numerous art events such as the London Art Fair, the Affordable Art Fair, the Berliner List, the Accessible Art Fair, Art Event, Music for Life…

For more information on Ben Heine’s background and work please visit his web site: www.benheine.com