For sometime now Benjamin Werner has been executing inner city 
and suburban scenes around Brisbane. He does this not as a 
social historian does but rather as a means of searching 
for clues about the extent to which aspects of the sublime 
can be traced in everyday experiences.

His new solo show opening in August in Maroochydore explores 
the southeast Queensland coastline and its features, balancing 
tradition with the contemporary.





"A Morning Conversation"
Oil on canvas, 2006, 
1215 x 610mm
P.O.A


The beautiful and colorful works all in oil on canvas with their glossy smooth 
surfaces and gestured brushstrokes almost float between realism and 
impressionism with the dark silhouettes of figures and familiar architecture 
located between the Tweed Coast to Noosa and composed against 
the menacing storm fronts and sunrises.

The subject of the sublime which pervades his work, has been an 
important one in painting for several centuries. Originating in Germany, 
it grew from an attempt to represent the unrepresentable. That is, to 
suggest how God could be present or was manifested in nature.

Having spent the last five years with one ideal in mind, Werner’s explorations    
into the sublime and beautiful show a considered expansion into the various ideas 
associated with this much discussed topic and its diverse contemporary outcomes.





"Epiphany #2"  
Oil on canvas, 2006, 
625 x 270mm
P.O.A



In his work for his honors year at Queensland College of Art, Werner often returned 
to themes of destruction and imminent doom. However these did not draw on biblical 
vernacular but rather drew from such profane events as the demolition of the 
Woolloongabba Hotel. In other works, approaching thunderstorms over suburban 
skylines or the brooding sea of Deception Bay were used to suggest forces and urges 
well beyond the everyday. In earlier work Werner often focused on the denizens of these 
urban and suburban environments paying close attention to their gestures, the details 
of their apparel and their relationship to each other and to the architectural spaces
 they inhabit. In Werner’s images of people in the urban environment there are often 
traces of illustration that come from his keen interest in attention to detail that is not 
as evident in his more panoramic and epic paintings.





"Suburban Sunrise #2" 
Oil on canvas, 2006, 
915 x 610mm
P.O.A

The continuous horizon and troubling storm scapes play on notions of time passing 
and nature’s overpowering forces, balancing the fragile coexistence of man and nature. 
Instead of cropping or eliminating certain features from the landscape Werner embraces 
the things most of us would leave behind or ignore in our holiday snaps. 
He uses the powerlines to compose small abstractions of colour throughout the 
storm scapes, sectioning off small focuses for the viewer to examine closer.

"Suburban Sunrise #1"  
Oil on canvas, 2006, 
910 x 455mm
P.O.A


The recurring silhouetted figures and outlines of buildings and their almost 
graphic art approach hold close associations with the recent stencil art 
techniques that have taken over the graffiti or street art movement. 
These elements are most likely an influence of his recent position as 
teacher in graphic design and Illustration at Southbank Tafe and are a 
continuation of themes explored in previous works.




"Carpark April" 
Oil on canvas, 2006, 
755 x 610mm
P.O.A

The above works will have two showings as part of an initiative of Passionfruit Gallery’s 
Director Katie Ransom to promote talented local artists and their outstanding works. 
Katie has teamed up with Sajen Legal on the sunshine coast where the initial 
opening will be held throughout July, and then the works will move to 
Passionfruit Gallery and Bica Restaurant for the second opening and dinner 
on August 18th.

Text gratefully provided by “theartswriter” and Ben Byrne.