Ben Turnbull

British contemporary pop artist whose work is informed by Americana, fashioning art from comic books into collages and satirical works based on children's toys

Born in 1974, Turnbull is self-taught. His childhood was spent with his Irish mother who worked in public houses as a barmaid(whilst working towards her degree). While his mother tended the bar downstairs, Ben found escape through comic books which has informed his art. His first visit to the US was in 2008. His rationale behind his US obsession: ‘We were poor. I never thought I’d get to go there. I guess thought I’d make my own America.’

Turnbull’s training bypassed the traditional art school route, he chose instead to learn his skills from working alongside practicing artisans and craftsmen in a workshop environment. Starting in the studios of Conran and Tom Dixon resulted in working with clients such as David Collins and later, the studios of Shepperton and Elstree working on numerous film productions including Danny Boyle’s, 28 Days / Weeks films, the BBC’s Bleak House and Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice.

In 2006, Turnbull produced various firearms are encased in facsimiles of red fire alarm boxes bearing ‘In Emergency Break Glass’ for Every Home Should Have One. The work was picked up by Banksy who had founded Santa’s Ghetto, a gallery and amusement arcade that was open for 23 days in London’s West End. This in turn led to a series of shows for Turnbull during the early renegade ‘Outsider Art’ era of the Lazarides gallery.

For his 2009 piece, Kids Have Everything These Days, he created a vending machine stocked with handguns highlighting the availability of weapons to adolescents of high-school age. The piece sparked controversy on BBC Radio 4’s The Today Programme and involved a heated debate with ‘Mothers against Murder’, and later the story was picked-up by Volta NY Art Fair who showed Turnbull’s work in 2010.
Turnbull was asked to show a retrospective of his work at The Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Art in 2012.

A keen craftsman as well as artist, he makes each piece without assistance in his own workshop. His fans and collectors include Jared Leto, Harry Styles, Jude Law, Claudia Schiffer, Johnny Lee Miller and many more. Ben Turnbull lives with his partner and dog in Battersea, London.

www.benturnbull.com