BEN ASHTON

About

Ashton is concerned with the deconstruction of illusionist techniques originally employed by the Renaissance Artists. Occupied by depth and trickery, he expands the process of looking and
Recreating works, and subsequently methods used by Old Masters.
By rigorously breaking down and recreating the constructed patterns weaved together in an image like Holbein's 'The Ambassadors', which Ashton has used as a platform for this exhibition, he seeks to discover the techniques of producing a 'Masterpiece'.

Utilising 'The Ambassadors' anamorphic skull as a platform to investigate patterns of perception, 'The Deconstruction of Illusion' will recreate the painting by staging the image and recording it via a camera obscura.
During the first week Ashton will be constructing a life-size camera obscura, which will document the various stages of the exhibition. The remainder of the show will see him producing and performing poses and props on the stage-set culminating in the 3-D realisation of the original painting. The photographic images documented by the camera obscura will be arranged on the gallery walls as a 'storyboard' dismantling the 'image' into narrative form. Viewers will be able to see the process in real-time in conjunction with the photographic archive produced throughout the three weeks.

There will be the opportunity to explore sets of optical devices on site and on the closing view Ashton will transform the gallery and set into a backlit stage re-enacting the different components in a final performance.