Top image: Parts Yard, 36"X48", Oil on Canvas, 2011
2nd Row: Riri's Spools, (detail) 60"X48", Oil on Canvas, 2015;
Time to Go (Image was done 3 weeks before we
put her down/Story About Life and Its directions and End),
30"X36", Oil on Canvas, 2011
Middle: The Brits, 36"X48", Oil on Canvas, 2014
4th Row: Comrades, 52" X 40", Oil on Canvas, 2010;
Ben Ferry in his Studio, with his son
Last: He'll Kill You Too, 40"X 53", Oil on Canvas, 2011
I’m a born and raised Washingtonian, raised by parents from a small Midwestern town, so I have always found myself attracted and bound by very different places and things.
As cliché as it sounds, I describe myself as an American painter. It was the turn of the century American illustrators that really started my love of art making, and I think I’ve never let go of that storytelling side of the visual experience.
You look at Bellows for instance, outside of being a consummate technician; he was in love with telling the story of the things that captivated him during his day to day life.
I think picture making for me has always been a way of expressing my emotional response to the things I see on a daily basis. I’ve been working lately within the theme of repetition, but I know it won’t be long before I return to people, places and things. Someone said to me once, you need to stop trying to do everything and decide who you want to be known as, and put all of your focus solely in to making those kind of pictures... I knew that was never going to be me.
Ben Ferry has taught Drawing for the last 10 years at Georgetown University, and has been the Upper School Painting and Drawing teacher at the Holton-Arms School for the last three years. He live in the Brightwood section of the District with his wife Lauren, son Paul, and their Rhodesian Nella. Ben received his BA and MFA from George Washington University.