Ben Tolman

Ben Tolman lives and works in Washington DC. He recieved his MFA in 2012 from American Universiy and his BFA from the Corcoran College of Art and Design in 2005. He has exhibited work nationally and internationally including being an exhibited finalist in the prestigious Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

As artist states in his SITE:

I was raised in a conservative Mormon family. The meaning of life came in a neat packaged box but fell apart with the slightest bit of scrutiny. Long ago as a child, I abandoned any existing cultural mythology as an explanation for life and have been exploring this mystery, and creating my own mythology through art, ever since. Without any prepackaged creation stories, I have the freedom to just reflect on the mystery, beauty and horror of it all without any prejudice. The more I learn, the stranger everything becomes. But this grandeur of possible thoughts and experiences has to still be tempered with the same mundane tasks and struggles of the daily slog through life that has always been with mankind.

 Visit also his deviant art for more of his work