Description
Ben Gest’s work gives a new meaning to the expression “more than meets the eye.” His work is as contemplative and quiet, as it is restless and emotionally charged. Gest modestly describes his work as “narratives of personal and simple everyday activities.” But he goes through extensive steps to create these narratives from multiple separate photographs. The end results are large scale photographs that are alluring from a distance and unexpectedly detailed upon closer examination.
Ben Gest was born in Caldwell, NJ. He earned a BA from Rutgers University and an MFA in photography from Columbia College, Chicago. Gest has exhibited nationally and institutions such as The Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography. Gest currently works as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia College, Chicago. During his time in Syracuse, he rarely stepped away from his computer. The images he created are the result of countless hours spent on compiling many different images to create these believable yet artificially created photographs. Gest considers the images created at Light Work “an outgrowth of his interest in photography’s potential to tell the story of human life while considering its ability to create objective truth.” Gest participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program in August 2005.
