Artist Ben Mazey was seven years into a career as design director at Kenzo in Paris when the pandemic hit. Stranded in Sydney with an empty apartment and an at-home clay kit, he decided to pretend he was on a self-directed artist residency. He never really stopped. In this episode, Carrie Scott talks with the ceramic artist about his unlikely path from fashion to sculpture, and the deceptively simple rules that shape his practice: a 20-by-50-centimeter rectangle of clay, manipulated just five ways. Ben explains why he's drawn to text pieces that twist familiar phrases into gut-punch questions like "How will you know when you're dead?", and why he thinks his own mortality—and the loss of his mother—has made him a more joyful person, not a darker one. They talk about the seduction of gold and delft blue, the freedom of being "creatively selfish," why niceness isn't a liability in art, and what he calls "empowered apathy." Also: a gold tooth makes an appearance. This is a conversation about starting over, making rules just to break them, and why the best art might come from not needing to solve the riddle.
The Have You Seen? Series is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.
Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.
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