For Art’s Sake: Ben Brown on the Present and Future of the Art World

By Marta Colombo for Prestige Magazine

Renowned international gallerist Ben Brown Fine Arts opened his first location in the early 2000s in London's Mayfair, where the gallery quickly established itself as a point of reference both locally and internationally, especially after setting up its Asian outpost in Hong Kong. Famed for displaying contemporary and 20th-century art by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Lucio Fontana and Alighiero Boetti, Ben Brown recently took on a new challenge when he opened a space in Palm Beach, Florida, though this busy man nonetheless found time to share with Prestige readers his thoughts on the current state of the art world.

 

Tell us about your upcoming exhibition featuring Frank Auerbach and Tony Bevan.

 

Frank Auerbach/Tony Bevan: What is a Head? runs at Ben Brown Fine Arts Hong Kong from May 15 until July 3. Curated by art historian Michael Peppiatt, it features two of Britain’s leading figurative painters, Frank Auerbach and Tony Bevan. Through 22 works, it explores the philosophical question, “What is a head?” which is one of humanity’s most defining features. In the exhibition, which is a conversation between Auerbach and Bevan, the two artists try to achieve something new and revealing through the same theme. Individually, they possess a powerful and unique style. Together, they represent the rewarding opportunity to look at paintings as a whole, without preconception or previous knowledge – a radical exploration of a theme that involves us all: “What is a Head?”

May 12, 2021