Ben Tolman renders delicately cross-hatched ink scenes populated by dozens of tiny figures within towering structures and crowded assemblies. The images blend the playfulness of Where's Waldo? with the optical illusions of M.C. Escher to suggest a "human zoo." Tolman's work channels disconnection and imagined dystopias, with faceless humans moving in sheeplike herds and following paths contrary to their interests: technology, invisible barriers, belief systems, trends, and politics. Pieces like Apartment and Routine show anonymous figures in soulless boxes, often absorbed by phones. Connected depicts people so engrossed in screens that they walk off a precipice. Control runs September 5 to October 4 in Paris.
Rendered in delicately cross-hatched ink, dozens of figures inhabit towering structures or assemble in crowds in the elaborate scenes of Pittsburgh-based artist Ben Tolman. Evoking the playfulness of Where's Waldo? and the optical illusions of M.C. Escher, the artist conjures what Galerie LJ calls "a kind of human zoo." Opening next month, the gallery presents Tolman's solo exhibition, Control, the title of which takes its cue from current events.
In works like "Apartment" and "Routine," anonymous figures mill about in individual, soulless boxes. Some appear to be working, relaxing, or socializing. Others just seem to stand there, staring into their phones. And in the darkly comical "Connected," people queue to walk up a towering ramp structure, absorbed so much in their screens as they head up the incline that it's too late before they realize they've stepped right off the precipice.
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