Ben WoodTen Years Later, Saint Ignatius Church, September 11, 2011
Manresa Gallery presents new work by San Francisco based, British artist Ben Wood, whose commissioned video work commemorates the lives lost in 2001. Wood's video was projected on the facade of St. Ignatius Church beginning at sundown, continuing into the evening after the service.
Ben WoodTen Years Later, Saint Ignatius Church, September 11, 2011
Manresa Gallery presents new work by San Francisco based, British artist Ben Wood, whose commissioned video work commemorates the lives lost in 2001. Wood's video was projected on the facade of St. Ignatius Church beginning at sundown, continuing into the evening after the service.
Ben WoodMission Dolores Mural 2011
Mission San Francisco de Asis is the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco. Hidden behind the great altar in the old mission church is a mural painted by Indian Neophytes in 1791. Ben Wood and Eric Blind rediscovered and digitally documented the mural in 2004. In 2011 their digital documentation was transformed into a physical public mural in the heart of the Mission District. Ben WoodCoit Tower Projections 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009
The Coit Tower video projections have occured on July 4th in 2004 honoring the original inhabitants of the Bay Area, the Ohlone, and reoccurred in 2006 on the anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthqauke of 1906, and again in 2008 and thanksgiving of 2009 as tribute to the Ohlone Bay Area Natives. Ben WoodRevealing a hidden 18th century mural 2004
A projection onto the dome of the Mission Dolores Basilica exposed for the first time in over two hundred years imagery of two sacred hearts that had been hidden behind the Mission Dolores altar piece of 1796. Working with Presdio Trust Archaeologist, Eric Blind, we devised a systematic process to photograph the mural from behind the altar allowing it to be projected and displayed to the public for the first time. Ben WoodThe Walls Have Ears 2007-08
In 1933 Mexican artist Diego Rivera was commissioned by Nelson Rockefeller to create a mural in the grand lobby of building 30 Rockefeller Center. Rivera painted Vladimir Lenin on the wall and Nelson Rockefeller covered and destroyed the mural. Rivera returned to Mexico City to paint the murals twin. In "Las Paredes Oyen", the mural comes to life as an animated mural telling its story through interviews with family members of Diego Rivera and his assistant Lucienne Bloch. Ben WoodAshdown House 2006
In early 2006 it was announced that Ashdown House, MIT's oldest graduate dormitory and the second oldest in the United States, would be transformed into an undergraduate residence by 2008. This hour long documentary includes interviews with former residents detailing how the house had a profound impacct in their life. Ben WoodWisdoms of the East&West 2010
Wisdoms of the East and West is an animated video created in Honolulu, Hawaii with Curator Michael Schuster to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the East-West Center in Honolulu Hawaii. The video is based on the flagship Charlot and Affandi murals in Imin Center-Jefferson Hall at the East West Center. Ben WoodRestoration 2002
A stereoscopic installation restoring Diego Rivera's famous Art Institute mural. The projection features notable faculty at the San Francisco Art Institute aswell as students.

About Ben Wood

Ben Wood

Ben Wood is an award winning artist who is deeply committed to improving community relations through art that is both engaging and accessible to the public.

His talent for combining new media technology with historical subject matter not only provides faces and voices to those individuals whose histories have been forgotten but offers an avenue for public dialogue and the chance for people to reflect on their past in order to teach and propose something better for the future.

Mr. Wood is one of the best of a new generation of artists with a distinctive and original approach to connecting art to the people and encourages people to reassess a past to impel awaking and consciousness for the present. His career-long interest remains the hidden histories that lie dormant behind buildings in our community. His innovation rests in his ability to highlight those hidden histories with the tools of contemporary technology. His extraordinary artistry and dedication to understanding history through new mediums will help us re-see the relevance of these important questions.

Community Engaged Art & Teaching

Ben Wood

Ben Wood is a British-born visual artist based in San Francisco. He is a recipient of the California Governors Award for Historic Preservation for his work to preserve the Mission Dolores mural in 2004. His work has been shown internationally, at the Museo Nacional de Arte in Mexico City, the London Jewish Museum, and the East West Center in Hololulu. Since 2004 he has carried out over 5 large scale video projections onto Coit Tower in San Francisco.

He has a BFA in Digital Media from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Masters Degree in Visual Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Ben Wood is a recipient of the 0-1 Visa for Artists of Extraordinary Ability. He has taught motion graphics at California State University Monterey Bay, and is associate faculty in digital media at West Valley College, and Menlo College.

Testimonials

"We need more exceptionally talented and civic-minded artists like Ben Wood in this city...San Francisco benefits from the innovative spirit of his public video projects"-San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department

"Ben Wood is one of the best of a new generation of artists...The remarkable combination of talents Ben Wood possesses makes him not only a valuable member of the artistic work force but reveals a brilliant artist with a distinctive and original approach to connecting art to the people."
-Lucienne Allen, Old Stage Studios, Gualala, California

"We see Ben Wood as the bridge bringing the modern media of digital art into the classic arts" -Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City

"His use of digital technology in the creative process is indicative of his ambition to push boundaries in his art and to experiment continuously with new themes, techniques and visual languages..I consider his artistry to be extraordinary and compelling." -Richard Aronowitz-Mercer, Sotheby's

"His extraordinary artistry and dedication to understanding history through new mediums will help us re-see the relevance of important questions.." -Juan Coronel Rivera, Grandson of Diego Rivera, Mexico City

About Ben Wood

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Services Overview

Explore some of the multifaced work of Ben Wood Studio from public projections, animation for media companies, commercial projects as well as teaching visual art at colleges.

Contact Studio

Contact me wherever my laptop is!

Address: San Francisco, California
Telephone: +1-415-515-8390
E-mail: benwood@alum.mit.edu

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