Photographer: Dustin Aksland
Ben Weiner (born 1980 in Burlington, VT, USA) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Queens, NY. Weiner uses medications and cosmetics as the medium for large-scale paintings and drawings, addressing contemporary culture’s obsession with bodily enhancement through chemical products. In his ongoing series of “Diary” drawings, Weiner soaks ink-coated chromatography paper in solutions of drugs, creating colorful psychedelic washes. He often uses substances left from his own daily consumption— including Marijuana, Paxlovid, MDMA, Vicodine, Kombucha, Advil, LSD, AG1, Caffeine, Chelators, and Statins—so that the drawings constitute a chemical diary of his mental states. Weiner’s drawings and paintings reflect upon post-Covid anxieties surrounding health, and the shifting cultural and legal status of pharmaceuticals and psychedelics— issues that he understands well coming from a family of eccentric hippy medical professionals.
Weiner studied painting under muralist José Lazcarro Toquero at La Universidad de las Americas (Mexico), before completing his BA at Wesleyan University, CT and working as an assistant to the artist Jeff Koons. His work has been exhibited widely within the US and internationally, at institutions including The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; The Tarble Art Center, Charleston, IL; The Carnegie Art Museum, Oxnard, CA; ArtSpace, New Haven, CT; La Gruta, CDMX, Mexico; and the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL. He has been included in gallery exhibitions at 56 Henry, New York, NY; Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton, NY; Ochi Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Below Grand, New York, NY; Kristen Lorello Gallery, New York, NY; Hunted Projects, Edinburgh, UK; Grey Area, East Hampton, NY; and Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, CA among many others. His work is represented in various public collections, including The Museum of Fine Art Houston, Microsoft, Sammlung, Progressive Insurance, and The Frederick R. Weisman Collection. He has been featured in publications including Artforum, Artnews, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, W Magazine, Interview Magazine, Artsy, and Vogue.