Simon Oldfield presents  Ben Ashton’s first solo show.

Ashton is concerned with the recurring themes of performance and voyeurism, by repeatedly putting himself at the heart of his work, he becomes both the subject and the object, the character and the painter, the artist and his model.

In this exhibition, Ashton refined and progressed these ideas, playing with notions of spatial awareness and historical context to encourage us to dig beneath the surface and discover the unexpected narratives that nestle beneath.  Each stage is a further layer of artifice, a conscious evolution that seeks to capture the intricacy of illusion and collusion: the artist is inside his paintings and yet he is outside them too, as both critic and creator.

Exhibiting paintings and large scale optical installations, Ashton seeks to subvert the concept of celebrity and fame by distorting both the sitter and the artist’s original intent. His work is a performance, an exercise in theatrics that transforms the familiar with an innovative, contemporary twist and shoots an arrow through our preconceptions. Ashton plays with the fakery at the heart of celebrity portraiture and encourages us to peep behind the curtain in order to see what is actually going on. In Gloriana (2009), the intricately-rendered Elizabethan ruff is actually constructed from polythene shopping bags. In Joe (2009), the historical pose is contrasted sharply by the modern-day zip-up tracksuit top.

Ashton finished his MA at Slade School of Fine Art in 2008.  His work is held in collections in the UK, Europe and the US.

A limited edition print (of 50) has been produced to celebrate Ashton’s first solo show and is available at the price of £245.