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Benjamin Hope NEAC

Biography

Benjamin took an unconventional route to a career in fine art. As the son of artist Jane Hope, he was introduced to painting at an early age, but he decided against Art School and instead pursued his interest in Mathematics and Physics, culminating in a PhD from Cambridge University. His long-term plan throughout, though, was to become a painter and his artistic training happened concurrently through experimentation, practice and reading. He has been a full time artist since 2011.

"I draw and paint directly from life, both in the studio and outside. Working in this way results in marks that are reactive, and for me, it is the best way to capture what it feels like to be with the subject. I also create much larger studio paintings based on small plein air studies. In these I try to recreate the energy and atmosphere of the smaller work using a more complex layering of paint."

Awards
2022: The Menena Joy Schwabe Memorial Award, Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition
2022: The Sea Pictures Gallery Award, Royal Society of Marine Artists Exhibition
2022: The Peter Kelly Commemorative Prize, Royal Society of British Artists Exhibition
2019: The Michael Harding Award, Royal Society of British Artists Exhibition
2018: Frinton Frames Award, Royal Society of British Artists Exhibition
2017: Winsor & Newton Non-member Award, Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition
2016: First Prize in the Jackson's Pastel Portrait Competition
2016: Mall Galleries Greetings Card Award: New English Art Club
2014: Pintar Rapido First Prize (The Pintar Prize)
2014: Jackson's Prize, United Society of Artists Open Exhibition
2014: Runner Up, Lynn Painter Stainers Prize

Society Memberships
The New English Art Club
The Pastel Society
The Royal Society of Marine Artists
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters
The Royal Institute of Oil Painters
The Pastel Society
Oxford Art Society
Blackheath Art Society

Solo Exhibitions
2019: Island Fine Arts, Chichester
2015: Observations, JP Art Gallery, London

Joint Exhibitions
2022: Island Fine Arts, Chichester (Bower, Hope)
2021: Island Fine Arts, Chichester (Cole, Hope)
2020: Island Fine Arts, Chichester (Hope, Robinson)
2019: Common Ground, Gallery Different, London (Hope, Roberts)
2018: Island Fine Arts, Chichester (Bemis, Hope)
2017: Works, Gallery Different, London (Hooper, Hope)
2017: Island Fine Arts, Isle of Wight (Cole, Hope, Pearce)

Group and Open Exhibitions
Federation of British Artists: Winners | Award Winning Artists, 2022
Lynn Painter Stainers Prize: 2014, 2017
New English Art Club, Annual Show: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 to present
Pastel Society: 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 to present
Royal Academy Summer Show: 2013
Royal Institute of Oil Painters: 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 to present
Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours: 2017
Royal Society of British Artists: 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
Royal Society of Marine Artists: 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 to present
Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers: 2013
Royal Society of Portrait Painters: 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 to present
Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Competition: 2015, 2019
United Society of Artists: 2014
British Plein Air Painters: 2018 (Capturing the Moment, Menier Gallery)
Colourfield Gallery: Winter Exhibition 2017
Highgate Contemporary Art: 2019 (Observations)
The Jerram Gallery: Christmas Exhibition 2019, Still Life 2022 (Hope, Richardson, Spackman, Warren)
JP Pop-up Art Galleries: 2014 (Blackheath and Belgravia)
Sugarlift Gallery: Still: A Survey of Contemporary Still Life Paintings, New York 2020
Oxford Art Society: 1998, 1999, 2001, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021
Blackheath Art Society: 2013, 2014
New English Art Club Member Exhibitions
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath: 2023
Panter & Hall: 2022
Thompson's Gallery: 2020
The Jerram Gallery: 2020
Chris Beetles Gallery: 2020, 2022
St Ives: 2019
Pastel Society Member Exhibitions
The Gallery Holt: The Colour and Shape, 2022

NOTABLE COMMISSIONS
2012 Logo Design for The Oxford Antiviral Drug Discovery Unit, Glycobiology Institute, University of Oxford
2001 Duke Humfrey Still Life commemorating the 400th anniversary of its opening, Bodleian Library, Oxford

BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Alexander, Talking Techniques: Andrew Roberts & Benjamin Hope, Artists & Illustrators, November 2019, p.30
L. Miles, Featured Artist: Ben Hope PS, The Pastel Society Newsletter, October 2019, p.2
A. Gibbons, An Artist's View of London, All Ways Traveller, 30 June 2017
J. Walsh, Notebook, From Clapham to Cornwall..., The Independent on Saturday, 21 November 2015, Radar p.10
C. Hales, Local Colour, Absolutely Battersea & Clapham, November 2015, p.16
H. Peacocke, The Critic's Choice, Oxford Mail review of OAS Members’ Exhibition, 09 April 2001, p.26

PUBLICATIONS
Give Oil Pastels a Go!, The Artist, October 2019, p.30
Numbers and Figures, The New English Art Club (online), February 2019
Palette-knife Portraits, The Artist, October 2016, p.37
Plein Air Pastels, The Artist, July 2016, p.23
The Science of Art, Johnian News #37, Michaelmas 2015, p.14
Taken at Face Value, Fulham Residents’ Journal, July 2012, p.13
Get Hyperreal, Belgravia Residents’ Journal, June 2012, p.13
Exhibition catalogues: Observations, 2015; Works, 2017; Capturing the Moment, 2018; Common Ground, 2019

Collections
Work held in private collections in the UK, Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Switzerland, and the USA

EDUCATION
Oct 02–Jun 07: University of Cambridge, Department of Engineering, PhD in Theoretical Nanoscience: The Electronic Structure and Spintronic Potential of Transition Metal Nanowires and Carbon Nanotubes: a Theoretical Investigation
Oct 01–Jun 02: University of Cambridge, Certificate of Advanced Study in Mathematics (Mathematics Part III): Merit
Oct 96–Jul 00: University of Warwick, Master of Physics 1st Class, Joint Honours in Mathematics and Physics; Departmental prize for best final-year project: Relativistic Fermions on a Two-Dimensional Graphite Sheet