Rooted in a lifelong instinct to create, Ben Pearce’s practice moves between persistence, intuition, and a deep-seated need for making as both escape and identity. From early encounters with art as a private world to a rigorous, full-time sculptural practice, Ben’s work balances ambition with vulnerability embracing complexity, scale, and the unpredictability of process.
Ben’s work is showing now in the Aotearoa Art Fair Sculpture Trail presented by Viaduct Harbour. We spoke with him about formative influences, the realities of sustaining a sculpture practice, and the evolving dialogue between digital tools, physical form, and an expanding body of work that spans maquettes, drawings, and large-scale commissions.
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What got you into art making, and what’s kept you doing it?
I’ve made art since my earliest memory and I vividly remember being 3 or 4 an having this vision I would be an artist as an adult. I never fitted in anywhere in life other than the artroom at school or at home painting in my room. I used to sit in the library studying Picasso from age 7. I sold my first paintings at 13 years old and used to bike around Palmerston North delivering my paintings to people who had commissioned them. Being in a family of 8 kids it was possibly a form of escape, something that was my own private world.
Paul Dibble was virtually omnipresent in Palmerston North, and a gentle giant. I grew up with this sense of an artist being a quietly confident powerhouse. It means a great deal to show alongside the work from his studio. Both his work, and the Dibble Studio works are story telling pieces that exist in their own Dibble universe. A world where birds rule with the same presence of a Hammond painting and plants and buildings are supplementary to their gaze.
You’ve built your practice from Hawke’s Bay, somewhat outside the main art centres – has that been a challenge, or has it shaped the work in a way that’s become a strength?
Hawke’s Bay is like a base for me, I’m constantly travelling around the country mounting shows or to go on tramps which inspires me. It’s been a great place to bring up kids and I’ve been fostered by the MTG in Napier and the Hastings City Art Gallery over the years. It is isolated from the energy centers of the art world though so any artist living here needs to work even harder to be relevant and part of the wider conversation.
The work of other sculptors like Henry Moore, Louise Bourgeois, Carol Bove, Constantin Brâncuși and Picasso is possibly the sole thing keeping me going. And ofcourse the generosity of the flow of patrons and people commissioning my work. Since going full time in 2022 I’ve completed over 18 commissioned works and many others for shows in New Zealand and am working on my first for a gallery in Canada.
Sculpture is an extremely special thing. The commitment to keep a sculpture practice going artistically and financially is like being on a wild clanking rollercoaster which there is no way off. Once the ride starts you brace yourself and that’s you till your dying day. It’s also beautiful of course when you get to see the sights from up high, which might be the glimmer of something you’ve uncovered in a new way of working.
Not many people know I’m also a painter, since art school I’ve painted too but never shown the works. One of these days I’ll get the courage up to put the on the walls of a show.
With sculpture yes, and that often happens inside the computer (which still doesn’t feel right) as my works go from my sketchbook into the 3D environment. It’s very hard to look at a digital screen and ‘feel’ the moment a work is complete. But I’m starting to use the digital medium with more intuition the more I use it. The computer modelling allows me to make very complex forms and artistic actions/movements/brushstokes with sculpture that wouldn’t be possible by hand.
My next push is developing the symbiotic conceptual relationship from my small maquettes, to my paintings and drawings, then to my large works. One of those larger works is a commission for a very large floating sculptural work beside a home clad in Corten. On top of the I’ve got an exciting 2.4m bronze commission and a smaller Corten commission inspired by the work of
James and Pauline Yearbury. I’m also working on three very experimental water feature commissions. It’s a busy few years with also being in Sculpture of the Gulf in 2027 and a USA residency that year.
The Aotearoa Art Fair Sculpture Trail presented by Viaduct Harbour is free to view from 10 April until 4 May. Aotearoa Art Fair returns to the Viaduct Events Centre from 30 April – 3 May. Tickets are on sale now.
