ABOUT
Ben Ponté is a New York based visual artist, experience creator and host of Drawn from Within.
BEN PONTÉ IS A NEW YORK BASED ARTIST, EXPERIENCE CREATOR, WRITER AND HOST OF DRAWN FROM WITHIN.
Ben Ponté’s visual work combines a painterly sensibility and rhythmical mark-making, with curious poetic associations, diluted hints of crazy wisdom and bad jokes. Alongside his ongoing self-portraiture practice, Ben’s previous work has drawn upon his experience as a yoga practitioner and teacher, to explore the rapid assimilation of digital devices and the effect on the mind/body relationship. The self portrait is utilized as an act of confrontation. The confrontation is that of self and world, inside/outside, censorship/autonomy, public/private, city and soul.
Ben’s art practice has developed in congruence with study of mind/body dynamics through philosophy and yoga. Following a deep engagement with the work of J.Krishnamurti, Ben developed a sustained interest in the archetypal psychology of James Hillman. Of particular significance is the archetypal insight that images have their own intelligence and autonomy independent of intent or logic. Hillman’s maxim “let the image speak” has become an abiding mantra for Ben’s studio practice and teaching style.
In 2017 Ben started hosting sketching experiences on the streets of Manhattan. “Sketch Your Way Around New York” drew visitors from around world. People from all walks of life, visitors and locals, gathered daily for 2 years in an attempt to look beyond the overly saturated mental images of a city clouded by its own iconography and rich association. “Sketch Your Way Around New York” then became “Sketch and the City” (read more in Downtown Magazine) until the pandemic hit Manhattan in 2020.
In a moment of isolation and from the necessity of connection, drawnfromwithin.online was born.
DRAWN TOGETHER IN A DIVIDED MOMENT
Drawn From Within is an online sketching experience that unites teams, families, friends, through the restorative power of the creative process.
Drawn from Within invites guest of all ages and backgrounds to explore, from within their own homes, the experiential implications of creativity in the time of social isolation and internal and external division.
Featured in Travel & Leisure Magazine & Mercury News, find out why Drawn from Within is receiving such heartfelt reviews during this difficult moment.
“My art practice is a way giving autonomy over to the image. It seems to me that the autonomy of the image has the power to dissolve the literalism that dominates the contemporary mind. This literalism keeps reality bounded for the sake of those who seek to control it- those factual foot soldiers of certainty, safety and closure, who work tirelessly and systematically to eradicate the unexplainable, neutralize the mystery, and nullify the expansive curiosity and creativity summoned at the edge of what is unproven, incomprehensible and free.”