Ben Puggarana
The art of Ben Puggarana focuses primarily on his personal experiences growing up in a small farming village near the border of Thailand and Laos, in the post-Vietnam War era. The after effects of war were brought more poignantly into focus during six years working in a refugee camp in Thailand. The subject of human experience and expression has always been a topic of artistic debate, and a source of visual interpretation. History is thick with tales and metaphors that serve as common threads interlacing the web of human connection. These stories, passed on from generation to generation, in many ways serve as motivators for the preservation of civilization. Ben's intent is to record and evoke the memory of human tragedy and drama, unfurled in times of both war and peace.
As a self-taught artist he has chosen to re-interpret subject matter reflecting current world events and the mood of the time. His re-interpretation pays homage to a wide range of influences including Picasso, Matisse, Chagall, Bacon and - of late - Existential philosophy. Universal questions of "emotions, actions, responsibilities, and thoughts of the individual person and his or her conditions of existence" are common themes.
