Ben Sadler
Welcome to my website!
I am an artist based in Birmingham, UK
I am represented by Taste Contemporary
Please contact Taste Contemporary for available works and sales enquiries.
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Ways of Looking, Taste Contemporary, Geneva
22 January - 5 March 2026
Taste Contemporary is pleased to present Ways of Looking, a solo exhibition of small paintings by British painter Ben Sadler. Here, the artist is showing, for the first time, all twenty-four portraits from his 2024 series, You and I, alongside a selection of more recent works. Quietly compelling and poignant, these portraits of imagined people at exhibitions are rich in meaning.
As viewers, we are drawn into their world; who are they, where do they come from, what thoughts are going through their minds? Sometimes meeting our gaze, sometimes looking away, they appear pensive and reflective. Lost in their own thoughts, these figures possess a quiet and timeless quality.
Charming, and sometimes amusing, they suggest eclectic states of mind and varying degrees of intrigue. For Sadler, the starting point for these works was the idea of ‘the different layers of things happening at an exhibition opening, where there’s the work, there’s the space, there’s the person in the space, and then there’s that shared space of talking to each other.’
'You and I' available now!
My new publication, 'You and I', is available now from all good bookstores!
Published by Hurtwood
'Ben Sadler’s colourful paintings of imaginary people are full of personality, eclectic states of mind and varying degrees of intrigue. These are consistently charming, sometimes amusing and occasionally heart-breaking portraits of ordinary and extraordinary people. The publication features two bodies of work: You and I (2024) and Exclamations! (2023), both of which present small paintings corresponding to each letter of the alphabet (though the letters U and I are curiously missing from the series You and I). Sadler’s starting point was the idea of visitors to an imaginary exhibition – who are they, what kinds of people are they, and what thoughts might be going through their minds? Such musings are explored in celebrated Birmingham-based author Catherine O’Flynn’s text – a piece of creative writing commissioned especially for the publication, along with a foreword by Deborah Kermode, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham, and an interview by London-based creative coach, podcaster and public speaker Ceri Hand. Born in Birmingham (UK) in 1977, where he lives and works today, Ben Sadler studied at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford, and the Royal College of Art, London. He is one half of the artist duo Juneau Projects, alongside Philip Duckworth.'