Ben Stone: Sports! 

A survey of Ben Stone’s athletics-themed work, SPORTS! opens at our second location, (northern) Western Exhibitions, in Skokie, Illinois with a free public reception on Saturday, September 23, from 5 to 8pm. 

Gallery hours at nWX are Wednesday to Saturday, 12-6pm and Sundays 12-4pm. The show will be accompanied by an essay by Abraham Ritchie.

Ben Stone’s work has been written about in Artforum, Art in America, Artnet, ArtSlant, Beautiful Decay, New City and The New Art Examiner. In 2011 in Art in America, critic Susan Sondgrass wrote that “Stone assumes the role of interlocutor, a champion of an art earnest in all its intentions regardless of its humble origins” and in New City in 2010, writer Pedro Vélez called Stone’s life-size realist sculpture depicting two drunken baseballs fans attacking a rival team’s first base coach “a fitting homage to our nation’s desperate attempt to cope with the unknown variants brought on by the economic debacle”. His work has been discussed on the Bad at Sports podcast and featured on newscast on several Chicago stations. He’s been included in shows at the Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago; The Green Gallery, Milwaukee; Regina Rex, NYC; Locust Projects, Miami; Ten in One, NYC; among several others. Stone received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and his MFA from the University of Illinois-Chicago. He is represented by Western Exhibitions and lives in Berwyn and maintains a studio in Chicago.

Pictured: Danny and Donny Bicycle 2016, Rayon fiber and enamel paint on wood, steel, hardware, 25 x 48 x 11 ½ in.