The art of Ben Sanders is just being an artist. Every interest or activity shapes his artistic practice and contributes to an ever-expanding umbrella of aesthetic value. Gardening, cooking, collecting, painting, parenting, bartending—arguably, any action executed with intention may be performance and/or is art. Raised in a Southern California environment that celebrated art in service of a story, mood, or feeling, Sanders spent much of his childhood in his dad’s workshop where Hollywood sets were designed and fabricated. Sanders’ bodies of work include paintings of food, drinks, logos and other found design imagery, bonsai, gardens, and post-human landscapes—all of which may be painted on terra cotta planting pots, enlarged metal bottle caps, gallery stationary, and on more traditional supports like canvas and wood panel.

Known for his pop-up art bars and context-responsive cocktails for art world events, Sanders was a founding member of the Los Angeles-based Happy Hour Agency (HHA), a group that developed sensory experiences involving food, drinks, design, and performance. Collectively analyzing each fundamental element during the planning of HHA events, the group worked for months in studios and test kitchens to realize each element of an event. This intentionality and precision carries into Sanders’ solo projects—the result of lifelong interests, ongoing experimental practices, an autodidactic drive, and the intellectual charisma that holds it all in place.

Ben Sanders (b. 1989, Arcadia, CA) received his BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. His work has been exhibited internationally at venues including Gagosian in Beverly Hills, CA; Asya Geisberg in New York, NY; Left Field in San Luis Obispo, CA; Carl & Sloan in Portland, OR; LVL3 in Chicago, IL; and OCHI in Los Angeles, CA and Sun Valley, ID. Sanders’s work has been commissioned by esteemed organizations including Nike, Dropbox, Louis Vuitton, and The New York Times and has been featured in publications including ARTnews, Galerie Magazine, LA Weekly, Artillery Magazine, Artsy, Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles, The Oregonian, Wrap Magazine, and Paper Magazine. Sanders lives and works in Pasadena, CA and is represented by OCHI.