Ochi Gallery is pleased to present Nine Bottle Caps and a Chimney, a new solo project by Ben Sanders on view from July 24, 2021 through January 29, 2022. This exhibition features nine new bottle cap sculptures and a chimney-shaped bar that will be periodically activated throughout the summer, fall, and winter, beginning with a bartending performance by the artist on Saturday, July 24 and ending with the Ochi New Years’ event, a long-standing gallery tradition. The New Year's event will be by invite only and interest parties can get on the list by emailing the gallery.

To satisfy his childhood affinity for collecting bottle caps, Sanders scavenged caps from his father’s metal shop—the shop techs drank Miller Genuine Draft and tossed liberated bottle caps into a trombone bell that funneled them into a bin. Of the several gallon bags of caps that Sanders amassed, he still keeps a few favorites in a cigar box in his studio. The decontextualization of found imagery has become one of Sanders’ standard strategies and these humble surfaces provided a crinkle-edged portal between fine art and commercial design. Circling back—as the artist is wont to do—Sanders collaborated with his Dad to fabricate metal cap-shaped painting surfaces that are more than thirty times larger than a regular bottle cap. Each cap surface carries a found image that Sanders has lovingly transcribed with a brush and some enamel paint—a metaphorical toast to whomever designed each image, wherever and whenever they were.

Built using the methods of TV set production and inspired by mimetic architecture, Sanders has designed a bar in the shape of an oversized chimney that intentionally recalls a jolly cartoon Santa Claus emerging from within to deliver regularly scheduled joy. The artist’s vision of Christmas in July is excellent hospitality in the form of ambiance, art, and a delicious Clean White Drink. One of the many finely tailored cocktails in Sanders’ bar repertoire, this signature White Russian combines vanilla bean infused vodka, vanilla simple syrup, fresh orange juice, Chaokoh coconut milk, and coffee dust—no need for fake snow with this gift on tap, however “unpleasant guests will receive a lump of coal.”

The chimney is not Sanders first foray into bar as art. Aside from commissioned cocktails and paintings of anthropomorphized vessels, drinks, and bar accoutrement, Sanders was a founding member of the Los Angeles-based Happy Hour Agency, a group that develops sensory experiences that often includes food, drinks, design, and performance. Collectively analyzing each fundamental element during the planning of HHA events, working upwards of 8 to 12 months in studio and test kitchen before hosting a single guest—pushed Sanders even further down his chosen path.

The art of Ben Sanders is just being an artist. Every interest or activity shapes his artistic practice and contributes to an umbrella of aesthetic value. Painting, gardening, parenting, bartending—arguably, any action executed with intention may be performance and/or is art. Nine Bottle Caps and a Chimney by Ben Sanders is the result of lifelong interests, ongoing experimental practices, an autodidactic drive, and the intellectual charisma that holds it all in place.

Ben Sanders is a multi-disciplinary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles. Sanders received his BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally, as well as commissioned by clients, big and small, throughout the world, including Nike, Dropbox, Louis Vuitton, and The New York Times. Most recently, Sanders’ work has been exhibited at Ochi Projects and Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles, CA; Asya Geisberg in New York, NY; Left Field in San Luis Obispo, CA; Carl and Sloan in Portland, OR; and LVL3 in Chicago, IL.