Oil on Canvas - 100cm X 75cm
Geronimo was a Native American warrior of the Apache tribe. During the last major US military campaign to relocate all the remaining free Native people on to reservations. Geronimo led a small band of Apache rebels and made his final resistance against the US Army. Eventually after numerous battles and a relentless chase by 5,000 US soldiers. Geronimo was forced to surrender but is still remembered as the last free Native warrior.
Oil on Canvas - 63cm X 100cm
Chief Dan George was an actor, poet, author and chief of the Tseil-Waututh nation. Like many of the Native children of his generation he was sent to a Christian boarding school where he was banned from practicing his own culture. For the majority of his life he worked tough manual labour jobs but at the age of 60 he was recruited to act in the TV series ‘Cariboo country’. Where he received critical acclaim for his performances and went on to star in films such as ‘Little Big Man’ and ‘The Outlaw Josey Wales’ working with the likes of Clint Eastwood and Dustin Hoffman. Chief Dan George also made numerous influential speeches inspiring a generation of Natives to preserve the traditions of their culture. Ben Edge himself is proudly related to the George family who are still inspiring new generations to keep their heritage alive.
Oil on Canvas - 38cm X 32cm
Warren Harding was a rock climbing pioneer and hard hat construction worker. His peers who were generally of the beatnik generation were irritated by his ‘impure’ approach to climbing and for his wild antics and love of drinking and women. Whilst making his notorious climbs he would often abseil back down the cliff face to stock up on alcohol and on one occasion to meet his mother who had cooked him a thanksgiving dinner. He became a household name whilst attempting an unclimbed face of the Yosemite Valley when a crowd beneath had mistook him taking a rest for being stuck and sent for a rescue helicopter. Hardings response was to throw down a can with a note inside that read “A rescue is unwarranted, unwanted and will not be accepted”.
Oil on Canvas - 30cm X 30cm
This painting depicts Ben Edge's most recent musical project ‘The Electric Pencils’ The painting was made of the same dimensions of a vinyl album sleeve and the band was named after the Outsider artist ‘James Edward deeds’ aka ‘The Electric Pencil’.
Oil on Canvas - 38cm X 50cm
Whilst on his Honey Moon in Bruges. Ben Edge and his Wife Rose met a local poet called Jean-Pierre Sioen and struck up a friendship. Jean-Pierre lives in one of the historic ‘Almshouses’ also known as Gods Houses that were built originally in the 14th century for the peasants in a time when Bruges was the art capital of the world. His motto in life is to live with ‘humour, beauty and love’ and with his camera phone he documents the changing skies above Bruges. He is a published poet and writes in his favourite language of Spanish and is also known for his vast collection of Matchbox model cars.
Oil on Canvas - - 30cm X 25cm
In this painting Ben Edge paints himself with his wife Rose in their Camden flat surrounded by his reference books and collections. The painting is a documentation of the environment that the artist lives and work as well as his influences and interests. In the back of the painting you can see the mirror from Van Eyck’s ‘The Arnolfini Portrait’ where Edge pays homage to his love of the Flemish Primitives and in particular Van Eyck’s masterpiece. It is believed that ‘The Arnolfini Portrait’ was created as a painted version of a marriage contract. So in Edges self portrait the mirror was used also a symbol of Edge’s recent marriage.
Oil on Canvas - 30cm X 40cm
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American Folk singer and performer raised in Brooklyn, New York. As a child he developed an obsession for cowboy culture. His father who was a surgeon wanted him to follow in his footsteps but Ramblin' Jack rebelled and ran away from home to join a travelling Rodeo show. During his time there ashamed of his city roots he would lie about his upbringing and on one occasion when a Cowboy caught on he turned to him and said "It ain’t where you’re from that counts, it’s where you’re going”.
Oil on Canvas - 40cm X 55cm
Moondog was an American composer who was blinded in an accident at the age of 16. He stood on the 6th Avenue of New York dressed as a viking busking daily and selling his music and on many occasions just standing silently. He soon became known as the 'viking of 6th avenue' and despite the limitations of his blindness went on to become a world renowned classical composer.
Oil on Canvas - 30cm X 25cm
Abner Jay was an eccentric outsider musician who spent the majority of his life travelling across America in a converted mobile home that opened up into a stage where he performed his music, He would die his hair grey and claim to be 100 years old and said the secret of his youth was lying on his belly and drinking water straight out of the Suwannee river in his home town of Georgia, USA.
Oil on Canvas - 30cm X 25cm
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy was a Pioneer of Psychobilly music and inspired David Bowie when coming up with the name Ziggy Stardust. He wanted to create a wild rock n roll animal and he decided to take one half from Iggy Pop hence the Ziggy and got the Stardust from the Legendary Stardust Cowboy.
Oil on Canvas - 30cm X 25cm
Tesla was a Serbian inventor who’s most celebrated invention was the use of an alternating current to distribute electricity allowing it to become a household commodity for all. He also pioneered X-rays, radio, remote control, lasers and wireless communication creating the foundations for the internet. Despite his contribution’s Tesla was a terrible businessman and lost out on credit and financial gain for many of his inventions. As a result Tesla became increasingly paranoid and withdrew from society, living in poverty and declaring Pigeons as his only friends.
Oil on Canvas - 30cm X 40cm
Robert Peary was an American arctic explorer. At the age of four his father died and Peary’s mother who had always longed for a daughter began dressing him as a little girl. After completing school he became a civil engineer and a lieutenant in the navy where he first became obsessed with the idea of reaching the Pole. Peary who was married with two children rarely saw his family and missed the birth and premature death of his son as a result. His wife who was fed up of living alone later joined him in the Pole only to discover that he now started a new family with a 14 year old Eskimo girl. She eventually forgave Peary and even became a motherly figure to Eskimo wife. After numerous failed attempts to reach the North Pole in 1909 he finally fulfilled his ambitions.
Oil on Canvas - 30cm X 25cm
This is the second of two paintings that Ben Edge has made about the arctic explorer Robert Peary. In this paintings Edge depicts Peary shortly after he finally achieved his life time ambition of reaching the North Pole. It was reported that he became saddened and withdrawn after the expedition. There has since been many theories with many believing that he never actually made it to the Pole, whilst others believe that by reaching the Pole he had lost his purpose.
Oil on Canvas - 30cm X 25cm
Peter Freuchen was a Danish explorer, author, actor and anthropologist. He took part in numerous arctic expeditions and lived side by side with the Inuit people of Greenland and fathered two children with his Inuit wife. Tragically his young family died of a flu epidemic and when the church refused his wife a proper burial Freuchen was forced to bury her himself. This further reinforced his deep disgust and hatred of treatment of the Inuit people by the Christian missionaries. During the second World War with Denmark now under Nazi Occupation Freuchen became part of the Danish resistance movement. Freuchen himself was Jewish and was captured and sentenced to death but managed to escape to Sweden.
Oil on Canvas - 30cm X 40cm
Roald Admundsen was a Norwegian explorer who was the first man to conquer the South Pole and to complete the route of the Northwest passage. During his expeditions he wintered with the Netsilik Inuit people and unlike many explorers before him, who dismissed them as savages, took it on himself to learn their customs and survival skills. It was this knowledge that gave Admundsen the edge in the race for the South Pole. Amundsen also would later become the first man to reach the North Pole by flight but in 1928 tragically died whilst on a rescue mission. His body was never found but it is believed that the plane crashed in to Bear island, Norway.
Oil on Canvas - 25cm X 30cm
During Ernest Shackleton’s near fateful voyage to the Pole he and his crew became trapped in the pack ice. The voyages official photographer Frank Hurley captured many key events of the Endurance Expedition (One of his photos Edge used as the source material for this this painting) After the Endurance ship finally became to the pressure of the ice and sank Shackleton ordered Hurley to select 120 glass negatives out of the 400 he had taken. There could be no extra weight as they were stranded in the arctic and survival came first. Remarkably some of these abandoned negatives were discovered in a block of ice one hundred years later.
Oil on Canvas - 31cm X 25cm
Zavatta was a French clown and circus owner. He was a descendant of a long line of circus performers. Despite and extremely successful career in his later years he was forced to declare bankruptcy and now with no outlet to continue his passion for performance and comedy he committed suicide deciding life without the circus was not one that he wanted to live. The Zavatta circus has since been resurrected by his sons and is again a popular touring spectacle.
Oil on Canvas - 30cm X 25cm
Joseph Greenstein was a Polish strongman. As a child he suffered a fatal Illness that he overcame when a strongman from a travelling circus taught him the arts of strength and endurance. As an adult with the rise of anti-semetism he and his wife emigrated to America. Here he worked on the docks and took part in underground wrestling matches and soon became a local hero. At this time a jealous neighbour who became obsessed with his wife attempted to kill him with a shotgun. Miraculously the bullet lodged itself in Greenstein's skull and he survived the ordeal. As his notoriety grew he also received unwanted attention from the KKK and the American Nazi Party who attacked him. Resulting in him taking on a large group of single handily with a bat. The story made the paper with the headline ‘Nazi baseball’ He became publicly known as the 'Mighty Atom' and his feats included stopping aeroplanes by his hair follicles, breaking chains and driving nails through wood with his bare hands.
Oil on Canvas - 33cm X 25cm
Mabel Stark was an American tiger trainer and circus performer. As a young lady she began working at the circus and developed a passion for working with the big cats. She worked her way up from looking after the tigers to performing in the big top with up to eighteen at a time. Stark orphaned a sickly young tiger called Raj that was rejected by his mother and nursed him back to health. This close bond took her career to a new level when she developed an act that involved wrestling with Raj. Now attracting a large following she was hired by the world renowned Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus. During her dangerous career she was mauled on numerous occasions and in some instances nearly lost her life such as the time where she received 378 stitches to repair muscle and skin damage.
Oil on Canvas - 31cm X 25cm
Hugo Zacchini was the first human cannonball. His father was a circus owner and inventor who came up with the idea for the human cannonball with the help of Hugo whilst fighting in the trenches of WWI. Hugo was born and raised in his fathers circus where he performed juggling, trapeze and a wide array of circus acts. Although Zacchini was mostly known as ‘the human cannonball’ he was also an artist who’s social circle included the likes of Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. As well as studying art he also held two engineering degrees.
Oil on Canvas - 33cm X 25cm
Harry Houdini was an American magician and Illusionist. He was born into an Jewish family and his father was a Rabbi. At a young age he developed a fascination for magic and by the age of 20 he was performing around New York. He later married and joined a Circus where he began practicing the art of escape. One of his most notable feats was to escape from a heavily weighted box in which he was lowered Into New Yorks east river. In later life he became interested in the occult and after the death of his beloved mother made attempts to contact her from ‘the other side’. His attempts were unsuccessful and this experience inspired a life long campaign to expose the mystics that he considered frauds. Houdini died of a ruptured appendix after suffering a blow to the stomach from a university student who had challenged him to hit him with all his might. Houdini agreed but was struck unexpectedly before he could prepare.
Oil on Canvas - 43cm X 30cm
Norman Barrett MBE is a British ringmaster who Ben Edge met when ‘Zippos’ circus pitched up in Finsbury Park in 2013 (Close to his home in Camden Town) Edge spent numerous days hanging around at the back entrance to the the big top amongst the caravans and meeting the performers. Here he met Norman Barrett who agreed to sit for some Photographs that became the source material for the painting. Shortly after the photo’s was taken the circus tent was dismantled and the show went on to its next destination.
Oil on Canvas - 30cm X 25cm
As a child Ben Edge spent his summers in a Caravan park in Pevensey Bay near Hastings where he would watch the fisherman working on the ancient ‘Stade’. in 2013 he went on a trip to Hastings to make some studies of the fisherman. Here he met the subject of this painting who didn’t mind being painted but didn’t want to say his name. He told Edge that he had recently retired but still does the “odd job and missed the life at sea”.
Oil on Canvas - 38cm X 30cm
The fishing boats of Hastings and Rye are all marked with there own unique number beginning with RX. This Particular Boat the RX150 is a family operation and is also called ‘Roys Boys’.
Oil on Canvas - 40cm X 30cm
This scene was painted whilst observing a’ small boat ‘ coming to shore in the early hours in the morning at the ‘Stade’ Hastings. Edge wanted to catch the dramatic light he witnessed as well as documenting a familiar scene that has taken place in this very spot of the ‘Stade’ for over a thousand years.