Ben Johnston (b.1999) is an award-winning Glaswegian painter, ceramist and sculptor. Johnston studied Applied Arts at HND level at City of Glasgow College and then graduated with a Honours degree in Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee, where he received the Art Angel Prize 2023.
Johnston is influenced by the forms and philosophy of spirit stones, also known as scholar stones, philosopher rocks and Gongshi. The stones are facilitators of aesthetic appreciation and encourage the enrichment of our own personal aesthetic experiences. Spirit stones are selected for their unique formations from rivers and quarries where they have been sculpted and eroded by the elements over hundreds if not thousands of years. Johnston views these stones as perfect examples of abstraction found in nature at its most pure form and finds endless inspiration from the aesthetic diversity of natural erosion. The exhibiting work echoes the abstraction and appreciation of nature through the manifestation of hand built ceramics and sculpture. Johnston created his own interpretations of this sacred art form from a sculptors perspective. Each stone sculpture intends to encourage mindfulness, intrigue and contemplation through its textures and aesthetic appeal.
