{"id":29619,"date":"2025-08-28T23:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T23:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/29619\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T23:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T23:22:10","slug":"wheres-waldo-meets-sarcastic-dystopian-visions-in-ben-tolmans-elaborate-ink-drawings-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/29619\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Where’s Waldo?’ Meets Sarcastic, Dystopian Visions in Ben Tolman’s Elaborate Ink Drawings \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rendered in delicately cross-hatched ink, dozens of figures inhabit towering structures or assemble in crowds in the elaborate scenes of Pittsburgh-based artist Ben Tolman<\/a>. Evoking the playfulness of Where\u2019s Waldo? and the optical illusions of M.C. Escher, the artist conjures what Galerie LJ<\/a> calls \u201ca kind of human zoo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opening next month, the gallery presents Tolman\u2019s solo exhibition, Control, the title of which takes its cue from current events. Throughout the last 15 years, the artist has channeled an undercurrent of disconnection and imagined dystopian settings. His forthcoming show acknowledges the uncomfortable notion that some of these elements have become disconcertingly close to reality.<\/p>\n

\"an\u201cConnected\u201d (2025), ink and acrylic on paper, 109.9 x 82.5 centimeters<\/p>\n

Tolman depicts faceless humans that move in sheeplike herds, \u201cwillingly following paths that clearly go against their own interests: technology, invisible barriers, belief systems, trends, politics,\u201d the gallery says. The works in Control ask: how far are they (or we) willing to go? At what cost comes folly\u2014or simply not paying attention?<\/p>\n

In works like \u201cApartment\u201d and \u201cRoutine,\u201d anonymous figures mill about in individual, soulless boxes. Some appear to be working, relaxing, or socializing. Others just seem to stand there, staring into their phones. And in the darkly comical \u201cConnected,\u201d people queue to walk up a towering ramp structure, absorbed so much in their screens as they head up the incline that it\u2019s too late before they realize they\u2019ve stepped right off the precipice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a generous dose of cynicism and voyeurism, Tolman portrays the eccentric truths and social failures of Western society,\u201d the gallery says. \u201cThat\u2019s what (he) is trying to understand\u2014or to condemn. The future he sketches might seem bleak, were it not infused with a delicious sarcasm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Control runs from September 5 to October 4 in Paris. Find more on Tolman\u2019s website<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"aDetail of \u201cRoutine\u201d<\/p>\n

\"an\u201cCaution\u201d (2025), ink and acrylic on paper, 72.4 x 117.5 centimeters<\/p>\n

\"an\u201cNaked Bike Ride\u201d (2025), ink on paper, 22.9 x 81.3 centimeters<\/p>\n

\"an\u201cRoutine\u201d (2025), ink on paper, 68.6 x 55.9 centimeters<\/p>\n

\"aDetail of \u201cApartments\u201d<\/p>\n

\"an\u201cMigration\u201d (2025), ink on paper, 61 x 91.4 centimeters<\/p>\n

\"aDetail of \u201cMigration\u201d<\/p>\n

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