Illustrations by Ben Tolman

July 8, 2006 6:41 PM

Ink drawings by Ben Tolman: Huge, intricate, somewhat NSFW. There may be an issue with the side frame not scrolling in Firefox; if this is the case, click here, here, here, and here to see the galleries.
posted by Gator (16 comments total)

Somewhat reminiscent of the work of Alasdair Gray
posted by CynicalKnight at 7:07 PM on July 8, 2006

/me goes to roll a joint and check those out a second time.
posted by furtive at 7:14 PM on July 8, 2006

The one linked with "huge" is great.
posted by danb at 7:14 PM on July 8, 2006

omg. Wow. Love to see his creative process through his notebooks over the years, page by page.
posted by nickyskye at 7:58 PM on July 8, 2006

wow. hardcore.
posted by fungible at 8:21 PM on July 8, 2006

Gadzooks!
posted by MetaMonkey at 8:39 PM on July 8, 2006

Am I the only one that found the "Somewhat NSFW" image incredibly, erm, tacky? I get the idea of 'the path through life' but it's just soo not subtle. Also the 'garden of earthly delights' image. He takes this very cool looking, intricate detail work and then sticks these two huge hipster goth types in the middle (and the girl's head is ill-proportioned).

The stuff without an obvious 'theme' is much better, IMO.
posted by delmoi at 9:00 PM on July 8, 2006

Cool! My kids and I'm gonna have some coloring to do once I print some of these babies out on the plotter at work!

B_O_W_!
posted by HyperBlue at 9:08 PM on July 8, 2006

Intresting take on debra messing.
posted by delmoi at 9:09 PM on July 8, 2006

delmoi, i think you are not far from the mark on the people in his work. The 'hipster goth types' are presumably him (see self portrait) and it looks like the same girl as in titled entheogens. He does not have sufficient skill drawing figures to get them out of their slightly awkward photoreference. The rest, although it is fairly standard psychonautical fare, is really good and gorgeous. thank you Mr. Tolman and Gator!
posted by gorgor_balabala at 10:23 PM on July 8, 2006

these look just like meth doodlings.
posted by wumpus at 12:18 AM on July 9, 2006

Cheese.
posted by jettloe at 1:58 AM on July 9, 2006

meth? looks more like psilocybin to me... I mean, I don't know a thing...

I have to say, this notebook entry, I almost swore he stole something of mine from back then... man...
posted by symbioid at 2:01 AM on July 9, 2006

i gotta second the furtive jointrolling interpretations...interesting how the last page of 1990 lists "drugs" as the #1 "World Problems Today" and the next drawings, in 1995, are all about b0ngs and shr00ms, and damn, if there isnt a world of improvement in the style. Just sayin.
posted by indigoskynet at 2:12 AM on July 9, 2006

Crikey.
posted by Drexen at 8:42 AM on July 9, 2006

delmoi, I don't find the Lilith image (first partner of Adam) tacky at all.

In 'garden of earthly delights', again a Biblical reference and another take on Bosch's version (in which Eve also has a disproportionately large head), I think the artist is juxtaposing different textures and spaces, so one enhances the other. Rather than being trite, I think the more spacious portraits of the artist and his girlfriend, Jana Svrzo, serve to highlight the complexity of the detailed part of the image.

Here's an interesting article about Ben tolman's art, A 'Shroom with a View.

In his sketchbooks he was experimenting with a variety of contrasts.

And I do like his geometric intricasies.
posted by nickyskye at 12:20 PM on July 9, 2006