Ben Edmunds at Tatjana Pieters, Ghent

‘Second®’, the fourth solo exhibition by Ben Edmunds at TATJANA PIETERS presents a new series of clock works and curved paintings, continuing the artistic exploration he began with his recent solo debut ‘Tools for Dreamers’ at Night Café in London.

Building on the visual languages of sailing, climbing, and adventure sports, Edmunds investigates the pursuit of progress in a contemporary landscape where its promises are met with increasing skepticism. His large gradient and curved paintings, inspired by Ellsworth Kelly and rooted in the traditions of Colour Field painting and modernism, evoke a sense of the sublime, translating ideas of forward motion and physical tension into tangible objects through the use of carbon fibre, webbing, and buckles.

In this new body of work, Edmunds introduces handmade clocks inspired by the pace clocks found at swimming pools, featuring only a spinning second hand that watches time pass rather than telling it. Complete with vinyl stickers featuring ‘Aspirational Equipment’ and ‘Ben Edmunds®’ branding, these pieces draw from a real company he registered in the UK in 2019 alongside graphic designer Max Parsons, complete with its own bank of logos, fonts, and design templates. Through this convincing pseudo-sports brand identity, Edmunds plays with the traditional idea of the artist’s signature and explores the modern position of being a creative running a business. Alongside these, he continues his experimentation with shaped, curved canvases that challenge the default rectangle of the stretcher, evoking the sleek silhouettes of sailboats leaning into the wind.

Ben Edmunds (UK, 1994) lives and works in Norwich (UK). His work uniquely combines colour field abstraction with the materiality of adventure equipment, proposing painting as a functional tool for exploration and a reflection on modern engineering, utility, and transcendence. Selected solo & group exhibitions include Night Café (UK), L21, Barcelona (ES) JARILAGER, Cologne (DE), Simulacra, Beijing (CH), Anex PTG, Berlin (DE), TATJANA PIETERS, Ghent (BE), THE SHOPHOUSE, Hong Kong (HK), Copperfield, London (UK), Asia Art Center, Taipei (TW), Choi&Lager, Seoul (KR), Kaikai Kiki, Tokyo (JP), Courtauld Institute of Art, London (UK) among others. Edmunds’ work is in several private collections in Europe, Asia and the US. In 2026 he will have exhibitions at Night Café, London (UK) & Piero Atchugarry, Miami (US).

Accompanying the exhibition is a new publication made in collaboration with Night Café, which includes an exclusive interview between Tatjana Pieters and the artist.