He's a world-famous artist, but Benjamin Shine is used to working away in relative obscurity in his home studio in suburban Canberra. Subscribe now for unlimited access . $ 0 / (min cost $ 0 ) Login or signup to continue reading Continue with Email Continue with Google Continue with Apple See subscription options So when he posted a 20-second reel of himself working on a recent piece on his Instagram page, he was shocked to see the numbers of shares and views in the hundreds of thousands the following day.
Just a few days later, the video has had 1.1 million views and counting. The work in question, Dreamer Flow No.
4 , is part of his famous Flow series of faces sculpted out of single pieces of tulle. "They're manipulated like transparent origami to form these meditative faces, which each have eyes closed to reference the idea of finding clarity out of chaos," he said. In the video, Shine is using an iron to keep the vivid purple folds into place as a serene face emerges.
It's now now framed and on display at Grainger Gallery on Dairy Road, a relatively small gallery with a growing customer base around Australia and overseas. The 2m by 1.2m work is retailing for $60,000, which is standard for an artist whose clients have included John Galliano and Givenchy.
The UK-born artist has had large-scale installations on display at the Canberra Centre, and Bergdorf Goodman in New York City, and has created commissioned portraits for dozens of private collectors over the past decade. Be.