The Stylized Decadence of Lowbrow Artist Ben Newman
Like many, the British lowbrow artist Ben Newman has been drawing during childhood, but like few, he has not stopped doing since. When he broke his leg as a teenager and was confined to a hospital bed, his mother brought him some copies of the British sci-fi comic 2000AD to kill time. When he discovered the eye-catching imagery of Simon Bisley‘s Slaine he was hooked instantly.
Illustration from the comic ‘Slaine‘ by Simon Bisley
‘Blondie” from the ‘Fisful of Blood‘ comic by Simon Bisley and Kevin Eastman
‘Biker Girl‘ by Simon Bisley
Monsters, Demons and Female Warriors
Until then, Newman always liked to draw but there was no real purpose, he did not consider the possibilities, and here a mesmerizingly grotesque universe was presented with dudes turning into monsters, demons all over the place and gorgeous female warriors with massive bosoms. From that moment on he started to draw a lot more, and over time ese developed his own style and universe inhabited by cheeky ladies, confused robots, muscular fairy tale figures, voyeuristic squids, zombies and other perverse “nonsense”.
Newman has worked for numerous underground magazines like Bizarre and Cinema Sewer. Below you can take an extensive…deep… dive into Newman’s risky art…
‘Madeline’s Exam‘ (2010) from The Bondage Set
Bondage
This remarkable painting was exhibited during the 2nd London Festival of the Art of Japanese Bondage in 2010.
‘Madelines Lesson‘ from the Bondage set (2011)
‘Lost‘ (2012)
Jigsaw
An oil painting on a jigsaw entitled “Lost“. On his blog he mentions that the actual painting will be up for sale at some point (at an exorbitant price probably; as it took him forever).
‘Mishap on the International Space station‘ (May 2012)
Girls and Corpses
A work Newman produced for Girls and Corpses magazine. The latter describes itself as sort of like Maxim Magazine meets Dawn Of The Dead. Each issue is filled with images of beautiful, scantily clad young beauties posing with hideous, decaying, festering corpses. This pic is more pseudo-horror with emphasis on silliness rather than scariness.
‘Rodeo Angel‘ (2013)
Cowboy Hat Pap Smear
This engaging painting the artist drew for a chapbook that Horror Sleaze Trash (nsfw) published in 2013. The Australian poet Ben John Smith who is also the founding editor of the magazine sent him a few different bits and pieces of writing to base a drawing off of. There was a single line “Cowboy hat pap smear” that caught his attention and inspired ‘Rodeo Angel‘.
This piece is available in a limited edition on the artist’s site.
‘Three Little Pigs‘ (2016)
Three Little Pigs
This reworking on the well-known fable The Three Little Pigs was a struggle to finish for Newman. Years before he already had worked it up to a certain level but got sick of it, and it ended up on the shelf. It was eventually his wife who convinced him to finish it. In retrospect, the artist thinks that the long gap contributed to a better result as he had become a better draftsman in the years that followed.
Robot Boyfriend
This is a giant poster of Tessa, one of the characters from the fictional movie Jenny Bones: Legend of the Peril Squad, disciplining some nasty biters with her Sword of Truth!’ The story line goes as follows: “Jenny Bones, her robot boyfriend Coop and her slacker best friend Tessa are the Peril Squad. Along with their loyal pet Tundra they live a happy-go-lucky life of treasure hunting and partying, until they uncover an ancient military artefact, and accidentally start a process that could spell the end of time itself…
Provocative Odyssey
The Peril Squad must set off on an epic adventure to the far ends of the world – from the mystery strewn wild woods of Loon to the fighting pits of the Slave King to the creeping terror of the Never dimension. Journeying under the seas and through the skies, encountering mystical acolytes for a lost religion, seeking answers in the Lost Mines, and still fitting in some time for some dancing! Join Jenny Bones on her provocative odyssey of danger, sex, fighting and romance as she faces an enemy the likes of which the world has never known…”
Cute Hippy Chick
Newman is a fan of post-apocalypse dystopias in films and books, In this work he wanted to draw a post-apocalypse UT-opia, including a cute hippy chick.
Cinema Sewer
A sketch he did for Cinema Sewer. These kinds of assignments are great because it gives the opportunity to not sit in front of the computer all the time, he says on his blog.
Big Perv
A personal work that depicts a melting male figure (probably the artist himself) holding an old-fashioned remote control while a TV (+ VCR) robot spitting out ……all the sexy women who were featured on TV and in movies during Newman’s adolescence and made an impression on him. On his blog he explains,’ I’m a big film nerd; sometimes I feel like all the films I’ve watched, particularly when I was younger, have seeped into my mind and re-wired the way I see things. And as I’m a big perv, one of the biggest things to make an impression on me was all the sexy women in films!
‘Breaking Eggs (The Seasons Set)‘ (2012)
‘Tentacle Nurse‘ (2013)
Squid King
This is the first work by Newman I came across He finished this painting entitled ‘Squid King‘ in 2011. You can find it in our article on The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife.
‘Little Red Riding Hood‘ (2007)
Little Red Riding Hood
A grotesque erotic adaptation of the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood with a giant muscular Big Bad Wolf pulling down the panties of the naughty female protagonist.
Horror Classic
Painting inspired by the 1954 horror classic The Creature From the Black Lagoon, with a young girl in an inviting pose lying on the wooden quay.
‘Heat‘ (2012)
‘Recess II ‘ (2012)
Scrappy
Newman painted an earlier version of Recess in 2010:
‘Recess‘ (2010)
He liked the concept but the actual drawing was pretty scrappy, so he drew this different version a couple of years later.
Personal Favorite
With this piece the artist participated in the Bizarre competition, although it turned out not to be the one they liked best. This pic took him along time, mainly because of the amount of different elements going on. It is one of his personal favorites.
‘Handle with Care‘ (2009)
‘Church Property (The Rude Set)‘ (2010)
‘Devotion (from The Seasons Set)‘ (2012)
‘Sticky Fingers (The Seasons Set)‘ (2012)
Preliminary sketch, drawing and finished painting of a nude girl poon a bed
‘The Devil’s Harp (The Fantasy Set)‘ (2008)
Drawings Newman made for Bizarre Magazine under the title ‘Pony Play‘ (2010)
‘Family Business‘ (2009)
(2010)
‘The Dark‘ (2016)
‘Geeky Girl‘ (2011)
From the Bondage set (2009)
‘Poor April O’ Neil‘ (2010)
Image drawn (2012) from a screengrab taken from an old grindhouse film entitled ‘The Cheerleaders‘ (1973)
Still from ‘The Cheerleaders‘ (1973) by Paul Glickler
‘Goldilocks‘ (2008)
‘High on the Beach‘ (2016)
‘Eeny Meeny‘ (2008)
‘Dirty Snow‘ (2009)
‘Leyla Rose‘ (2010)
‘Penelope Purpleton‘ (2013)
Speed paint from 1982’s movie The Beach Girls (2014)
‘Winter’s Promise‘ (2012) from the ‘Seasons‘ series
Sketch of Phoebe Cates in 1983’s movie Private School (2013)
‘Maleficent‘
‘Zlata‘ (2011)
‘Haunted‘
‘Spring Rites‘ (2012) from the ‘Seasons‘ series
Commission piece (2013)
Unfinished painting (2011)
Sketch (2010)
Sketch (2008)
‘Christina Lindberg‘ (2010)
‘Tripping with Tessa‘ from the comic Jenny Bones: Legend of the Peril Squad (2015)
‘Nuka Gola‘ (2011)
A quick sketch of Ewa Aulin, star of the movie Candy
Cosmin Vasile
'Lydia Darling '
'Gameware '
Tattoo commission
'All the Things I Never Told You '
Click HERE to check out the art of the Californian Lowbrow artist Van Arno…!!
More of Ben Newman recent developments on his Instagram account…!!
Next week we’ll examine the risky Lowbrow art of one of my favorite recent discoveries!
What do you think about the art treated in this blog? Leave your reaction in the comment box below…!!