This month’s cover artist is no stranger to the high-stakes world of creative mastery, stepping up now for his second Tawny Frogmouth cover and his third collaboration with Lifeline Northern Beaches for their annual Lifeline Classic event.
Beyond that, you may be familiar with his work over the past three decades crafting tour posters and album covers for lesser known performers such as Nirvana, The Pixies, Pearl Jam, Elton John, Queens of the Stone Age, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Cure, Blink-182, Smashing Pumpkins, Silverchair, Cosmic Psychos and local pub rock royalty – is Daz, is good – The Darrans, as well as virtual-reality interactive gargantuan Frankensteins for Brookvale Arts District’s 2023 Groundswell event.
For a man with a portfolio of work that’s the envy of any aspiring and established creative, Ben Brown’s approach is refreshingly Zen, marked with a relaxed Que Sera Sera authenticity, and a sense of professional generosity to hand over assignments and opportunities to up and coming local artists, careful to uphold a healthy work-life balance.
“I was always drawing stuff from a young age,” says Ben. “And my brother being five years older than me, he was onto all the classic surf mags in the 70s, so I’d always rummage through those, filled with comic art, and icons like Captain Good Vibes, Mad Magazine, record covers from that era, they were all a huge influence on me.”
Ben’s father was an accountant, but had clients who worked in the creative industry, allowing Ben to see from a young age that adults were indeed making a living from artistic pursuits, a rare gift that many talented youngsters don’t see, often then choosing non-creative career paths, reluctantly adhering to alleged elder wisdom of securing a steady pay cheque.
“I always imagined I could get a job drawing creatively, then my first real opportunity came with jobs in the arts department of various screen printers at Brookvale,” recalls Ben. “I’d ride my bike up from Manly, back in a pre-digital world, and while it was the late 80s and my main task was creating bi-centenary merchandise – basically just putting koalas on everything – because I had access to all the equipment, I started creating rock posters and all my own projects at the same time.”
From here, Ben not only got paid cash and rode his bike straight to go surfing after work, best job ever, but he also carved his place in the music world as the go to designer of rock posters, even creating the tour poster for what would become Nirvana’s only ever Australian tour.
“I’ve never had any strong career plan, it’s always been through word of mouth that work has come my way,” says Ben. “Then, especially with the music scene, you’d often get invited to events and I knew to take every opportunity, it looks like you’re some groovy happening artist when, in reality, you’re just happy to be there.”
Self-identifying as a “Loco drawing weirdo”, Ben explains the magic sauce of weirdness for creativity. “I’ve known artists that were somewhat normal, which is of course fine, but without a sense of weirdness, a talented artist will usually go in more of a corporate direction, become a creative director and the like, while being a bit of weirdo keeps you on the fringes and living in the underground. I suppose I’ve just always been drawn to the subculture.”
More from Ben
Follow the Godfather of Beaches weirdos on socials @mentalben and check out the full array of prints, tees and pop culture history at Ben’s website: benbrown.com.au
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