Ben Orkin

Ben Orkin is a sculptor based in Cape Town, South Africa. His ceramic vessels reflect queer intimacy, oscillating between moments of nourishment and dependency, validation and resistance, love and separation. Their textured finish is evidence of the hand-builder’s careful touch, imbuing the sculptures with a sense of the tactile and, at times, the erotic.

Orkin graduated in 2020 with a BFA from Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town, South Africa. Since 2019 He has held three solo exhibitions with WHATIFTHEWORLD Cape Town, namely You told me… (2019), Extra Safe (2021) and Backrooms, Bookstores, Balconies, Meatracks and Tearooms (2023). He was awarded the Simon Gerson prize in 2021. The A4 Foundation has recently acquired his work. In 2022 Orkin participated in the OÖ AIR artist in residence program at OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH Museumstraße.

His art work is part of the public collection OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH, Austria. Orkin has participated in various art fairs locally and Internationally, including Investec Cape Town Art Fair (2023), Art Joburg (2022), 1-54 London (2022), Miart Milan (2022), FNB Art Joburg (2023), NOMAD Capri 2023, and Investec Cape Town Art Fair (2023).