About Artist

Benjamin J. Young

Photo of Benjamin J. Young

I’m more of a traditional painter. Focusing a lot on landscapes or paintings that carry some narrative, a lot of times conjoining those two subjects. As a contemporary artist, my style is heavily influenced by impressionism, but is still within the realm of realism. The most important objective with my artwork, is if I can get the viewers of it to resonate some emotion or memory, I have done my job well. That’s not to say it will always be a happy feeling, but each individual will hopefully have their own interpretation and unique relation to what they see in front of them.

My artistic journey is not on par with most of your every-day artists. I never went to art school. I have no formal education in drawing or painting. I was born with artistic talent. Probably a gift at birth from my father. Everyone will agree I have the gift intelligence. I have out of the box creativity. I can objectively look at my work, identify and harshly judge what I have done wrong, and I’m no stranger to obsession through failure until I can make it right. Often battling with my own perfectionism, as do most artists do.

Browse Artwork

Artist Story

Child Ben

In childhood, I was told from my earliest memories my drawing skills were phenomenal. The phrase “child prodigy” was thrown around far too much, and I wish it hadn’t. I was receptively pressured to refine my skills, eventually being put in to private programs to help me develop my skills. As my maverick personality was in it’s adolescence of development, eventually being told what to do constantly ignited my spite of something I used to enjoy of my own free will.

So after my last 8th grade art class (age 15), I never picked up another pencil or any other medium to draw again. As angry and disappointed as that made some people, I also could not see any chance of having a good life with what artists made in that era and chasing fame was a fool’s errand to me. It was around that same time I got access to my first computer along with access to the internet. Which to me, meant I had access to an overwhelming amount of free education, which included learning on my own computer programming.

In adulthood, I became a Software Engineer. I would go on for 15 years building that career, being heavily recognized in that field for some of the projects I helped build. Meanwhile, I have lost count of how many LLCs I have owned over the years, some of them failures, and some of them not. Continuing my hunger for learning, and starting businesses on the side in marketing, investments, and even chemistry. I loved my career and accomplishments. I still do. But my career had nothing to do with my come-back in to art…

Fat Ben

…It was always about love for me. Sometimes love for us, can have lasting and traumatizing consequences. It was in my early 20s, I would meet someone special. It was during a time of darkness for me, not long after I had split with my highschool sweetheart and prior fiancee. Her loving and supportive nature of me was simply fantastic, but it sadly would only last a few years. The moments I would watch her bright blue eyes close shut for the last time, still haunt me to this day. Through that loss, I suffered a great deal of trauma. More than I could handle. So the for following six years, I began suppressing and shallowing every emotion I had. For six years, I became a shell of a human being. The suppression and lack of caring for my own physical body would go to show.

Fit Ben

Six years from that fatal day, something caused a small spark to ignite back those feelings. While I refuse to go in to details of what that was now, it wasn’t easy at first to finally have to confront the emotions of loss and finally be able to cycle through them. I struggled at first, for a few months, but eventually something caught fire and I would go on to take an incredible amount of action to start taking better care of both my body and mind.

Through those struggles to heal, and at the age of 33, I was reminded that I once used to enjoy making art. Finally, 18 years since stopping art all-together, I picked it up back again. I was quickly reminded I was good at it. This was when I first began painting as well. And the rest of the story, is here on display… Hoping to express those emotions I experienced, on to canvas and paper. For you to all enjoy and appreciate.

Thank you, for listening to this Young man’s story.

Contact Artist

Ben playing tennis
Ben cycling
Ben hitting a tennis ball
Ben posing with his bicycle

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you offer prints or reproductions?

Yes, I offer limited reproductions for most of my work. Usually only 30 per painting.

Who do you use for framing your original paintings?

Cyrus Custom Framing & Art Gallery, in Canton Ohio. It’s the quality work I want to resonate that comes with owning one of my original paintings and each frame is picked specifically to highlight the better qualities of each individual painting.

How long have you been painting?

Since December 2023. Prior to that, I have not done any art since I was a child in middle school. No formal education in art, other than going through the Canton Art Institute in childhood.

Do you do commissions?

No. I’m a firm believer that I want to paint things that I enjoy and resonates with me. I’m already backlogged on the list of ideas I want to paint, so I don’t want to take away from that time to paint what I want and am planning to.

Will you sell me [a certain painting] for less than listed?

Yes. Only if you are local where you can pickup an original painting, where I don’t have to pay for shipping or commission for a curator site. This applies to originals only. For Limited reproductions, I can not negotiate. I do however offer volume discounts on reproductions, which are automatically applied once added to the cart. Please contact me to discuss details and work out a price for originals you may be interested in.

Do you have a physical location?

Yes, you can find me on the 2nd floor at Patina Arts Centre in downtown Canton.

Past Exhibits