Benjamin Constantine’s Chaotic Illustrations

by Nastia Voynovskaya

Though the core of Benjamin Constantine’s work is illustration, his use of ink with brushes instead of pens or markers gives it an ethereal, painterly quality. The Brisbane-based artist often mixes traditional and digital techniques, laying out a composition with ink and adding color in Photoshop. Traditional paintings exist in his repertoire, as well. His work is textured and chaotic: Even when a central figure is present, Constantine floods in the backgrounds with minutiae that occupy his environments. Often, though, the scenes are organized like the Dutch genre paintings of the Northern Renaissance, where multitudes of figures are depicted on an equal plane, each person engaged in his or her own activity. Constantine’s work pulses with action, with every crevice filled with texture and line work — so much so that the eye doesn’t know where to stop.