“It was mainly the spirit of being in that kind of place where all the energy was so rich...I thought wow, that’s something to think that he could dream and create this.”
Rembrandt, Velazquez, Van Dyke, Van Eyck, and Leonardo, to name just a few. “I have made a hard study of how art is made. It’s a deep study of the passion that lurks in surprising corners—memory, dreams, silence, chaos, all within the breathtaking state of all the force of the unconscious in knowing that the sensation must always be sincere.” He explains that while the actual painting of one of his frescoes doesn’t take terribly long, it’s the preparation that requires extensive commitment. He often paints for 12-hour stretches when working on a fresco. After his apprenticeship and time spent in Italy, Long lived in France for nearly another 15
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years. Since then, he has continued to split his time between the States and Europe. His work and life remains prolific: he has works in the Royal Academy as well as the Royal Portrait Society of London and has exhibited across Florence, London, Paris, Atlanta, San Francisco, New York, and the Carolinas. To see more of Long’s work, you can visit his website at www.BenLongFineArt.com and view his work in Ann Long Gallery (no relation) in Charleston. The Queen City itself, graced with so many of his works, stands as a living exhibit of Long’s visionary art. info benlongfineart.com