Benjamin Spalding

What are alternate ways of seeing and experiencing ourselves in an age defined by change? Constantly circling back to this question in my practice, I attempt to find answers by employing an interdisciplinary lens to displace the body through a variety of approaches including painting, sound, sculpture, and immersive installation. My work weaves together a range of research, from exploring Puerto Rican migration through family photographs, to queer club culture, and fantasy world building. My oblique approach to research and making is based on the notion of the remix, a tool to recontextualize and uncover the hidden possibilities nested in objects that inhabit our daily realities. We have an immediate connection between material and memory, and by restituting these physical objects and ideas, we can create an open portal to reexamine human agency and healing in a moment of social and cultural change. 



Benjamin Spalding (he/him) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Portland, Maine. Taking inspiration from his Puerto Rican grandfather’s profession as a big band leader, Spalding’s practice is preoccupied with movement and the pageantry of the body, weaving together elements of club culture, sports, and nature with family narrative. Spalding received his MFA from Maine College of Art & Design in 2017 and is currently an assistant professor and chair of the Foundation Department. 

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