Ben Weiner

Ben Weiner (1980) is a New York–based contemporary artist known for transforming ordinary materials into extraordinary visions. Working at the intersection of hyperrealism and abstraction, Weiner creates paintings that magnify consumer products and painterly substances until they transcend recognition. His signature style is marked by technical virtuosity, lush surfaces, and a deep engagement with the dualities of process and product, surface and depth, realism and illusion.

At the core of Weiner’s practice is the Paint series, in which he depicts the very medium of painting, oil paint squeezed onto a palette, as his subject. Rendered with meticulous detail, these works question the relationship between the act of painting and its final image, blurring distinctions between material and representation. In this inversion of process, Weiner transforms the residue of creation into a finished object of contemplation.

His celebrated Gel paintings explore the textures of cosmetic and consumer substances such as hair gel and synthetic compounds. By enlarging these viscous materials to monumental scale, Weiner recasts the mundane as sublime, turning mass-produced products into glowing, abstract landscapes that pulse with color and light.

In his series exploring pearls, Weiner extends this inquiry into natural forms, merging organic beauty with his signature hyper-detailed approach. Pearlescent surfaces and magnified shells echo the luminous qualities of his earlier works, yet here they bring viewers into dialogue with nature’s own artistry revealing how both manmade and natural materials can captivate when reframed through the artist’s lens.

Weiner’s work has been widely exhibited in the United States and abroad, including solo and group shows at institutions such as The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, The Carnegie Art Museum, The Boca Raton Museum of Art, and The Tarble Art Center. His paintings are represented in distinguished corporate and public collections, including Microsoft, Sammlung (Germany), Progressive Insurance, and the Frederick R. Weisman Collection.

Recognized by both critics and collectors, Weiner has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, W Magazine, Vogue, Interview, and Artsy. Early in his career, he studied with Mexican muralist José Lazcarro and worked in the studio of Jeff Koons—experiences that shaped his appreciation for both traditional craft and contemporary conceptualism.

Weiner’s work embodies both visual seduction and intellectual depth. His paintings reward close looking: at once hyperreal and abstract, they shift between recognition and disorientation, inviting viewers into an ongoing play of perception. Collectors are drawn not only to his technical mastery, but also to his ability to turn overlooked materials into luminous, timeless objects of beauty.