biography

Ben Steele was born in Kennewick, WA in 1977 and relocated to Utah in his teens, graduating from University of Utah in 2002 with a BFA in painting and drawing. He continued his artistic education at the Helper Workshops under the instruction of David Dornan and Paul Davis, moving to Helper, UT for a multi-year internship with Dornan. He has been living and working in the small coal and railroad town ever since with his wife, Melanie, and their three sons.

His work can be found in many personal and corporate collections, including Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, actor Steve Carell, Bumble founder and former CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, Shark Tank panel member Robert Herjavec, sportscaster Dan Patrick, Academy Award-winning film and television producer Michael Sugar, golfer Fred Couples, Raymond James Financial, Zions Bank Art Collection, State of Utah Alice Merrill Horne Art Collection, the San Francisco Giants Executive Offices, the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, and in multiple Delta Airline Sky Club lounges throughout the US.

artist statement

With an education built upon classical training, Steele utilizes traditional process with a contemporary sensibility and his work ideally creates a conversation between the old and the new.

Steele often melds art history or pop culture into his wide-ranging body of styles, allowing the subject matter to frequently shift between still life, portraiture, landscape and more. He considers anything that keeps the art creation experience fresh and exciting to be fair game.