Ben Frost Mixes Drugs and Art With His Painted Pharmaceutical Packages.

Kids on Ritalin Aerosol stencil on board 40 inches x 40 inches

Last time I introduced you to the work of Australian pop artist Ben Frost it was to share with you his fabulous hand painted McDonalds french fry containers. Now he’s added to his repertoire by painting directly on pharmaceutical packaging – as well as new large scale paintings and giclées on the same theme.

valium4 ben frost IIHIH

Generic and brand name Valium, Fentanyl, Morphine, Oxy, Viagra and other popular pharmaceutical packages are emptied, flattened and embellished with acrylic paints in Ben’s style of pop art. Lichtenstein-inspired women, retro-looking illustrative children and pop culture characters from The Simpsons and Peanuts.

controlled release on MS Contin Ben Frost IIHIH

stilnox ben frost IIHIH

Morphine_Lover ben frost IIHIH

MS Contin controlled release ben frost IIHIH

fentanyl Ben Frost IIHIH

serepax ben frost IIHIH

tiny tears ben frost IIHIH

valium2 ben frost IIHIH

valium3 ben frost IIHIH

valium5 ben frost IIHIH

Mogadon ben frost IIHIH

Oxy-Lover ben frost IIHIH

LittleGirl_OnMorphine ben Frost IIHIH

subutex bunny and chold ben frost IIHIH

oxy tweety ben frost IIHIH

Snoopy Fentanyl ben frost IIHIH

the doctor is in Ben frost IIHIH

Barney-on-Cialis ben frost IIHIH

Bart-on-Xanax ben frost IIHIH

hot diggity on cialis IIHIH

Large Scale Paintings and Giclées
The following large scale paintings were created using stencils and aerosol paints and measure 40″ x 40″. Many are also available as giclee prints from the Soze Gallery:

Burns Viagra:
Ben Frost “Burns Viagra ” 2014

mr burns viagra full painting ben frost IIHIH

Paxil Don’t Store In A Dark Place:
Pxil don't store in a dark place ben frost IIHIH

Paxil ben frost full size painting IIHIH

Down the Rabbit Hole:
down the rabbit hole ptg ben frost IIHIH

Bugs bunny Oxy full size ptg ben frost IIHIH

Botox Lover:
botox lover ben frost giglee

Botox ben frost full size painting IIHIH

Morphine-Lover painting

More large scale paintings:
Valium Goofy Ben frost full painting IIHIH

Ritalin ben frost full size painting IIHIH

vicodin full size ptg ben frost IIHIH

Some of the above works  can be seen in his show, Supermarket Sweeps, at the No Walls Gallery  or in his solo show, Know Your Product, at the Soze Gallery.

Four Color Screenprints
Life tablest screenprint ben frost IIHIH
above: Ben Frost, life – 100 tablets (pink), four colour screenprint on fenner colorset 350gsm, signed and numbered, edition of 50, 50cm x 50cm

Ben says, of the screenprint “Life” (shown above) “In this image, I’ve evolved my previous work with pharmaceutical packaging and reduced the concept into its most basic elements. The melancholy character exists within a pre-packaged and controlled pharmaceutical regime: ‘Life’ (registered of course). She further contemplates the span of her ‘Life’ to be of 100 tablets (the ‘as advertised’ human age limit). The horizontal pink bar in the background, which is a common design element on drug packaging, mimics liquid – such that she is only just ‘keeping her head above water’ as the progression of ‘Life’ slowly fills the page to consume her.”

And in blue:
Life signed screenprints in blue for nowallsgallery
above: Ben Frost, life – 100 tablets (blue), four colour screenprint on fenner colorset 350gsm, signed and numbered, edition of 50, 50cm x 50cm

Ben Frost’s provocative work takes well known brands, packaged goods, symbols and logos and manipulates or parodies them to achieve a sort of propaganda against them and the media.

If you never saw my previous post on Ben’s painted McDonald’s French Fry containers, be sure to check that out.

ben frost fries 8 IIHIH

You can find available packaging paintings and other artworks at: www.benfrost.bigcartel.com

Prints of Ben’s work can also be found at www.stupidkrap.com

images courtesy of Ben Frost, Ben’s tumblr site, Ben’s facebook page, Ben’s instagram account,  No Walls Gallery, and the Soze Gallery