Ben Ali Ong creates timeless poetic images by etching his photographs to subvert and redirect their literal representations. Ali Ong has discarded the documentary appeal of photography, side stepping scientific reality and conjuring imaginative scenes more akin to a visual fable. His black and white images transcend the time and place they were taken and have a universal, timeless quality.
Like his tonal range, Ali Ong’s subject matter is also on the darker side. The artist moves away from rendering a beautiful landscape in a beautiful manner and turns his attentions to the romantic notions of decay, imperfection and solitude. There is a distinct feeling of nostalgia and even ancient pasts in the artist’s contemporary images. One series even takes as its inspiration the writings of 11th century Persian poet, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher, Omar Khayyam. Rather than give much more than this away, Ali Ong purposefully leaves his work open to interpretation, another indication of his rejection of photography as a form of documentation or direct observation. Given the extraordinary capabilities of his inspiration – Omar Khayyam was a master of both the rational and the philosophical – there is a corresponding depth and visual complexity to the works based on The Rubaiyat poem.
Ben Ali Ong received his Diploma of Photography from TAFE in New South Wales Syndey in 2004 where he graduated with the Portfolio of the Year Award. He has been a finalist in numerous fine art and photographic awards and in 2009 was the Mosman Photo Festival Prize Winner. He has had several solo shows and 2011 marks his second with The Tim Olsen Gallery in Sydney. He has been in group shows throughout Australia and London.
