{"id":5186,"date":"2026-03-20T11:42:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=5186"},"modified":"2026-03-20T11:42:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T18:42:57","slug":"ben-zanks-portraits-teeter-between-surrealism-and-the-mundane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=5186","title":{"rendered":"Ben Zank\u2019s Portraits Teeter Between Surrealism and the Mundane"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Tensely contorted or standing pin straight, Ben Zank<\/a>\u2019s signature faceless subjects<\/a> evoke ineffable yet familiar emotions. <\/p>\n

The New York City-based photographer has a knack for turning ordinary settings and unaccompanied figures into strangely perplexing sights. Mismatched socks, bold garments, and awkward poses go a long way in evoking a visceral response through his lens, tapping into a sort of uncanny realism.<\/p>\n

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Zank\u2019s work traveled to Festival Cargo Les Photographiques<\/a>\u2014a.k.a. The Cargo Festival\u2014in Saint-Nazaire, France last summer. Since its debut in 2022, the annual event typically features several outdoor exhibition areas, highlighting contemporary photographers.<\/p>\n

The artist\u2019s plein air installation for the festival included large reproductions of images affixed to leaning wooden pallets and covering brick walls. The minimalist, Earth-toned portraits complemented their surroundings, scattered across sparse grounds.<\/p>\n

Zank is currently working on a series that is focused on capturing strangers in their own homes, rather than the constructed settings he typically employs. Find more from the artist on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Ben Zank\u2019s Portraits Teeter Between Surrealism and the Mundane<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tensely contorted or standing pin straight, Ben Zank\u2019s signature faceless subjects evoke ineffable yet familiar emotions. The New York City-based photographer has a knack for turning ordinary settings and unaccompanied…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}