Future Friends
Ben Katz - New York
Cast in acrylic polymer, reclaimed computer parts, marble base
2012
From the artist’s upcycled recycled and reclaimed computer chip series.
Future Friends was Ben’s first foray into officially making and displaying artwork, having conceived the idea in 2005 while in college and volunteering for an electronics recycling company. It would take a few years and a lot of trial and error before he was able to turn this idea into a true work of art. Few people really take the time to look at what is inside these devices we use everyday. Ben remembers when he took apart his first machine and was immediately inspired by all the unique colors and shapes and sizes of the components. Having long been a fan of mosaic art, it seemed like the natural progression would be to create beautiful realistic mosaic styled sculptures from these electronic components. It is often overlooked what takes place behind the scenes, and under the stage, and that which is so intricate to the final composition is what Ben finds the most beautiful. This series of sculptures is an example of a well organized and orchestrated effort from many engineers and companies across the globe to create these modern devices that we take so much for granted. This body of work is dedicated to the tremendous amount of work by those electrical engineers who created our first wave of digital devices including computers, toys, radios, telephones and any other gadget you can imagine. We are a digital society now and technology is in our blood.