ben grasso paints fabricated disasters and the destruction of archetypal houses flying through the air. these large scale theatrical paintings almost reach a form of abstraction. the action sequences that he depicts of exploding elements are created with oils on paper. in his paintings he captures movement and energy, zooming in on the origins of detonation and chaos.

grasso was born in cleveland, oh in 1979. he earned his mfa in painting from hunter cuny new york, and bfa in painting from the cleveland institute of art. he has also participated in many group exhibitions nationally and internationally. in 2002 ben was awarded the joseph mcCullough painting scholarship award for excellence in painting and then the helen greene perry scholarship a year later. he completed the fountainhead residency, miami in 2009 and then was a 2010 fellow in painting from the new york foundation for the arts. most recently he was awarded the pollock krasner foundation grant. grasso has had experience as a visiting lecturer at universities, galleries and museums; such as the cleveland institute of art, the johns hopkins university in bologna, italy, and parsons the new school for design, ny, among others.