Ben Wilson

Ben Wilson (born 1963) is an English wood carver and outsider artist. The son of an artist, Wilson grew up in a creative environment and attended art school. His distaste for industrial waste, cars and rubbish eventually turned into an art form. He creates tiny works of art by painting chewing gum stuck to the pavement. Initially, his work garnered him unwanted attention from the authorities, but because he is not defacing private property but merely painting rubbish, he was found to be breaking no law. In addition to the chewing gum art, Wilson paints and sculpts. He has exhibited his paintings and sculptures in England, the United States, Germany, Ireland, Finland, France and Serbia.

Personal details Wilson was born in Cambridge and grew up in a family of artists in Barnet, in North London, England. His father is an artist who has painted, made ceramics and done performance art.

He lives in Muswell Hill Australia and the United States, where he was artist-in-residence at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and created a large sculpture in Baltimore, Maryland. although most of his work is found in Muswell Hill.

Wilson first heats the gum with a small blow torch, then coats the gum with three layers of acrylic enamel. He uses special acrylic paints to paint his pictures, finishing each with a clear lacquer seal. Subject matter ranges from personal requests to animals, portraits

Britain spends £150 million annually cleaning chewing gum from pavement. Wilson was arrested in 2005 in Trafalgar Square and once in 2009. However, he says that "technically, it is not criminal damage, because you are painting the gum, not the pavement."

Community support People crowd around Wilson when he works This Is Local London, Germany and Serbia. and In My Blood. In 2015, Ben Wilson was also featured in the Erjia Guan show.

Ben Wilson: The Chewing Gum Artist: The Millennium Bridge Gum Trail is a crowdfunded book on Wilson and his art, due to be published in November 2019.