Kevin Kirkwood sits down with Ben Tollefson, a painter and curator based in Savannah whose studio practice examines performance, identity, and the illusions we construct around the self.

Working primarily in figurative oil painting, Ben explores artifice and the social constructions of masculinity and femininity. His boldly hued, psychologically charged compositions inject a camp sensibility into traditional painting, balancing technical rigor with flamboyance and theatricality. Raised within a religious environment shaped by strict binary gender roles, his work reclaims qualities once considered forbidden: frivolity, excess, ornament, and reframes them as sites of power and inquiry.

Since earning his M.F.A. from SCAD in 2014, Ben has shown work across the country, from Laney Contemporary in Savannah to the Spring Break Art Show in New York, and been featured in IMPACT and Burnaway Magazine. As Curator at the SCAD Museum of Art, he has organized exhibitions by Zanele Muholi, Nina Chanel Abney, Marcel Dzama, Roxy Paine, and others.

In this episode, we trace the turning points, formative experiences, and personal history that have shaped his practice and explore what keeps pulling him back to the canvas.

Learn more:

bentollefson.com @bentollefson

Follow the host:

kevin-kirkwood.com @kevinwillpaint or @strandpodcast

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