Very exciting news for Ben Crawford to be joining a USA based gallery for a show in 2026. We will therefore be sending all remaining work back to him, but he has kindly agreed to allow us 6 weeks or so to offer it up as a last chance to anyone in the UK who is interested in acquiring before that happens.
Contretemps of the Dethroned has always been a favourite. The title is a reference to a novel by Gabriel García Marquez, Gabriel García Márquez’s El otoño del patriarca (The Autumn of the Patriarch): the idea of a ruler’s fall, the passing of authority, the decaying grandeur of power and the quiet absurdity (or contretemps) of what happens after dethronement. While reading this book this image of retired generals and despots playing dominoes stuck in Ben's head. For Ben this painting is an imagined portrait of putting aside differences and moving on.
Other more recent paintings in this collection are references to the history of the Currumbin Valley near where Ben lives in Queensland, Austalia. The Currumbin Valley lies on the traditional lands of the Yugambeh-speaking peoples, particularly the Gurrum Ngali clan groups. The valley was part of a seasonal movement network between coastal areas and the mountainous hinterland(including present-day Springbrook). Historically the river and valley provided Bunya nuts (seasonally celebrated with large, inter-tribal gatherings, rainforest fruits and medicinal plants, freshwater fish, eels, birds, and game. The valley holds spiritual and cultural significance; many natural features are associated with dreaming stories and ancestral pathways. European arrival disrupted access to land and movement patterns, but local families and cultural knowledge remain active today.
Currumbin Valley today is known for biodynamic and organic farming, wellness centres, yoga retreats, and bush lodges, protected wildlife corridors, a blend of rural-residential living with strict conservation zoning. There is deep local resistance to large-scale development. The valley remains one of the Gold Coast’s last significant green refuges with a strong sense of quiet, ecological identity.
