Kohlben Vodden
Artist Biography
Kohlben Vodden is a British/Australian self-taught artist living and working in London, England. He defines his practice as psychological art, that sits at the intersection of conceptual and fine art. Focusing on abstract figurative works in oil, he creates intimate social experiments with the beholder. His bold geometric style commands the minds attention and is carefully designed to evoke specific emotional and physiological responses, creating a lasting psychological connection between artist and viewer.
While a newcomer to the professional art world, Vodden is a lifetime creative who spent many years perfecting his artistic practice in figurative realism drawings while working in the advertising profession. Vodden began his professional artistic journey during the UK COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 when he developed “Orange Ebby” the first piece in the abstract portrait series entitled “Engineered Pleasure” that is inspired by Neuroaesthetics – an experimental field of psychology that seeks to understand how the brain perceives, and is rewarded by, beauty. This was also his first oil painting.
His work was quickly recognised and domestically and internationally and has been included in exhibitions in Abu Dhabi, Milan, and London. His unique approach was also recently included the UK art collectors publication Artist Talk Magazine. You can find examples of his artwork and more information about the artist at https://www.voddenoriginal.com/
Artist Statement
Orange Ebby is the first of a series called ‘Engineered Pleasure’. Inspired by Neuroaesthetics – a field of psychology that seeks to understand how the brain perceives, and is rewarded by, beauty. Until recently it was believed that beauty was processed in a single ‘beauty centre’ in the brain. But new research reveals we have two beauty centres. The ‘art centre’ triggers neural pathways associated with learned pleasure from culture. Whereas the ‘facial centre’ triggers primary reward pathways closely tied to sex and food.
By abstracting the human face to geometric shapes and reconstructing it into beautiful expressionist depictions of the subject, this bold portrait is engineered to stimulate both beauty centres and induce primal and intellectual pleasure in the beholder.
1. Primal: If the viewer perceives the subject as beautiful, they will experience a release of dopamine, a chemical that is linked to feelings of sex and love, into the brain.
2. Intellectual: Their brain will actively search for patterns, shapes, and other visual attributes that might give it 'meaning' and make them feel more connected to the piece.
Humans don't need to understand or 'get' beauty, we are hard wired to respond to it in both people and art.
