MRR Comics & Art Issue Artist Q&A with Ben Fordree
This month’s MRR magazine is the Comics & Art Issue! Throughout March we are highlighting some of the participating artists right here on MRR.com. Today we hear from Ben Fordree from London, England.
![Ben_Fordree_art](http://frontwardsdesign.co.uk/mrr/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Ben_Fordree_art-300x287.jpg)
What are your main publishing projects?
I don’t publish a lot of work, I usually make flyers and print shirts for some local punk ventures. I’m not much of a self-promoter so I mostly make personal work.
What are some of your artistic influences?
I’m really interested in folk art and outsider art, I would say I find something more interesting and influential if I don’t know who it was made by.
Musical influences?
I’m pretty conflicted because I like music that tries to do something a bit more abstract and interesting, but I also like music that is really straight forward. I like to try new things with art but I also like to do the same thing over and over again. I really like Spike In Vain and Disclose.
How would you describe your style of drawing?
I like to use the bold and clunky imagery used in tattooing and make it look a little bit less like a tattoo. I enjoy taking something that already exists and making it look different or more stupid. I’ve recently been photocopying a lot of my paintings.
What other punk projects are you involved with?
I run a printing business called Outside World Print where I print T-shirts for people and sell bootleg shirts, buttons, earrings, etc., and I co-run a record label called Muscle Horse Records. I also play drums in a band called Hunger and another band called Street Beef, and I sing in a band called SEMI.
What’s in the future for you as a cartoonist/artist?
I’d like to keep trying new ways of making art.
Check out Ben on Instagram @benfordree.
For links and more info about this artist and all of the artists in our Comics & Art Issue, check out the artist bios page.