Snap Galleries and Ben the Illustrator present
In My Room
A bespoke collection for the music lover
We are always looking for new ways to entertain and enthuse our clients.
It’s one of the main reasons we exist as a gallery.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have the chance to pick the contents of a bespoke artwork made just for you, featuring your favourite records, made in a size of your choice, to fit your exact space at home or at work?
If you have always fancied yourself as a modern day Medici—a renaissance patron commissioning a young Michelangelo—then this is for you.
Step forward Ben The Illustrator.
I am delighted to announce the start of our collaboration with Ben O’Brien—better known as Ben The Illustrator. Ben’s beautiful creations will be very well-known to anyone who has participated in one of Tim Burgess’s Listening Parties on Twitter. Crafted in Ben’s unique minimalist style, which involves distilling an object down to its essence, these vibrant colourful artworks are the perfect fit for the times. We love Ben’s work—he has an intuitive understanding of the power of reduction—less is more.
We are launching the collaboration with a choice of two different room sets created by Ben, each featuring an aerial view of a music fan surrounded by ten of his or her favourite vinyl records. Here’s how it works: you choose a “his” or “hers” scene (we call them Jake and Pearl) , and then you get to populate your room scene with ten record covers of your choice. Ben will create each cover in his signature style, making a piece bespoke for you. You can be as mainstream or as specialist as you like—it’s completely your choice. You are the patron, and this is being made especially for you. Believe me, selecting is going to keep you occupied. Keeping it down to ten is not as easy as it sounds.
The price depends on the physical size you choose, the style of printing, and whether you want us to frame it for you.
Prices start at £ 650 for a bespoke commission. You can read more about the options below.
Meet Pearl. It’s Sunday morning, and we view the scene from above. Sun shines down through the skylight as Pearl lies on the rug, all set for a mammoth listening session— surrounded by ten of her favourite albums. She loves the classics from the sixties and seventies.
So how does it work?
You make the following choices:
1. Choose ten records. The world of music is your oyster. Go crazy. These can be albums or 12-inch singles in picture sleeves. We just need a list of the records from you. We will put together visuals of the original cover artwork of each for you to check—so there is no confusion over whether it is a UK, US, French etc release. Ben will then work his magic and create the covers and populate the room set with the records.
2. Choose the room set you prefer to populate. There are two to pick from – Pearl or Jake. The base case is that the room sets and characters are a fixed element, and the ten records are the variable element. However, if you would like the person in the room to be based on you or anyone else, Ben will create a new character for you. This does involve an additional cost. We just need a photo of the person, and details of the clothes he or she is wearing.
3. Choose the size of the artwork. This is completely your choice. One constraining factor is the relative proportions of height to width. The images are rectangular – a landscape orientation, with a 1: 1.4 ratio of height to width. So as an example, you could choose any size with that ratio – for example a 10 x 14 inch image, a 15 x 21 inch image, a 30 x 42 inch image and so on. When you get into very very large sizes —which are possible—there are some practical limits on the maximum size that can be produced, but in theory we can go up to almost 60 x 84 inches by making a print on a 60 inch wide roll. If we make this as a ChromaLuxe print for you, the maximum size is 40 x 56 inches. We can discuss all these factors with you if you are after something very large.
4. Choose the production technique. This is your artwork, so it is up to you how we product it for you. For example, it could be a print on paper, made with a white border around the image area, presented in a black or white box frame. Our preference—and our recommendation to you—would definitely be to have it made as a ChromaLuxe print. ChromaLuxe prints are the absolute perfect match for Ben’s vibrant artworks. If you haven’t seen a ChromaLuxe print before, you are in for a treat. They have an ultra-high-gloss finish, with richly saturated colours and a jewel-like appearance. The technique uses a process called dye-sublimation to fuse the image directly on to a 1.25 mm thick panel of white-coated aluminium—which gives them in-built structural rigidity. They hang straight on the wall without additional framing because there is a special subframe on the reverse—this allows the artwork to hang on the wall while appearing to float. Additional framing/glazing is not required (as ChromaLuxe has a scratchproof surface) but can be arranged as an option. ChromaLuxe prints are very light and are easy to ship. Ultimately, ChromaLuxe is just an option, and we are happy to give you prices for different options and sizes.
5. Choose framing. We can arrange framing, or can supply a piece unframed if you have a preferred framer you like to use locally. If you choose ChromaLuxe, this does not require additional framing.
Here’s Jake. In this scene, you can see that he shares identical musical taste to Pearl. When you commission a piece, you get to choose the records.
What does it cost?
Prices will vary, depending on size and production method, and we can give you a price based on the specific size you choose.
As guide, the entry level commission costs £ 650, and this features ten records of your choice made as an unframed print on paper, with an image area measuring approx 15 x 21 inches (approx. 38 x 53 cm).
Prices increase depending on physical size, production methods and customisation options. Give us a call, send us an email to info@snapgalleries.com or fill in the enquiry form by clicking the green button below —and we will price your artwork for you based on your specific requirements.
Once you decide to go ahead with a specific size, we take a 50% deposit to confirm an order and get things moving. We send you a secure link for this so that you can make a card payment easily and safely online. The balance is due when the finished piece is ready to deliver.
How long does it take?
Please allow approximately 2-3 weeks for Ben to complete the design, and then a further 2-3 weeks to produce and frame the finished artwork in your chosen sizes and style.
Here’s an example: Pearl – a bespoke commission measuring 24 x 33.6 inches, featuring the Beatles, Beach Boys, Rolling Stones, Who, Led Zep, Eagles, Bob Dylan, Curtis Mayfield, Bobbie Gentry and Fairport Convention. The ChromaLuxe print hangs directly on the wall, courtesy of the subframe on the reverse. The surface has an incredible ultra-high-gloss finish. Amazing stuff.
Wait—there’s more !
An individual artwork featuring your favourite record.
Do you have a favourite record ? Of course you do! Then why not commission Ben to create it as an individual artwork. Here’s the deal. You choose your favourite record. Ben will then turn it into a beautiful ChromaLuxe artwork in his signature style. You can choose from three size options, each made in a very small limited edition:
A 12 x 12 inch (approx. 30.5 x 30.5 cm) image size, made in a signed and numbered limited edition of five.
or
A 24 x 24 inch (approx. 61 x 61 cm) image size, made in a signed and numbered limited edition of three.
or
A 36 x 36 inch (approx. 91 x 91 cm) image size, made in a signed unique edition of just one.
Ben already offers 12 x 12 inch prints on paper of individual cover versions in limited editions of 100, through his own website. We are offering collectors something extra—the chance to own very exclusive ChromaLuxe limited editions – and with the option of larger physical sizes. For these large versions you get to pick any album cover of you choice—not just something that Ben has already created as a cover version.
If you are the first out of the blocks for a particular record in a large format, you get the number 1 in the edition. To give you a flavour of the effect, you can see some examples of individual artworks below, and if you click on the green button you will see price information for each of the sizes.
Here’s an example of one – Pet Sounds number 1/3 in the 24 x 24 inch size. The ChromaLuxe print hangs directly on the wall, courtesy of the subframe on the reverse. The surface has an incredible ultra-high-gloss finish. It can also be framed.
Check out this virtual reality space to get a sense for how the artwork looks when framed and hanging. In this presentation we have framed the prints in a thin profile white tray frame without glazing.
Meet Billy and Liza. They love The Jam.
Ben the Illustrator has created two beautiful new limited edition artworks for our clients.
If you love the Jam, you know that owning the singles was just as important as having the studio albums. If you didn’t, you would be missing out on some of their finest songs, tucked away on B-sides. Jam fans are a passionate bunch, and you don’t get much more passionate than our two new friends, Billy and Liza, each captured by Ben in his trademark style, enjoying their vinyl on a Sunday morning.
Would you like one for your wall? You’re in luck. Signed limited edition prints are available to purchase in a choice of sizes, and you can view price and size options here for Billy and here for Liza by clicking on their names, .
Ben O’Brien / Ben The Illustrator
For over 15 years Ben the Illustrator has been bringing colour to the world for clients including NYC Department of Transport, Adobe and The Guardian. Ben has a very clean, positive outlook, which he likes to bring into his work using geometric shapes and fresh colour palettes. He also has a great love of music which often crosses over with his illustration work, from creating exclusive Twitter emojis for Elton John and Mariah Carey to collaborating with Tim Burgess on artwork for the Twitter Listening Parties website.
Ben by Ben
