In a quiet studio near Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, Ben Young crafts oceans that do not move.
His hands, once calloused by boats and boards, now guide sheets of glass into fluid forms—waves suspended mid-crest, cliffs softened by light, and solitary sailboats forever sailing. This is Broken Liquid, a body of work that doesn’t shout, but hums with stillness, with longing, with the calm depth only water can speak.
Young is not your typical sculptor. There’s no formal art school in his past, no credentials stamped in academic ink. Before glass, he shaped boats. Before exhibitions, he shaped furniture. But always, there was the sea. Surfing it. Building for it. Living beside it. So when he began working with glass—layering transparent sheets with precision and care—it made sense that the sea followed him into the studio.
His process is entirely analog, a rarity in an increasingly digital art world. No 3D printing. No computer simulations. Just hand-drawn sketches, foam models, and tools more at home in a glazier’s workshop than a gallery. He begins each sculpture like a craftsman would a voyage—planning every angle, every layer, every narrative embedded in the glass.
The materials he chooses—clear float glass, raw concrete, silicon bronze, steel—are honest, industrial, and grounded. But in his hands, they transform. What should be cold becomes tender. What feels hard becomes weightless.
In one piece, a solitary lighthouse rests atop a jagged base of concrete, surrounded by shimmering green-blue glass. There’s no storm. No ship. Just space. It feels like remembering. Like watching someone leave and not knowing when—or if—they’ll return.
In another, a lone figure stands on a ledge, gazing across a translucent sea. The scene is silent. Not empty, but vast. And it’s in this vastness where Ben’s work quietly speaks—about distance, about hope, about the beauty of being small beneath something much larger.
Glass becomes metaphor. Distance becomes design. Each layer a memory, each sculpture a soft question.
Over the years, Ben’s work has traveled further than most boats ever will. From Auckland to Singapore, from Detroit to New York, his pieces have stood in solo shows like Delicate Space, Immersed, and Reconnect, and found homes in galleries that understand the power of silence: Black Door, Habatat, Red Sea, Whistler Contemporary.
Yet for all the attention, there’s a sense that Ben isn’t chasing the spotlight. He’s chasing clarity.
His figures—sometimes tiny bronze sculptures carved with almost whimsical humanity—are not heroes or subjects. They’re companions in contemplation. Travelers. Thinkers. Lovers separated by an inlet of glass. Dreamers staring out at glass waves, as if time itself could pause for breath.
And maybe that’s what makes Broken Liquid so resonant in this digital, distracted age. It asks you to slow down. To look again. To feel the way you feel when you stand at the edge of the ocean and say nothing—because nothing more needs to be said.
His sculptures aren’t just beautiful; they’re meditative. They don’t explain themselves, but they invite you in—to reflect, to remember, to wonder. And like water, they shape you while seeming not to move at all.
For those seeking connection beyond canvas and color, Ben Young’s art offers something quieter and, perhaps, more enduring—a space to be still. A space to breathe. A space where story and sculpture meet.
If you find yourself drawn to his work, know this: it’s not just glass. It’s longing. It’s geography. It’s narrative. It’s the invisible thread between people and place.
And somehow, even when the ocean is made of glass, it still manages to move you.
Want to explore the tide lines of Ben Young’s imagination?
View available works and upcoming shows at brokenliquid.com, or see select exhibitions at Black Door Gallery (Auckland), Habatat Galleries (USA), or Red Sea Gallery (Singapore). For collectors, limited edition prints and original sculptures are available upon request.
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https://www.brokenliquid.com – Official website
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https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/07/broken-liquid-ben-young – Media feature
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https://blackdoorgallery.co.nz – Representing gallery
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