Ben Grasso was born in 1979 in Cleveland, Ohio and lives and works in New York. He received his MFA from Hunter College in New York, NY and his BFA from The Cleveland Institute of Art in Cleveland, Ohio in conjunction with Edinburgh College of Art in Edinburgh, Scotland UK.  Grasso’s paintings represent the fragility of things and instability due to natural or man-made catastrophic events like hurricanes, storms and deadly crashes.
His paintings suggest a narrative constantly survey on the border between representation and abstraction.  Grasso’s numerous accolades include the 2003 The Helen Greene Perry Memorial Traveling Scholarship, the 2002 Joseph McCullough Painting Scholarship Award for excellence in painting and the 2001 Carl Gaertner Memorial Prize.