Back in June, we posted an entry about Ben Claassen whose work we came across at Artomatic. We love Ben’s stuff. In fact, we liked it so much in person that we decided we needed a small pile for the guesthouse, Coal Stove Sink.

Ben drove down from Baltimore for a delightful visit with his friend Sam. Once they had determined we were not going to murder them, we had fun in the (very high) river, noshing some polenta and chorizo, and drinking rum.

Ben models with his latest installation.

The original art #5 collection includes 24 original illustrations from Andrea Bonoir‘s advice column Baggage Check. Here are pointers to some of the columns where the art that now lives in the guesthouse lives on the intarwebs:

Probably the most interesting thing about the pictures is that it’s basically impossible to tell what the column is about just by looking at the picture. So you can pretty much make up your own story. After a few rums, that’s just what Ben did. And he drew ’em!

Would this guy make stuff up?

Sam will keep Ben in line.

Ben signs the wall with a sharpie. Yay! This has to be the best way to collect original art ever.

Hyroglyphic signature.

{Also see Ben and Sam’s thoughts about their visit.}