Ben Mena is a representational oil painter based in Terry, Mississippi, where he was also raised. Mena took up painting in July of 2023, teaching himself through books, online study, and close observation of the masters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 2026, he taught a beginner oil painting course at the Mississippi Museum of Art.

For Mena, art is a dive into another world. He paints to spark curiosity — to inspire you to really look, instead of merely see, and to chase the feeling of being part of something bigger, something deeper than words can quite reach. He paints to freeze a glimpse of true, tangible beauty in oil and pigment. But most of all, he hopes his art conveys, in some small way, the immeasurable beauty of the heart of God.