That’s very difficult as there are so many great works of art that have influenced me, from low brow to high brow artists, including works by Lucian Freud, Remedios Varo, Alphonse Mucha, Leonora Carrington, H.R. Giger, Jean Giraud - the list goes on !
However, If I had to choose one famous work to put on my sitting room wall (which is an absolutely ridiculous thought), it would be something by Vincent Van Gogh, maybe “Undergrowth with Two Figures” which I recently viewed at the Cincinnati art museum on a trip to the US. Everything from the colour palette, to the overall composition and use of paint are extraordinary, especially when viewing the real thing.
Van Gogh really did open the doors in so many ways. He led the way for the self taught artist and even when he tried to emulate his impressionist contemporaries he still produced incredible work, although he himself, was so frustrated by not being able to get it right at the time. It is the emotional energy inherent in his paintings that I feel most inspired by, an influence which is probably most apparent in my own abstract landscape paintings.
Since you transform your experiences into your artwork, we are curious, what is the role of memory in your artistic productions? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.
Memory is not something that I’m particularly conscious of when working. I think experience become part of ones being, whereas memory exists sequentially, stored mentally somewhere else…
With each piece of art I create, I am evolving and translating that experience into the next work, it is a transformative journey that can only be walked one step at a time. I find the act of working very cathartic and often go over, analyse and study my memories when engaged in creating a new work. I often feel, especially when painting, that this could be last my ever piece. I’m not really sure why this is, but it seems to give a certain edge to the work.
What is the role of technique in your practice? In particular are there any constraints or rules that you follow when creating?
After a few years of experimentation I developed the “Supernature” series of abstract landscape paintings, which use thick layers of oil paint to create very textured, organic works. So I would say that I have a specific technique for creating these works, although this technique is always open to new methods discovered in the process of painting itself. In these works I do not have a predefined composition in mind as everything evolves organically on the canvas itself.
The “Metamorphica and Danse Macabre” series was inspired by an interest in mythology and symbolism. I had been thinking about if these anthropomorphic personifications existed, how would they look in today’s world ? I wanted the works to be very contemporary, rather than go for a sword wielding fantasy art style, so I dressed them in today’s fashion, gave some of them cool methods of transportation and completed the works with a sun /moon symbol background.
The digital work requires a great deal of patience and by making the original line drawing very detailed, I can build the texture, light and shade, creating the illusion of a 3 dimensional figure. Each space within the intricate lines of the drawing is individually filled with varying colours, from light to dark in tone, a bit like a stained glass window. It’s a very time consuming process, but the only way I can achieve the dynamic quality of the final piece.
For the pencil drawings I first make rough design images in Photoshop using layers and masks. I find it a useful technique as I can tweak these initial designs to look “right”, before committing the 30 hours or so to do the actual drawing.
I have found that the medium and tools that I use to create work, very much dictates the end result. The only constraints and rules I have are self imposed, learnt through the experience of seeing what, in my opinion, works.
How do you see the relationship between emotional and intellectual perception of your work? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience?
Because I work in different mediums and styles I think there can be very different emotional and intellectual responses from a viewers perception. For instance some people love the abstract landscape paintings but dislike the digital work, and vice versa. Some people love both and some don’t like any of it !
However I would say that for me the paintings are more emotional and the drawings and digital work are more intellectual. This may translate to the viewers perception as well. To have any kind of interest in your work is quite special, so if it makes a connection with a viewer then that is great ! I hope the audience ultimately enjoy the work and if people feel that they connect with it on a deeper level then that is also incredibly rewarding for me as the artist.
I hope to make the immersive nature of the viewing experience much more compelling in future exhibitions, literally plunging the audience into one of my worlds. I would like to make these exhibitions a complete audio / visual experience, using my music composition to enhance the atmosphere. I am eager to connect with suitable curators and gallerists who would be interested in helping me to realise this type of exhibition.
action. Some artistic action... If people can take something from this action this is great... but I don't want to give them “a specific message” or to control the translation of my experience.