Zinescrib HEW 2015
Here’s a really unlikely-looking example of the way influences pervade the work that I make today. I have been absorbed in scribbling on magazine pages, a liberating way to kick-start the imagination. All the time I have been making them I am aware that I am calling upon something that I learnt in the early 1980’s, when I was at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen.
Antoni Clavé, 1913 - 2005. Oil on canvas
Zinescrib 7, HEW 2015
There was a fantastic library at the art school where I made so many of my early discoveries, including Paul Klee who completely blew my head off. One day I came across an amazing book on the work of Antoni Clavé. I was one of those really annoying students who had the book on loan and hogged it for something like two years, until it was recalled; it was my constant companion.
I just know when I am making these works today that I am harking back to this early discovery, buried to some extent but recently recalled in the zinescribs.
Clavé was a Spanish artist from Catalan (1913-2005). His work spanned a wide range of disciplines: painter, printmaker, sculptor, stage designer, costume designer - like so many artists, he thought nothing of crossing over into multiple areas of work with his unique personal take on it. What got to me, though, was (a) his tonal and colour work, and (b) he often painted on carpets, allowing the colour and texture to come to life and complement his painting. It struck me today how lucky I am to have a rich and plentiful resource of cheap printed material in the form of magazines which do the same thing for me. I don't have to paint on carpets. I can select my material from readily-available sources. It’s the same process, it just comes out looking very different in a contemporary light.
I just know when I am making these works today that I am harking back to this early discovery, buried to some extent but recently recalled in the zinescribs.
Clavé was a Spanish artist from Catalan (1913-2005). His work spanned a wide range of disciplines: painter, printmaker, sculptor, stage designer, costume designer - like so many artists, he thought nothing of crossing over into multiple areas of work with his unique personal take on it. What got to me, though, was (a) his tonal and colour work, and (b) he often painted on carpets, allowing the colour and texture to come to life and complement his painting. It struck me today how lucky I am to have a rich and plentiful resource of cheap printed material in the form of magazines which do the same thing for me. I don't have to paint on carpets. I can select my material from readily-available sources. It’s the same process, it just comes out looking very different in a contemporary light.
Zinescrib 5, HEW 2015
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