What is your Name and where are you based?
Helen Booth and I live and work in South West Wales, about 20 minutes from the Sea
What medium do you work in?
I always work in Oil, more often than not on Canvas. I do print and work on paper too, but usually when I'm struggling and the immediacy of drawing and printing really helps me work through my ideas and solidifies my objectives.
Where can we find you work?
I am currently showing at Cadogan Contemporary in London and also at Artemesia in Cardiff. Next Month I have a couple of pieces at the RCA show in MOMA in Wales. I also run a blog and also have a website
Why do you make Art?
Paintings have a presence. The images conjure thoughts and responses without the need for language. The process of painting to me is isolating, meditative and soulful and it’s my way of making sense of the world. My aim is to create an atmosphere of quiet and calm, this has always been and continues to be an important aspect of my work.
Is your practice dependent on your immediate environment?
My work is mainly studio based, which I suppose could happen anywhere in the world. But the light in this very rural part of Wales is what inspires me. I love the grey light, it flattens everything, which I adore and feeds my inspiration as an artist.
What or who inspires you?
Nature and Poetry.
I often return to poets for inspiration. A poem to me is very much like a painting in a way, because it captures me totally and instills an immediate response, but then lingers and changes and abstracts and questions. If I’m struggling in my studio it is always a poet that can rescue me.
If you had to name one person who you would like to have a dialogue with who would it be? Dead or Alive.
I think it would probably be Andrei Tarkovsky. I love his film making. Its serious and looks incredible. I think his palette is very similar to mine. However the films are very slow at times, so I have to be in the mood. But to meet him and to watch him would be wonderful.
What would you say has been the most interesting show that you have seen or wish you had had the opportunity to see? I've recently stumbled across the work of Tokujin Yoshioka. His Snow show looks incredible, I wish I could have seen it. However I saw the Cy Twombly show at the Tate a few years back, and its imagery I take with me on a daily basis.
If you could go anywhere in the world to produce work where would it be?
I would love to visit Scandinavia, so see the ice fields and glaciers. I think the colours would be very important to my development as an artist. May be one day.
If you could sum up art in one piece of work, what would it be and why?
This is a hard question. As I mature as an artist and my taste and practice changes, so does the art that I look at, and the influence that it has on me. I remember having to write an essay on foundation about why The Venus De Milo had no arms. I was 16 at the time, and didnt really know anything about Art history or ideas. This essay really made me think in a different way and taught me how to see things differently. Although I rarely look at Classical sculpture these days, I think that this particular piece would probably be the most important work of Art fro me, because it symbolises a real change in me as a person, and introduced me the world of Art and Ideas.
