Everything creates the art, the sea, sound, smell, land and weather they all play an emphasis in creating the work and it is not about a singular component, not a singular artist, not a singular response, not a singular narrative but a singular concept of simple embracing the landscape.

My work is based on the landscape and growing up in Pembrokeshire has played a huge role in how I respond and think about the landscape. The landscape is growing, it is alive and with that we have a minimal/ temporary effect on it in which to create our own marking. More recently my work has been based on working with the landscape literally within the 'everyday' and essentialy allowing the landscape to create the works. I been looking at the positioning between human existence and the landscape for a while, we all have fixed perceptions in everything throughout self-signifcant periods in our life and therefore words/ transcriptions of the works never translate the [true] visual. I am interested in the real, do we ever encounter the real? Or are we mindles and blind in the pure and bliss? Have our human perceptions diluted or simply removed the real? My work is based on a direct experience of a visual and a response towards that which indirectly touches the real. I have been trying to limit the amount of [aware] mediums to make an allowance for the unexpected ones of nature ( weather/ air temp/ time). The sea paintings 2009 capture a moment in time in the landscape, its present and therefore its past.

I am a painter .....I paint what I feel, see, touch and imagine ...I breath painting and not a theory on how to paint.

 

 

My main focus within art is painting. Growing up in Pembrokeshire I have found myself immersed in the landscape, inspired by the change of  light/ sea/ coast and weather which evidently has proven to be influential within my work. Evenso I am not interested in looking at your typical postcard picture of the place more the ruggered land untouched by man. More recently I have been looking at using the landscape in a literal sense and juxtoposing it with man made materials by working directly with the landscape I found the natural organic feeling and colours of it to have a powerfull effect on the harsh-plastic colours of 'man'. I prefer to work in situe and do quick sketches, recording the landscape/ atmospher/ feelings this is mainly because I feel that it allows me to have a certain connection with it, that I just wouldn't get back in the studios. I'm particularly interested in mediums and how application or mixing of them can create subtle-huge impacts on piece. I like to test the limits of the medium I am working with and find experimenting with them allows me to keep testing myself as an artist but also stay fresh and keep learning new skills. Colour is the main motivation behind most pieces sometimes leaving the subject secondary it's about breaking a preconceived idea on how we interpret colour and therefore view it. I think of myself as colourist I endeavour to give my subjects meaning which surpasses there own reality. Welsh culture and history of Wales plays a huge influence within my work and artists which triggered this early fascination were Peter Prendergast and Sir Kyffin Williams, two of the great welsh landscape of artists of the 21st century in my own opinion. I'm also inspired by many Pembrokeshire artists such as Linda Norris, Andrea Kelland, Graeme Hurd-Wood, Gwyn Cecil Williams and David Tress. I recommend 'Pembrokeshire look upon land and sea' it's a great book which promotes a range of artists in the area.

Thanks

Jess John.

 

 

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