Manchester Metropolitan University Chelsea School of Art Leeds Metropolitan University Academic Qualifications BA Fine Art MA History of Art and Design (Manchester) Dissertation: The Development of Modernist Ideology 1848-1968
Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.
Group Exhibition
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston.
Solo Exhibition
The Smithfield Gallery, Manchester.
Group Exhibition
The Lower Place Gallery, Liverpool.
Solo Exhibition
The Mall Gallery London.
Group Exhibition
Represented by Comme Ca Artists Agency Manchester.
Watermark Creative Space, Preston.
5:15 Artists Collective
The North West Design Collective
Painting is a painstaking way of producing an image but the result is a unique object that ideally demonstrates the potential inherent in the medium. Painting and drawing have a long tradition and I think here is much to be learnt and passed on. In particular the artist needs to study nature and how to interpret it. In doing this I find that there is a point where representation gives way to expression and the act of painting or drawing takes over. Drawing from life is both a concentration and a meditation. My purpose therefore in painting is to allow the spiritual potential of the practise to be transferred to the finished work.
In order to explain the ideas that guide my work a little background is necessary.
I began painting again around 1996 having completed an M.A. in Art History at Manchester the year before. (Dissertation: Seeing Through Modernism. The Making of Modernist Ideology 1875 -1975). One of the main motivations for my study was a need to examine the modernist theory which had played such a formative role in my education as an artist. I went to three art colleges 1969 -72, Manchester Chelsea and Leeds and absorbed the current theories of art praxis. This included abandoning traditional skills and looking for new, ever more radical forms of expression. Art seemed like a game in which getting attention, particularly from the media, was the main priority: Very much the way things are today.
The change that did occur has been my perspective on art history and theories of modern art. Having studied the development of modernist ideology in depth I realised modern art may usefully understood as a retreat rather than an advance. Certainly as new media, particularly photography took over the traditional roles, the artist had to fall back on the options left open to him or her. This usually meant working in areas outside the mass media and/or popular taste. The true artist per se could not be popular or easily assimilated. The influential Frankfurt School was particularly keen to promote this idea in line with Marxist theory. Art became intellectualised, to be seen as a progressive movement with little value attached to popular taste and a top heavy amount to what is euphimistically called "challenging". In other words, try a bit harder to like it. Art should not be a commodity since all commodities are essentially helping to sustain the capitalist system. An awful lot of art historians and practitioners buy into this idea which is particularly favoured within academic institutions largely insulated from the market place. They can therefore afford to promote an art which challenges the system.
The upshot of this is that we have had many generations of students and tutors, my own included, imbued with these ideas with no knowledge of how they originated The idea that art must challenge tradition, that it must be progressive is given and taken without question. To challenge these orthodoxies is to be a philistine reactionary. Moreover these ideas are very appealing. The artist as rebel permanently in opposition to the bourgeoisie and their values is a fine romantic ideal. So persuasive was this ideal that it became the prevalent ideology. Any artist that did not fit into this mould could be safely marginalized. However there have been movements which have opposed this position. For instance, I believe the acknowledgement of the mass media as a legitimate subject in Pop Art was an important turning point and was the beginning of the post-modernist sensibility. At the time I found this liberating and by extrapolating some of the ideas inherent in the questioning of the modernist project I have found a ground for my own work.
Consider for a moment why it is taken a priori that legitimate art must be something of a radical departure and one that challenges popular taste. Who decides this? Essentially it is an aspect of modernist ideology, the principles of which were first formulated in the nineteenth century. It may seem strange that we still cling to such old ideas until it is realised that most of the major art institutions are committed financially and ideologically to the modernist project. So, in most respects, the decision as to the criteria which art must fulfil have already been decided. As an artist I feel it is my duty to question this and consequently my work is intended to remove barriers rather than add to those that perpetuate an ossified ideology.
I paint what touches my heart and head. I look for confirmation of my work in the response it receives. I regard the fact that someone wishes to buy my work as the sincerest compliment anyone can pay. It is surprising how perceptive most people are usually singling out the very paintings I regard as my best work. I also realise this can be seen as an overtly commercial approach but I would justify it for all the reasons given above.
I am constantly amazed at how nature provides inspiration and subject. Many of my paintings are a homage to the beauty of natural objects. Generally I feel there is enough going on to just observe and represent without projecting acquired ideas of style and treatment onto the subject. So much of my work can be seen as continuing the misunderstood tradition of representative art. There is also much to be gained by humbly attending to the discipline of drawing and observation.
The circle paintings are essentially templates on which I can explore colour harmonies, space and structure. Although they are provisionally abstract they are read as natural objects, the rings appear solid or transparent as though they are on or above the surface. Spaces fall back or darken as though there really is a light source indicated within the painting. It seems that the mind insists on making sense of the visual information. Even when it is defeated it falls back on conceptual labels. Actually I only want people to look at the paintings and respond sensually. They are also related to meditation and the technique of centering the mind.
71 Lower Bank Road, Fulwood, Preston PR2 8NU
Tel: +44 (0) 01772 715999
email: terence@tcharnley.fsnet.co.uk