GEORGE IRVINE

Contemporary British Artist

Chasing Time in the British Landscape

The Leys Gallery

Leys Farm
Middle Barton
Chipping Norton
OX7 7DP

17 – 19 December 2021

Catalogue

Artist’s Statement

I am motivated to create environments that are complex, lucid, alive and fugitive as the landscapes I experience. For me these works are a celebration of, and a summary of, time spent chasing the most uplifting moments in nature. Like a surfer chasing the ultimate wave it becomes addictive watching these sublime events in the landscape. With weather systems and the seasons themselves being under threat I feel strongly that Artists working in the landscape or in the studio bringing the landscape inside is a worthy pursuit.

Painting

When painting, I work within a variety of genres including Still Life, Landscape and the Figure. Painting is also a vehicle for me to explore more abstract qualities although I would say there is an unescapable thread back to realism however abstracted a work becomes. I use a range of painting mediums including oil, acrylic, watercolour, gouache, ink, collage and mixed media. I also treat the camera (see Fine Art photography section on website) as a tool for painting. On the whole my largest paintings are made in my studio although when Landscape is the subject, the priority is to work within it. Making ones own canvas or preparing a ground was something encouraged and taught in the first year at Art School. I still regard this as an important part of the creative process.

Commission a Work of Art

Clarity of communication between client and Artist is essential to this interesting collaboration. Finding a site, view or subject is of course the collaborative part. I try and work out the best option possible for the space the work is to be placed; in terms of size, colour and medium. Prices are based on size, location, medium and past experience. I can work from photographs and sketches if the commission is for a very large work.

Sculpture

Through my time spent teaching, an interest in ‘the object in Art’ developed because I made and encouraged students to build a range of Still Life set ups. Eventually the more traditional set ups made that transition into ‘installations’ that could be interpreted as sculpture or works of Art in their own right. I began to question the idea of setting something up and then making a photograph or a painting of it. What could it add? Had the group of objects actually begun to occupy the realms of sculpture? It is an area I continue to admire and explore.

Printmaking

Since secondary School I have worked with lithography as well as traditional etching techniques such as drypoint, aquatint and using acid to bite the mark into the metal plate. However whilst working in the Art Department at Stowe School we introduced a safer and more technological approach to printmaking that involves etching into a Solar Plate (photopolmer) using natural sunlight or an ultra violet lightbox. A brilliant course directed by Susie Turner reignited my interest in ‘photo-etching’ and I am about to set up my own print space in the studio. I have several framed etchings available for sale.

Fine Art Edition Prints

With print technology now so precise, a reproduction based on a scan or a photograph of a painting, printed on Archival paper can demand a degree of hard looking to ascertain originality. It has been great to work with ‘Genesis Imaging’ in London to produce such fantastic colour matching for the new series of prints. These can be bought directly from the website. Prints are limited editions 1/50 and available size A1 or A2 to include image and cotton white border. All printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Smooth Fine Art Paper 305gsm 100% cotton white.

Fine Art Photography

I am often exploring the same qualities in a photograph as I would with a painting. Chance, light, movement and colour are all words that come to mind. Finding something remarkable in the everyday or overlooked is an ongoing project. I have recently been using photoshop to layer photographs in order to evoke ambiguous qualities. I have recently been experimenting with the ephemeral character of sunlight, condensation and brush marks. It has been a revelation to be using ‘Genesis Imaging’ in London who are printing editions for my recent work. These include acrylic face mount, giclee prints on archival paper and the Chromaluxe process. Editions are 1/5 or 1/10 depending on the image.

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May 23