Increasingly through the twentieth century, figurative art was sidelined and generally derided by critics as nothing more than kitsch or reactionary sentimentalism. But it never went away… and now the opinion of the enormous internet social media audience is affecting both the art market and consequently, public exhibition space programming – and figurative art is strong again.
Why do people return to figurative art? Do they project their own narrative on to the work? Even onto the work of artists that may have died decades before?
This is a series of drawings that I think I will be continuing for some time. Most of the titles are from music I was listening to at the time of drawing.
Here are your imaginary self-portraits:
‘from the mountain’, mixed media drawing, 60 x 80 cm, 2019
‘put your money on me’, mixed media drawing, 50 x 40 cm, 2019
‘stop the dance’, compressed charcoal,conte, pastel and paint-pen on paper, 58 x 38 cm, 2018
‘no name no number’, mixed media drawing, 50 x 40 cm, 2019
‘the other side of the mirror’, mixed media drawing, 60 x 80 cm, 2019
‘disco hospital’, compressed charcoal,conte on paper, 40 x 50 cm
‘journey to avebury’, compressed charcoal,conte, pastel and paint-pen on paper, 58 x 42 cm, 2018
‘fifteen minutes of shame’, mixed media drawing, 60 x 80 cm, 2019
‘the price we pay’, mixed media drawing, 100 x 130 cm, 2019
‘lying’, compressed charcoal,conte, pastel and paint-pen on paper, 40 x 50 cm, 2018
‘broken aura’, compressed charcoal,conte on paper, 40 x 50 cm
‘dress rehearsal’, mixed media drawing, 50 x 40 cm, 2019
‘your city lies in dust’, mixed media drawing, 50 x 40 cm, 2019
‘sick mirrors’, compressed charcoal,conte, pastel and paint-pen on paper, 40 x 50 cm, 2018
‘understand’, compressed charcoal,conte, pastel and paint-pen on paper, 58 x 38 cm, 2018
‘the dark age of love’, compressed charcoal on paper, 40 x 50 cm
‘reckon on a reckoning’, compressed charcoal,conte on paper, 40 x 50 cm
‘tiny birds burn in the eye of the sun’, compressed charcoal on paper, 40 x 50 cm
‘cardinal points’, compressed charcoal,conte, pastel and paint-pen on paper, 58 x 42 cm, 2018
‘helter skelter’ compressed charcoal,conte, chalk and spraypaint on paper, 42 x 58 cm
‘raining sunshine’, compressed charcoal on paper, 50 x 40 cm
‘the great escape’, compressed charcoal,conte, pastel and paint-pen on paper, 40 x 50 cm, 2018
‘for us they will’, compressed charcoal,conte on paper, 40 x 50 cm
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