Portrait of a blog

John Salt – Ikon, Birmingham

I remember the first time I saw John Salt ‘s work. It was as a keen 14 or 15 year old in Bloxwich library around 1983. There was a fantastic huge thick book on Photorealism and it had Chuck Close in, Richard Estes etc… I guess Chuck Close hit me hardest but I saw John’s paintings and thought , ( aside from admiration for the technique) “wow, those paintings are so creepy”, and I imagined what crazy people lived in those caravans in those trailer parks. Now I still think that when I see them…although, in the passage of time they also make me think of “My Name is Earl” too.  I still find it strange how people find eachother and end up doing and founding things together, how John left Birmingham in the late 60’s for America and ended up founding super realism with Chuch Close. I guess in the internet days relationships are built much more easily but back then it must have felt a bit like a voyage. John shows in the same gallery as me and is deply admired by all of the artists who came up for the show from all corners of the country as you can see in the pre show drink.

May 9th, 2011

In Focus Show – London

Here are a few shots from the recent show in London at Plus One with Philip Harris ahd Simon Hennessey. The guy infront of my painting “The Curious Case of the Levitating, Tattoed Man”  is Ray, the subject of the painting and he is able to levitate approximately 12 cm off the ground for about 30 seconds at a time when he is in his meditative state.

 Phil and Simon made some great work for the show and it was a real buzz showing with them in a figurative basd show.

May 9th, 2011

Kate Diptych – charcoal, carbon, graphite, ink on paper

 Here’s a portrait of Anne’s excellent niece, Kate. She came around to my studio one Sunday morning and put on a selection of hats, the one on the right I have used in quite a few portraits and I always think a beret looks incredibly cool and I liked this image ( on the left) because it felt quite timeless, almost asif it could have come from the 1940’s.

She’s not quit as solemn as she is in these drawings, I asked her to look serious.

It’s a drawing on A2 size paper so the overall mounted size is just bigget than A1

May 9th, 2011