JAMES GUPPY : “MY PAINTINGS ARE ALL IN ACRYLIC.
I love oils but the facility I gained as a mural artist working with fast drying paints means I can get the same effects as oils quicker, without worrying about the more complex chemistry of oils. I also get a sort of perverse pleasure creating paintings that can look like they were painted in one medium when in fact they were painted in another.
I use different strategies to develop the subject matter for each series of works. I begin with a point of fascination and the scent of an idea. This period of tracking down the vision may take weeks or years. I will return to themes from years ago if I think I might have something more to add or a new take on it. There is then a slow stumbling towards the form and how the idea or vision might be made to work successfully. Some works begin with thumbnail sketches of inner visions and ideas with no models in the outside world (ie. It’s all “made up”). As often as not, I am a merciless appropriator, constructing my paintings from details taken from old photos, old masterpieces, flower catalogs, magazines etc. Some works require the use of models either in conjunction with appropriated material or on their own. In these cases I will either photograph or work from life, whichever is appropriate”.
Watch James Guppy speak about his work in this short Artist Profile