Self-taught or art school?
Many many moons ago I studied art and history of art at school to ‘A’ and ‘AS’ level; I took and passed those exams as a passionate ‘budding artist’ but then perversely I opted against what was expected of me at the time i.e. going on to art school. So the succinct answer is ‘self-taught,’ and as far as my current project is concerned I’m learning all the time through experimentation, I’m still teaching myself!
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
Oh, this is a tough ask; there are so many wonderful and diverse pieces that I consider desirable, too many paintings from which to choose, and too little wall! So, for multiple reasons, I would choose to own a particular ‘Banksy’. No, I don’t propose remodelling my home to accommodate some street art, instead, I would find a suitable place to stand his ‘Paint Pot Angel.’ The reasons for that choice: well, whilst I don’t necessarily concur with or condone the anonymous urban artist’s socio-political messages or the manner of him making them, I do have a sneaky admiration of Banksy’s audacity and satire. The statue came into existence during his 2009 overnight heist of Bristol’s Museum & Art Gallery, an intriguing episode. Further, the furore that occurred as a result of the Museum & Art Gallery selling images of the Angel, and the court case instigated by Banksy that ensued, regarding the intellectual property rights in the statue, appeals to my lawyer mind. That circular argument caused by the Angel sparked Banksy to pursue other copyright actions, with implications for artists’ intellectual property rights generally. Perverse in the extreme. Against that background, the statue itself exudes a strange innocence, an ingénue quality, yet makes a powerful statement. I like that dichotomy. It would certainly be a conversation piece!
How would you describe your style?
Hmmm, after much deliberation I’m finding it difficult to pigeon-hole my style, despite there being some 25 or so styles and movements from which categorise: I’ve settled on a smidgen avant-garde combined with a touch pop and a hint cartoonish.
Is narrative important within your work?
As much as I really appreciate narrative art in all its forms, and it is definitely my personal preference to view, my own pieces do not lend themselves to include narration. On the contrary, there is no option of incorporating a narrative thread.
Who are your favourite artists and why?
I like to view paintings to not only appreciate the brush-work but also to fathom the storytelling aspect; artworks that contain or convey a story, either overt or hidden, the more complex the better. I revel in artists whose work invites the mental gymnastics involved in deciphering the narrative, which may be ambiguous or open to diverse interpretation. My taste in artists with such prowess is eclectic: from Titian to Picasso, and Manet in between.
I find Titian’s ability to compose a scene which expresses a whole convoluted myth in a single canvass wildly mind-blowing and to achieve it with such finesse and attention to detail as if flicking through the pages of Ovid’s writings for the viewer, is staggering.
Likewise looking at Picasso’s Guernica is in itself as good as reading a war correspondent’s whole diary; it conveys on that one canvas the myriad words of documented history. But from the alternative aspect of inventive narrative invited by the canvas, my choice is Édouard Manet, who is my particular favoured artist not least for his bravura in the art world, but because his paintings of Parisian life feature a snapshot in time but conjure all manner of scenarios leading to/resulting from/happening after/occurring before that precious moment; my absolute favourite being his last major work, ‘ A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.’ It is so intriguing, with so many puzzles, and so much about it to debate. Even after frequent visits to the Courtauld Gallery, I never tire of gazing at it and exercising my mind.
What or who inspires your art?
My Daughter. Firstly, indirectly; if it weren’t for my Daughter taking a GCSE in art, I may not have returned to my schoolgirl passion. After the exam, the presence of her discarded paint pots etc was just too tempting. I started dabbing and daubing, ostensibly as an activity to occupy me while I waited for her teenage, late-night or early-morning ‘please pick me up’ calls, but then it became my release valve as an antithesis to my daytime work.
Then whilst my Daughter went on to further education in her craft, and carve out a successful career, I seized every available opportunity to immerse myself in my painting world, continually encouraged by her, inspiring me to persevere.
She has since become the direct inspiration for my current theme: I conceived ‘bobblehead’ characters after basing the first on ‘Martha,’ one of my Daughter’s rôles; plus I use her cast-off false eyelashes and her redundant stage lipsticks as embellishments in my portraits.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
My kitchen doubles as my studio, or rather, my studio doubles as my kitchen! I have a 4th floor flat with a balcony leading from the kitchen; it is the top floor and, being north-facing, I am blessed with unimpeded light streaming in all day. As much as possible I leave the door to the balcony open for even more light, and I paint to the sound of the parakeets in the high branches parallel to my balcony; it is sheer bliss.
Do you have any studio rituals?
I do…. Coffee! Copious cups of coffee! It is my caffeine love (or addiction) that fuels my painting, on many levels! From the grinding of beans for the ceremony of preparing a cafetiere to sustain me to the lingering aroma, coffee in some shape or form accompanies me at every stage of my creative process.
What are you working on currently?
A selection of…. coffee-infused creations!
Born out of a simple inadvertent mistake, which probably most artists identify with, I absent-mindedly dipped my brush in my coffee cup instead of the water; I was attempting a watercolour portrait at the time, a commission, and I rather liked the muted effect the coffee had on the black. I experimented using the coffee exclusively, and the result was ‘First Lady.’ I had stumbled upon a personal Nirvana: my 2 passions, coffee and art, dovetailing!
I couldn’t resist following up with more faces painted in ‘coffee colours’ as opposed to watercolours, launching what I, initially jokingly, called my ‘Caffeine Society Collection.’ The name stuck, it encouraged me to create a ‘society’ and continues to dictate the personalities of the characters in it: from frothy cappuccino gals to haughty rich americano dames! Presently, I am expanding the circle of characters to those with a little pizzazz: the society now includes the perhaps more quirky, ‘bobbleheads.’ Still fully formed by coffee, but with minute embellishments.
Where can we buy your art?
Please contact me directly either via my Instagram:@artycrazyb
Or my website: https://www.belindapearceart.com/