From an early age, Gary Dawes was heavily influenced by cinema which led to a career in film-making. He left London and the film business in 2013 to dedicate his time exploring and creating personal work which includes land art, photography, and film.
Self-taught or art school?
Self-taught, I had a healthy dislike of school and left it all behind at 16yrs. From an early age, I was fortunate enough to know what I wanted to do with my life which led to a career in film-making
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
A small prehistoric sculpture “The Lion-man” found in a cave in Germany in 1939 carved out of a mammoth tusk with a flint knife.
How would you describe your style?
For me personally, I put far more importance on trying to keep ideas flowing and to keep evolving and learning. I don’t have any real interest in style.
Can you tell us about your artistic process?
I really don’t think about it if I’m honest, I have a free-spirited approach to what I do I feel it’s more about the act of creation itself, which I believe comes from one’s intuition and the imagination, for me personally I find that it’s more about the visceral side of things, not ones ability to verbalize or analyse it all, I really don’t think it serves any real purpose to try and explain the process. If I locked everything down to any given tried or tested formula or method it would just drive me up the wall.
Is narrative important within your work?
I tend to leave things wide open, I feel that It’s not really up to me what people may think of it, that part doesn’t belong to me. I like the idea that maybe the artwork could act as a kind of vehicle for people’s imaginations so they can create their own narrative or make some sought of connection for themselves.
Who are your favourite artists and why?
I have no favourites as such but I have always been drawn to the philosophies of the avant-garde and people who have the integrity to work outside the system.
What or who inspires your art?
That’s a tricky one and I don’t think I could pin it all down to any one given thing, off the top of my head I would say just getting on and doing things to see where they go and what may happen. I am always scavenging for ideas in an attempt to try and bring something different to the table.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
I don’t have a studio as such but as of January 2022 I was kindly given permission to work out of a small wooden lodge set in a local nature reserve.
Do you have any studio rituals?
Not yet
What are you working on currently?
For the past 12 months I have been working on Outsider an evolving land art project which began in the Autumn of 2017, I want to explore different art forms that I have never done before and try new things which are out of my comfort zone. I don’t like to pigeonhole myself and am not loyal to any particular genre. There’s a couple of projects I am currently working on that start in early 2022 the first is Looker, a six-month outdoor photographic art exhibition set in the grounds of Sherwood forest and the second is creating some street art in the form of road signs using images from the Roadkill series
Where can we buy your art?
www.dawesy.org
