Back Country Paintings

As an explorer of mountains myself, what I noticed whilst climbing and ski touring in the Alps and Himalayas was the quality of the light in the rare-ified atmosphere. This feeling is something I wish to communicate on canvas to my viewers. The particular language of seracs, arêtes, corniced ridges and rime ice is what I have tried to depict in my new work. As a mountaineer myself I feel more able to truthfully reflect upon my experiences once back in the studio. This desire to capture in oil the transience of glaciers, as basically water trapped in a temporary state is  what my current work is preoccupied with.

I prescribe whole heartily to the restorative effects of loosing ones self in the sublime expanses of natures inner realms. My work comes out of a feeling of loss, when I return from wandering the hills and primeval forests. Their for I try to capture them on linen, not in reality but in an idealized, almost unblemished way. I choose to depict mountains and forests in all their majesty. These are citadels shrouded in mist and protected from the world like bastions of freedom. Not the ground down desolate places that they are fast becoming due to globalization.

I have chosen to blatantly glorify the out door lifestyle in my melodramatic pictures and sweeping romance vistas. The work is in part, imagined lost scenes from such films, where due to the lapse of time, people fade in and out of existence but the forest remains. This transience of being reflects my own experience of nature where ones self existence is not permanent and can be lost without any warning. These transformations are set against the backdrop of unblemished alpine vistas.

My work is composed from hybrid images clipped from past memories/ places I have visited or experienced. This imagery is painted on the canvas using much the same techniques and processes of cinematic matte paintings where actual paintings were filmed to extend a scene or mountainscape whilst layering the actors actions over the top.

Now, at the beginning of the new millennium, a new flight from reality is under way, a new yearning for an intact world (hardly surprising in view of the present economic crisis). One thing is clear: the idyllic landscapes of past times  are in touch with people’s dreams. They still spirit us away into worlds, which are better than the world we live in.

Alex’s new paintings can be seen on his website www.alexanderheaton.co.uk

And he will be showing work in Berlin in March 2010 at Rise Gallery in the exhibition entitled – Happiness Machines.

www.riseberlin.com/exhibitions.php

Last year while travelling in Brazil I went to a Vik Muniz exhibition and I was amazed by his use of media. Every piece of material he uses is considered and appropriate to the subject matter. The piece that really stuck with me was a giant world map made up entirely of old computer parts. I started to look at floppy disks and the importance that they have had on the development of our data-driven world.

My first piece of work using floppy disks as a canvas was an image of a fingerprint. To me, this connected the data world with the human physical form using the theme of identity, albeit in an obvious way. After that I looked at using the disks in a grid to create photo-fits, constructing imaginary faces and identities that could draw connections to the personal information stored on the disks. By chance I found that the metal circular hub on the reverse side of the disk worked well as a metaphor for the human eye. This development was quite important to me, as the eyes of a person can reveal their identity and inner feelings. In the film Blade Runner they use the Voight-Kampff test, which gauges the reaction of the eyes to a set of carefully selected questions in order to determine if the subject is human or android. I sometimes like to cross out or obscure the eyes, as if to somehow protect the identity of the subject.

Each piece starts with either some preparatory sketching of an imaginary person, or searching for images of random people online. The image is then mapped into a grid, with each section the size of one disk. Spray paint is applied to the disks using a stencil to preserve the label and metal slider. Preserving the labels is key, as the handwriting and scribbling are integral to the personality and history of each piece. Elements of people’s lives are stored on the disks and although that data can never be accessed again I like to preserve some of that for viewing. Sometimes I leave the disks as they are and rip parts of the label off to create the shapes that I need. The disks are then placed in tonally appropriate areas, almost like pixels, to create a collage. On top of this I start sketching the outline of the head and the features in pencil, with oil paint to finish the details. This process is quite selective as only certain features are finished completely. I like to leave a lot unfinished as it allows the viewer to see the layers, showing how the work has been created.

I always try and get people to donate the disks and tapes to me but usually I have to buy them online. Over the years billions upon billions of disks and tapes have been manufactured and today they are widely regarded as junk. This makes them an affordable thing to make art with. Maybe in time they will become very rare and the opportunity for creating art in this way will have passed. Reusing objects that would ordinarily have been sent to landfill makes a comment on the throwaway culture of today. Maybe this work can encourage people to think more creatively about the objects that are deemed to be obsolete or useless. Everything has a life cycle and we have become accustomed to look for the next shiny new thing once something has become slightly old and worn. This approach leads to a lot of waste and I think that reinventing something has more charm than things that are created from scratch. What brings the work to life is that blend of the nostalgic and familiar, together with the freshness of a new form of expression.

I live in Camden and work in my studio in Dalston, in East London. I find living in London to be very inspirational with the amazing mix of people that we have here.

“ny sunset” by Kris Hardy

There are now a huge number of artists producing canvas artwork using acrylics and making the optimum use of this versatile media. It has enabled canvas art to be bought by a wider audience due to its fast drying nature and artwork can be created much quicker so a real business can be made out of acrylic artwork. Exhibitions have been in such prestigious venues as the Westminster Gallery and the Durham Art Gallery solely exhibiting and championing acrylic work. Books have been written purely on the characteristics of acrylic paint such as “New Tricks and Techniques for Working with the World’s Most Versatile Medium” by Nancy Reyner and “The New Acrylics:Complete Guide to the New Generation of Acrylic Paints.

Modern art is defined from the 1860’s to the 1970’s in terms of galleries and art history. In recent years the appeal of modern art in a widespread context has occurred. The new style of modern, open plan living had made for the need of equally as modern and unique art for the white stark walls. The apartment living scene has especially contributed but even older style houses are having walls taken down to make way for the open plan living so popular today.

Not everyone has the money to buy modern canvas art produced by famous artists so it has enabled the not so famous but equally as talented new artists to produce work and be successful selling them. Canvas art is quite dramatic as the medium used is either oil or acrylic paint. Both achieve high depth in colour and on a bright white wall, a piece of canvas artwork on a stretched canvas frame has maximum impact.
Clean lines and minimal aesthetics are the keys with many of the latest wave if modern art pieces. Another impressive move in the artwork is that artists today are actually quite happy to produce bespoke artwork specifically for the client from their own specifications. For example a piece of artwork is often created to specifically suit the interiors of the room it is commissioned for both in style and colour. This is quite a shift from what many people conceive in artists. It is making modern art even more modern and allows the owner of the artwork to have input creating an even more personal piece.