chriswoodartist

1. Why do you make art ?
I AM A STORY TELLER  – what others’ do in words, I prefer to do in pictures ! 

2. What inspires you to make art ?
PHYSICAL The environment, the SEA : how it moves, it’s power, shapes and ever changing forms, the WEATHER, the LIGHT, the colours, shapes and textures of the clouds, history, ships, yachting, the people I meet, the books I read, personal memories, objects, tools and ephemera.

ART HISTORY Since my early days at art school I have continued to read and enjoy art history and visiting exhibitions. Growing up in East Anglia, local heroes include John Constable, Thomas Gainsborough, Alfred Munnings, Edward Seago and Leonard Squirrel but Iooking further afield, the Dutch School, JMW Turner, the French Impressionists and John Singer Sargent all feature in my top ten. I could reel off at least a hundred others’ but I’ll spare you that ! 

COLLEGE : I was at art college from 1968-1974 and bucked the trend, finding neither Abstract Expressionism or Minimalism to my taste. By contrast, Pop Art was accessible and as a young graphics student, I particularly liked the work of David Hockney, Peter Blake, Roy Lichtenstein and Eduardo Paolozzi, in particular. When I progressed onto the graphics course, illustrators, Andrew Dodds, David Gentleman, Paul Hogarth and Paul Wright inspired me.

3D From a very early age, I enjoyed drawing and painting but also making things with wood – so much so that at one time I toyed with becoming a woodwork teacher. Later, on my Foundation Art and Design course I became totally absorbed with sculpture, doing extra evening classes and at one time I thought I would pursue it further but the lure of graphics and a regular source of income won me over. When I was about 17 or 18 I saw a large retrospective exhibition of Auguste Rodin at the Hayward Gallery in London and was blown away ! Movement, line and form stayed with me throughout and I believe this has influenced my 2D compositions to this day.

3. What does your work signify or represent ?
As a former illustrator, communication is key. I create work that doesn’t require specialist skills to decipher. Even my abstract pieces have the same roots as the representational work.  I like to communicate on different levels – so the longer you view my pieces the more insight you will gain. This is something I learned from Suffolk artist and cartoonist Carl Giles, whose work featured an immediate punchline plus a wealth of minor details and narratives. 

THEMES : recent themes include PLACE, NARRATIVE, WEATHER & LIGHT. Put in layman’s terms, I am interested in LANDSCAPE, MARITIME AND HUMAN subjects. My work is becoming autobiographical and several paintings feature episodes from my youth. The term Psychogeographical is used to describe the study of how the geographical environment, particularly urban spaces, affects people’s emotions and behaviour. PG might sound pretentious but I think it embodies what I am trying to achieve with my work – e.g. portraying the harsh realities of life at sea as opposed to simply capturing a photographic representation. Whilst the phrase was coined in the 1950’s it could easily describe the work of John Constable, whose gritty landscapes were far from the Romantic depictions of Claude Lorraine. My old Wimbledon Art College tutor, the marine artist and illustrator Paul Wright captured the essence of ships and the sea. His paintings were atmospheric almost visceral. You could hear the noise of the boilers, the sea crashing against the steel plating of the hull. I could almost smell the salt air ! He didn’t portray people very often but when he did, they were not an afterthought, they had purpose and their body language was spot on. I strive to achieve this ! 

4. What is unique about your work ?
I am a highly skilled artist and draughtsman, pulling together numerous threads of experience. I would describe my work as traditional but with a contemporary twist. I have been painting since I was about three years old and now, in my seventies, my work has had time to evolve and mature. As an open minded, traditionalist I am continuously experimenting with technique and ways of working. Some might argue that I spend too much time experimenting in sketchbooks and not enough time creating large scale, more considered, pieces ! 

5. How do you make your work ?
Process is fundamental to my work. My paintings are often the result of hundreds of hours of research, notes, conversations, drawings and colour studies. I make plein air studies, field trips, take photographs, I garner information from libraries and the internet.

When I’m  not out sketching or plein air painting, in the studio I work in OILS – I went through a love hate relationship with oils, going over to the dark side and working in acrylics for many years, then experimenting with odourless water based oils but I have returned to traditional oils and loving every minute.  I enjoy the craft skills of preparing a canvas and to me it’s a very important part of the process. Primarily I work from my ArtSpace studio in Portsmouth but during the Covid lockdown I built a garden studio, which also serves as a workshop – with garden forks jostling for space, amongst easels, sail bags and hand saws.

6. What does it mean to you ?
Places can be particularly important to artists – my special place is SUFFOLK, where I was born and spent my first 21 years. East Anglia ; its light and landscape, wild coastline, harbours packed with classic boats, its unique architecture, museums and Anglo Saxon heritage will always be a source of inspiration.

I recently began a series of paintings and prints exploring combinations of still life objects and familiar or remembered landscapes. In particular things that have a resonance with me – the North Sea and its impact upon both land and people. In conclusion this new string of inquiry reinforces my desire to tell a story – who I am, where I come from.