The genesis for my artistic approach to this project came from three sources. The first was the introduction to experimentation that I learned on my previous project in the Fashion and Textiles (F&T) pathway. Only through the techniques and approaches I learned there could I have hoped to engage with a largely abstract philosophical topic in an artistic way.
The second was the realisation that figurative art did not have to be perfectly representational. That realisation came when I attended the Ken Kiff exhibition in London : the paintings on display (and others I subsequently sought out in books) had a palette and an approach to figuration which chimed with the way I saw the world.
Finally, I had started to produce some quick, quirky A5-size sketches in black ink coloured with water-soluble Inktense pencils. On posting them to Instagram and putting prints of them up in my workspace, I received critically favourable comments from artists, fellow students and tutors leading me to realise that I had found an approach that worked for me.
One other key influence was Hyman’s, ‘The World New Made’ which showed a vast range of approaches to figurative painting and afforded a critical endorsement to the work I wanted to make.
Tony Linde 