The Ocean

The Ocean

Under the radar - 'Omni' on John Hoyland

Going Under the Radar Part one! Featuring John Hoyland

Its terrible how some artists just fall off your radar, we all know the giants Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci, and Claude Monet for example but often we forget to follow the work of the less famous. One example, in my case was the shocking oversight of not following ‘John Hoylands’ work. It was only because my friend Nigel Hunt (student of the welsh greats John Selway and Ernest Zobole) kept telling me too look at John Hoylands new works that I eventually did. To be quite frank I am was floored and inspired at how this artist has produced some of the best work of his career at this stage in his life, looks like he’s going to be like Henri Matisse maturing and maturing right to the end. The power, vibrancy and misleading simplicity of his work (for it has taken him a life time to gain such authority in directing the devious chances that are taken when a artist puts down his fine sable oil brush) the way his colours burn themselves into your soul! How inspiring and a little sickening at the same time, for I see that even in the intoxication of youth or in the wisdom of maturity most of the artistic world will be merely biting at his heels in terms of expressing, emotional power so concisely yet paradoxically playfully.  I my eyes John Hoyland is a British giant perhaps destined to become a global giant now where did I leave that £40,000 I want one of his paintings before they get too expensive!!!

It's all in the name or is it?

Darn it i am forever forgetting to sign my name on the front of paintings, although the title date, signature and which way it goes up (just in case you are in doubt) is always written on the back of my later work.  So i have been signing work before i post it out. My signature is KJ Prothero my parents cleverly called me Keith Jon Prothero on my birth certificate and then as soon as it was 'set in stone' they called me Jon from every since i can remember! I am not unhappy about this as according to the animation 'Family Guy' 'Keith' is the most hated name in the universe! To make matters more complex most people that know me as a painter  think my name is 'Omni'. It is not surprising i have picked up this name as it is on the top of my face book page. 'Omni' is part of my art theory called 'Omni dimensionalism' (Omni meaning - everywhere in the present simultaneously and dimenstionalism refers to bringing different time periods into the now and integrating them as one eclectic art influence ......erm now you are more confused i can tell) Me being called Omni does make me smile though so much so that for 2011 i have been considering signing work 'omni'. What do you think? art lovers......

Artistic language.

Within  painting, a complex atheistic language will often be developed by an artist as the years go by. It is sometimes is not enough to draw a pleasing picture and color it in with paint. On a purely visual  and intellectual level we see a nice painting but  (at least for me) the main concerns of form, color and line will hopefully be further enhanced by a series of emotive mark making expressions. I am often found at a exhibition with my reading glasses on looking very closely at the surface of paintings. I love to see the history of emotive interactions, the dance, the struggle, the sheer flow or stillness of marks which often appear all in just one  work. I was almost brought to tears after my first really good look at l some of Picasso's  work. A combination of the visually stunning yes.... but to feel to flow from the marks, the intensity ease and confidence within each brush stroke took my breath away.

To see beyond the superficial in a artist work, to experience  and feel the artist through the history of their marks, the way they created  savage and melancholy textures, their movement and energy, their passion, is to see the imprint of the artists heart.

How i see it!

Call me a cynic but there is not much in the world of human conciseness that is as natural as it may first seem. Take how we see things visually for example, our tastes are based on a mixture of cultural background, aesthetic fashion and our predisposition of chemical balances. We live in a world of information and experiences which all have an imperceptible influence on  our perceptions. Ones relationship to color, form and perspective will vary from culture to culture, and even in the realm of abstraction, what was once considered aborent often becomes the next lot of accepted conventions.

I sometimes get advice on how to do things better compositionally. Composition again has gone through many fashion shifts in the course of history, i choose to eclectically  subvert  artist language and sometimes images are not easy to read  or feel at one with. However i do know that i am doing this, so no need  to advice me how to do  proper painting . Funnily enough more women seem to accept my art  than men. My initial conclusion would be that perhaps women visually feel the whole of the work, the ambience, textures and colors, were as most men ermmmmm.........do not.