Gaunt Gallery - Harry Simmonds

Harry was born in Bristol in 1978 and has exhibited internationally in locations such as Bath, London and Spain. This is what he has to say about himself and his work:

In 2000 I began working exclusively in black and white. Initially this was as a result of a desire to return to drawing and also a desire to eschew the use of paint and colour, which I felt were a distraction. At the time I had just finished making an unsatisfactory series of studio based paintings depicting cityscapes and landscapes and had become tired of making depictions of subjects based on memory and drawings. I therefore turned to using myself as the subject for my art as a means of avoiding this situation. I wanted to avoid making paintings that simply depicted appearances or the effect of light and dark and so I decided to use a more radical approach; the paintings would begin with me working with my eyes closed, using 'touch' (rather than depicting visual stimuli). I wanted to avoid a predictable, habitual or contrived use of mark making and so I devised various techniques in order to do so. At times I worked with the paintings upside down, sometimes working with my left hand, sometimes the right and sometimes both hands or even my feet. Initially, I used charcoal and a rubber, and then as the painting progressed I began to use ink and also a mirror with which to observe myself. I painted heads mainly and placed them in the centre of the canvas, as separate objects surrounded by infinite space. This was as a deliberate means of avoiding having to make too many choices regarding composition. The use of unstretched canvas meant that I could work with the paintings on the floor, as well as on the wall, and that I could spontaneously cut them down or add to them in order to change the size of the work. I also felt that the use of unstretched canvas gave the paintings a 'shroud' like effect. It was my desire to give the impression that my skin, hair, blood sweat had been pressed onto the surface of the canvas and that each painting embodied this sense of actuality rather than being a simile or 'likeness' of myself .

However as time went on, I realised that by making paintings that eschewed the use of colour, paint and composition, I had painted myself into a corner. In order to progress, I decided to break my own rules. In 2005 I began to use white paint as well as black and began to vary the types of mark. Simultaneously, I decided to depict models rather than myself. It is the models who sit for me on a weekly basis who now form the subject of my current work.

My work has always been concerned with the relationship between the external world and its subsequent depiction with two-dimensional marks. It is my aim to make visual equivalents for the sensations experienced whilst observing the subject with an inventive and varied use of mark-making.

I am interested in depicting the body as an individual form rather than as a composite made up of topographical parts. Each painting is a record of several split-second glimpses made over a short period of time rather than an objective depiction of the components that make up the body. Whilst each painting is generally worked on for weeks or even months before completion, the final image is completed relatively quickly and describes a brief and fleeting moment.

Whilst it is important to me to depict the subject in a convincing manner, the paintings must also function in purely abstract terms and so in this sense I use the figure as a motif with which to achieve this. The paintings explore the relationship between illusion and actuality and representation and abstraction. Although I believe that all good paintings have conceptual origins, it is important to me that painting process involves some element of spontaneity or improvisation. Without this, I believe that the work would become merely a contrived illustration of non-visual ideas.