James Iveson

I found this morning’s lecture by the artist James Iveson really interesting. He was enjoyable to listen to as he explained his work and the transition from being a student to a professional artist. He spoke a lot about the importance of a studio space and how it was vital for him to have a studio space in order to develop his practice. This made me think a lot more about how I will continue my practice after graduating and whether or not a space would be important to the development of my own work; at this point in my studies, I am not to sure. Although the idea has become much clearer after James explained a little into the process and from the information given to us; I definitely intend to look into this further.

He also mentioned that he tries to gain relationships with as many different people in the art environment as he can; from art suppliers to other artists. This is a good point for so many reasons which I also agree with and know I should do more of to begin the process of getting my name and work out there in the competitive field, although I believe this blog and my upcoming exhibition is a good starting point.

‘Read Boats’ was a painting he referred back to a number of times, which he arrived at by the traditional observation of everyday objects, such as underpants and other garments. He said that he thought it was quite strange introducing a pair of pants into his art but liked the fact that it was an object that couldn’t be changed...it is what it is, whilst still giving the qualities that he wanted to extract from a portrait. He described the colour usage of these series of paintings as ‘provocative’, explaining that his limited use of colour was because he thought using a palette with a range of paints would give him too much freedom to change the colours in the object itself.

It was interesting to hear that a selection of his smaller works were produced from large observational  paintings that he decided didn't work as a whole He said that he selected sections of the painting he liked the most, cutting the piece into smaller individual paintings and reframing, focusing more on the detail; adding that he wanted his paintings to have the same qualities of the garment itself.

He ended the lecture on quite an amusing note, stating that just because you surround yourself with art materials and work in a studio doesn’t particularly make you a good artist. I agree but then again, if you’re passionate about art, whether as a practice or as a hobby, if you love what you do, then maybe that’s enough to make you a good artist?