UK based artist, Richard Eveleigh, has exhibited work across the United Kingdom, Europe and South America. He held his first solo exhibition in Salisbury at the Oxfam Art Gallery and has supported many charities through the sale of his work. In London he has shown at the Truman Brewery, The Signal Gallery and at South Kensington as part of "Art Below". Richard regularly exhibits work at Ad Lib Gallery in Wimbledon Village.
Contact: https://www.richardeveleighartist.com
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INTERVIEW
Richard, after graduating with a first-class degree in fine art, you experienced a series of brain haemorrhages that significantly impacted your career. Can you share how this lifechanging experience influenced your artistic journey and the themes you explore in your work?
At university I had been experimenting with texture and oil-based mediums As a result, my style had become very conceptual and abstract After the brain haemorrhages, continuing these experiments was no longer possible Some of the oil mediums produce a lot of fumes (not good for neurological health) and I also had to adapt to changes in my physical condition such as visual and coordination problems When I was finally able to continue with my art, I produced work that acted as a form or escapism and was very therapeutic My current work is still conceptual but there is now a very strong figurative element too I am able to combine my previous texture experiments with this figurative style and this has opened up new avenues of exploration When I choose to include texture in my pieces, they can be enjoyed simply for the aesthetic properties, but they can also be enjoyed through touch This opens up my art so that those with visual impairment can experience it I can also choose whether the texture relates to
the figurative image or whether it contains a contrasting message. I am very happy with this development, and I feel my work is now much stronger due to the unexpected path my life has taken.
Your work is heavily influenced by the concept of 'duality,' which encapsulates both the trauma and the motivation you derived from your health challenges. How do you express this duality in your art, and how has it evolved over the years?
At first glance my paintings could be perceived as “pretty pictures” This is deliberate The viewer will see soothing hues of green and blue, beautiful clouds and serene landscapes
I create a place that is inviting to the viewer but, upon closer inspection, the tranquil scene becomes less welcoming. There are never any people in my paintings and the vantage point is always slightly obscured. I do this to make the viewer feel like an interloper, almost as if they are infringing upon a private dream world I also use perspective drawing techniques to create a feeling of being off balance This is partly inspired by my own sense of vertigo and partly by my love of technical drawing I prefer not to use strict narrative in my art as I want the viewer to interpret the work in their own unique way My starting point may be very personal, but I do not want my own experiences to overwhelm the view and detract from the concept I am exploring
You say your work has a picturesque quality and you also mention perspective drawing techniques. Can you describe a bit more about your creative process and how you convey movement and mood in your paintings?
I start with a single word I then analyse this word and explore the aspects of duality associated with it Next, I begin thumbnail sketches These sketches are created using two-point perspective and also the golden ratio This creates a very strong
composition which is how I generate feelings of vertigo and movement When I have decided on a design I will upscale the images to the canvas and begin painting or adding texture So, for example, the painting “Harmony” has obvious connections to sound and music As I brainstormed further, I decided the word best suited a cityscape (loosely inspired by a visit to New York City long before I became ill) The metaphor behind the imagery explores how something can be hectic and energetic but also subdued and lonely. The piano sits in a grand room and could play beautiful music but there is nobody there to perform and, in such a cavernous space, its melody could become lost anyway. The city outside mirrors this. The buildings are immense and numerous but nobody is around and they appear lifeless, impersonal and somewhat daunting.
INTERVIEW
The scene is set at night All of my paintings are This relates to notions of loneliness but also allows me to use very select colours of blue, green and purple in a way that is subtle rather than overpowering Using the Moon as the sole light source enhances this further Its soft glow is beautiful, but the shadows (and the unknown) create a feeling of tension There is no texture in “Harmony” as I wanted to convey a certain amount of “soullessness” to this metropolis
You mentioned that the opportunities you are embracing now, such as your exhibitions at Ad Lib Gallery and Artly Mix in Brazil, rely heavily on social media and digital technology How has the rise of digital platforms shaped your career, especially after a 10-year hiatus?
I can no longer travel as easily as I used to but digital technology is a way to negate this issue. Visiting Brazil in person and making contact with a curator would be a mammoth task. I made contact with Artly Mix through social media and the work displayed there is digitally reproduced from images sent to them. I have now taken part in several exhibitions with artists from various countries around the world This simply wasn’t possible 10 years ago Something similar can be said of Ad Lib Gallery
I live in the UK I can (and do) visit London but I was able to contact Dylan (the owner of the gallery) using social media He was able to view my online portfolio and discuss my art with me before we met in person This was great as he could select anything he was interested in without me lugging a huge portfolio around (that’s how I had to do things in the past) Another opportunity that Ad Lib Gallery offers is displaying billboard versions of art at London Underground stations This is both an excellent form of advertising and an art exhibition in its own right It is only possible because of advances in digital technology
With upcoming group exhibitions in Spain in 2024 and The Czong Institute for Contemporary Art in 2025, how do you see your work continuing to evolve? What new themes or techniques are you excited to explore in these future projects?
During the pandemic, I had to shield It was very difficult to obtain all of the painting supplies that I required and so I began to use my camera more and more as a creative outlet I still explore duality, but it is a different challenge to use a camera instead of a paintbrush The exhibition at the Czong Insitute will be one of the first times my photography has been displayed to the public and I will be interested to see how my work is received The exhibition in Spain is at the Centro de Arte faro
Cabo Mayor in Santander. It is a beautiful lighthouse and the theme and style of my work on show is consistent with my paintings, but the exhibition is of printmaking. This is yet another more recent technique I have been exploring. This is also a result of the pandemic and of using digital technology (they are digital prints). These two opportunities make me want to explore different media more I love painting but I never realized how photography and printmaking can also be so rewarding Maybe I will combine all three in the future?
