Chris Gollon

If there was any doubt that the internet has seeped into all areas of life, then established Brit painter Chris Gollon making video blogs certainly puts pay to it.

The artist, featured in Alan Yentob’s ‘Imagine’ on BBC1 last year has exhibited with Gavin Turk, Yoko Ono, David Bowie at Chisenhale Gallery, London, and with Bill Viola in St Paul’s Cathedral. He was also a Fellow and First Artist in Residency at the prestigious Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University and art historian Tamsin Pickeral has recently published his biography Chris Gollon: Humanity in Art’ (Hyde & Hughes, 2010). So why has this top artist taken his art and married it with technology? We found 


out.

What made you want to post video blogs?

People have been asking me for years about how I do it all, and one friend in particular said how interesting it was to watch me paint when I was filmed on BBC1 last year. Since he left the band Serafin to become a film maker, Ronny Haynes has also been keen to make a series of films showing my techniques and imagery. So it all fell into place.

How do you think the internet has affected art?
It's been brilliant. It makes your images instantly accessible to a wider and international public, and people can follow all your new work and shows or films. My official information website, which my gallery set up, now gets over 2 million visitors a year, and many sales and opportunities arise as a result.

When did you first realize you had a talent/passion for art?
When my paintings were hung in the entrance hall at junior school (aged 8). However, I didn't really develop a passion until I visited the National Gallery in London, aged 17.

Which artists inspire you?
I've been inspired by many artists over the years, starting with Rembrandt in that first visit to the National Gallery. My greatest influences have probably been the early 20th century German painters Max Beckmann and Otto Dix. Once you've taken on what you can from other artists though, you're on your own and you have to inspire yourself.

When did you know it would become your career?
Early on, probably in my late teens. However, it took until I was 36 for painting to become my sole source of income.

Has your style evolved over the years?
I hope so: I wouldn't do it otherwise. I'd just get bored. When you first start on the canvas you can't get near what's in your head. You have to evolve in order to capture your visions.

What environment is conducive to a productive day of painting for you?
I like my studio. I have to be alone with music playing and plenty of coffee.

How would you describe your style, and are there themes or objects that reappear in several paintings?
My paintings are mainly figurative. However, rather than make a straightforward representation, I try to make the figure hold an idea, or a concept. This is shown, I think, to good effect in Being Human, produced during my three-month Residency at the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University. There is a catalogue published by them and IAP Fine Art in 2009.

You were commissioned to produce paintings for the 'Stations of the Cross' to be installed in the Church of St John in Bethnal Green, was this a daunting prospect?
Yes, but also a very exciting one. I'd always wanted to do a religious commission, I just didn't realise it until I was asked.

The scenes depicted are extremely emotional, does that make the process of painting harder?
I don't find it hard to express human emotion. However, for the Stations of the Cross the emotions to be portrayed are quite specific, which of course makes it more difficult.

Some of the faces used are from your own family members...
I decided to use family for some of the characters, in particular my son for Jesus. To paint people that one cares about, people in this case in big trouble, heightens one's own emotional state, which translates into the work.

It has been said that some of your painting/monotypes techniques are innovative, can you explain...
I think that's because I'm self taught. I don't know what I'm doing so to speak. They say Jesus spent 18 years unlearning what his parents had taught him in his first 12 years of life. I've got nothing to unlearn. Far be it from me to say so about myself, but I think this situation can lead to greater originality.

Do you thinking painting gets enough recognition in 2010?
No, and I'm trying to change this. In the same way that melody is unfashionable in classical music, I think it will come back; people will want it to. It will have to be a new type of melody though, the same with painting.

Music and lyrics influence you work.....
As much as, if not more, than painters from the past and present. Serious lyrics from popular music are often the poetry of today. Think of Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen in particular, but there are plenty of great wordsmiths in the present generation. I like turning their words into images. We all do it all the time, I just put it down onto canvas or film. I made a film with Karl Roberts and Kim Scott MBE of JABOD. It's called Kaleidomorphism One and combines music and painting, and was very well received at the East End Film Festival.

Is it important that your work has humour?
A lot of the time it is important. Obviously, it can degrade or belittle certain subject matter. You probably wouldn't want to depict famine in a humorous way. However, if used carefully it can make serious subject matter more poignant. A good example of this is the satirical painter George Grosz. Bob Dylan does it brilliantly in the religious song 'You Gotta Serve Somebody'.

Does it frustrate you that the historic importance or merit of art is often not realized in time for the artist to enjoy the success..
Not particularly, since if you think about it there are not many examples of that. Even a glaring exception like Van Gogh, one could say that had he simply lived another five years he would very probably have seen his own success.

What are your views on the current state of the art world?
In 2010, I'm very glad to see people starting to look at painting again.

Plans for 2010/2011?
I've been invited to show with Anthony Gormley and Henry Moore in late autumn in London, in a survey exhibition of the last 25 years of major religious commissions for public spaces. I'm starting to work with JABOD on Kaleidomorphism Two, and I'm also enjoying working on a new direction in my paintings. I'm trying to infuse nudes with movement without using drapery. It's been odd reading a book about myself and my work, but some of art historian Tamsin Pickeral's observations have been very useful. I'm working toward a big new show of these new works at IAP Fine Art in November. In spring 2011, I've been invited back to Durham University for another Residency, this time at St Mary's College, and before that I'm also back in the north east showing with IAP Fine Art at the Newcastle Gateshead Art Fair,  1st - 3rd October 2010.

SEE CHRIS' VIDEO BLOGS Here
Chris' series of short films will be a unique and valuable record of an established British painter at the top of his creative life, pushing the boundaries of the form. One per month will be made, and in the coming months a LIVE feed broadcast of Chris Gollon painting will also be made, and publicized in advance, so you can watch him at work in real time.

To follow Chris Gollon on Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisGollon and his London gallery: http://twitter.com/IAPFineArt  or join them on Facebook