Mr. Painter: Origins

“Just what do you spend your time doing” is the first question I get when people find out what I study. The Mr. Painter series of paintings takes a light-hearted, comedic approach to explaining the studio practice of a painter. The paintings demonstrate the circumstances and decisions behind my studio practice with use of artistic license of course. The series matches the importance of humorous dialogue and content with the formal qualities of paint.

The dialogue is developed from the character "Mr. Painter" who I had previously created based off a culmination of my own identity as an artist, the idea of "the painter" as a stereotypical identity and Roger Hargreaves' Mr. Men. Although the paintings are executed in a subtractive abstract manner, it is possible to deduce the scene with help from the title.

Behind the comedic exterior the paintings examine a discourse of painting, exploring formal qualities of medium, techniques and painterly decisions and examining the place of painting within contemporary art. I have spent the term exploring painting through a series of studies, working with oil and acrylic to explore colour, composition and the limitations of the media in relation to the Mr. Painter series. Below are all the finished paintings from the series, ready for submission next week. However there are a few more uncompleted ones.

Mr. Painter Sitting in his Chair
60 x 60cm
Acrylic on Canvas

Mr. Painter Likes to Work Alone
60 x 60cm
Acrylic on Canvas

Mr. Painter Sometimes Re-uses Old Canvases
60 x 60cm
Oil and Pastel on Canvas

Mr. Painter Forgot his Brushes
60 x 60cm
Acrylic on Canvas

Mr. Painter Couldn't Resist a Good Flocking
60 x 60cm
Flock and Acrylic on Canvas