Mark Youd

MARK YOUD

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presents a solo exhibition by Mark Youd November 24 - January 22, 2012

View @ Harveys Cellars 12 Denmark Street Bristol BS1 5DQ 0117 9294812 HarveysCellars.co.uk ViewArtGallery.co.uk

MARK YOUD Imaginative, creative and innovative; Mark Youd is an exciting new artist based in Caerphilly, near Cardiff. Multi-talented, his training as a draughtsman, as well as a successful career in design and technical illustration is evident in his artistic practice.

Youd’s series of graphic portraits sets out to explore the nature of fleeting emotions.

Each image depicts a brief encounter, a passing moment, captured in the snap shot of a woman. These vibrant works showcase the artist’s attempt to record new ways of looking at something familiar. Namely; the momentary sensations one experiences within these instances and the transience of life before it fades. It is these ephemeral emotions that Youd seeks to immortalise.

Through the invention of his own pictorial language, the artist achieves an original style. Utilising a limited and vivid palette outlined with thick bold strokes, which appear to seep out of the page, symbolises this fluidity of moment.

His strikingly beautiful women engage directly with the viewer through their commanding poses and enigmatic expressions. On viewing them, you are transported into the world of these women’s very thoughts.

This is a spectacular exhibition of a truly unique artist.

ALICE? oil, acrylic on canvas 122 x 91 cm £2,000

ISOBEL? oil, acrylic on canvas 122 x 91 cm £2,500

Left: GEM? oil, acrylic on canvas 122 x 91 cm £2,250 Right: SOFIA? oil, acrylic on canvas 122 x 91 cm £2,500

AMY? oil, acrylic on canvas 122 x 91 cm £2,250

CARLY? oil, acrylic on canvas 122 x 91 cm £2,250

Left: ELLA? oil, acrylic on canvas 122 x 91 cm £2,500 Right: ZOE? oil, acrylic on canvas 122 x 91 cm £2,000

LOUISE? oil, acrylic on canvas 91 x 71 cm £1,500

All images available as limited edition (100) prints 61x46cm ÂŁ350 (unframed) Please contact georgie@viewartgallery.co.uk for enquiries

INTERVIEW with MARK YOUD You have previously had a successful career as a draughtsman in design and technical illustration, so do you believe artistic creativity is innate?

I was certainly born with an inescapable desire to paint and draw and my most vivid childhood memories involve creativity in some form or another. I was never going to be an athlete or a sportsman, I would find any excuse to get off the school playing field and into the art classroom. I was never particularly academic, I spent more time doodling in the margins of my History homework than actually doing the homework, but looking back I realise that I wasn’t the easily distracted child the teachers reported me to be but that I was driven then by the same urge I feel today; to get my imagination onto paper.

Could you clarify what the “influences” and “intuition” contributing to your series currently on exhibition at View are?

I have always been influenced by visual media from so many different sources, as a child it was comics like 2000AD, then book and record covers, movies and their posters. Later I would study the work of artists like Escher, Dali, Uglow, Shiele, Mucha and the Art Nouveau movement, fashion illustraton, photographers such as Lillian Bassman and Mick Rock. Calligraphy, architecture, sculpture, I have so many influences that in order to create something uniquely my own I feel I must deliberately ignore them all when I work and rely on my intution.

I begin by drawing the pose from a photo reference and letting the character that emerges on the paper dictate where to go from there, it’s almost automatic, I try to shut out conscious thought by concentrating on music while working, that way my imagination can have free reign and I love being surprised by what I have drawn. I often repeat the drawing process many times for any one painting and I have folders stuffed full of sketches. At this point I decide on the right sketch to develop, using my draughting skills to refine the drawing, ensuring balance in the composition and only transferring the design to the canvas when I feel it click, that’s when I know I have a strong foundation for the painting to come.

I use a subconscious approach again during parts of the painting process, for example I allow the

floral designs within some pieces to grow organically and I rely on that same feeling, the trusted intuition, to tell me where individual words or floods of writing belong in the piece, if at all.

A painting is only complete when I feel that click again, a sense that this is the right time to stop and further work won’t necessarily help communicate the emotion or improve the look of the piece. It’s a few days after that when I begin to analyse the work, understanding the links between recent paintings and reflecting on how my influences have made themselves evident.

Why did you use graphic portraits to capture transient feelings and emotions as opposed to other media?

I find portraits to be the most satisfying challenge facing myself as an artist, but they also offer a great freedom of expression. I used to want to paint the most realistic face possible, to compete with the camera, but I came to believe that more fun could be had by stylising the portrait, playing with the fact we can recognise two dots and a curve as a face, and further, that the orientation of that curve can depict emotion. By working somewhere between those two extremes I am also able to amuse myself with positive and negative shapes and the visual illusions they can create, explore the different levels within the picture plane, and provoke the viewer to participate in the portrait rather than simply observe.

What do you want people to walk away with after they view your art?

I hope people are initially struck by the beauty of the character and are drawn closer into the detail of the work as if they are drawn into the mind of the subject. When the viewer turns away from the painting I hope the impression of the image and the spark of emotion they felt while viewing it stays with them, like a bright light on the back of the eyelids. As that light fades, they will have experienced my one act theatre and I may have the subject of another painting.

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

I love hearing the reactions people have to my paintings, I like to know why a certain piece is their favourite, who or what it reminds them of, why they may feel a sense of a particular era. I enjoy answering questions about the work as it means people are engaging with it, I want them to be curious about the intentionally ambiguous meanings in a painting because they are beginning to form

their own ideas about it, and that curiosity often brings them to conclusions I could never have anticipated. Ultimately though, the most memorable response any artist can receive to a piece of work is a sale but I recently had a young artist describe my work as inspirational and that’s an amazing compliment.

If you were stuck on a desert island with 3 artists, who would you like them to be and why?

I find these kinds of questions so difficult to answer, how can I possibly choose? OK, after much deliberation, my first castaway friend would be Charles Rennie Mackintosh. I have long admired his architectural drawings and his ability to apply an instantly recognisable style to many different forms of art from landscape painting to interior design. The Belgian surrealist, René Magritte would be my second choice. I love the humour in his paintings and his work clearly has a strong influence on many other artists that I also admire but can’t bring to the island without bending the rules beyond breaking point. Magritte liked to bend rules of reality though, I’m sure he’d find a way of bringing some more friends along too. My last choice would be the filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott, in my opinion he is a modern master, a visionary creator of worlds.

As you are based in Caerphilly, does the South-West hold particular resonance for you?

There is so much magnificent scenery right on my doorstep; Brecon, Clifton, our coastlines, they’re all so breathtaking I almost feel guilty for painting portraits not landscapes. It’s true that I spent my formative years in and around London and I still feel its gravitational pull, but I’ve lived in this area for seven years now, it has become very dear to me and there is one word that resonates for me above all others – Home.

Finally, do you aspire for your work to meet a need?

Aside from the very real-world needs of mortgage payments and energy bills that everyone’s work must meet, I come back to my first answer, I need to exercise (or exorcise?) my creativity. When I’m not actually drawing or painting I am planning to do so, and if I’m forced to concentrate on something else I become increasingly uncomfortable the more time I have to spend away from the studio.

I need to work.

Thank you.

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