Alan Perriman
Weybridge, Surrey, United Kingdom
About Alan Perriman
“Turning mud into sky since 2013”
Alan is an artist based in Surrey. From his studio in Staines-upon-Thames, he paints landscapes, investigates whatever catches his attention and is currently prototyping some top secret & beautiful things. He trained at Farnham and has shown in many open and group shows throughout London and the South East, has had one major solo show and has been artist in residence for a manor house in Buckinghamshire. His work is owned by many private collectors.
“A high proportion of my work is the local landscape. Initially this was nothing but a combination of convenience and a long term fascination with the depiction of space, but as I have dug deeper it has begun to act as a proxy for more personal ideas. To this end, the sky has become ever more important in my work, taking over from the sense of place I was initially chasing. I have a mood disorder and I use the fleeting nature of the sky to explore that.”
Breadth of work
A cursory glance across his work will reveal a fascination with darkness as a subject. “This started out because I was struck by the way other artists I knew were terrified of black paint so I wanted to explore it in all its multi-coloured variations. I have kept going back to darkness because I found it creates marvellously ambiguous and disorienting paintings and because it is a way to improve skill and subtlety very quickly.”
He notes the importance of Japanese culture as an influence on him over the last few years. “This appears most overtly in my work when I have explored the visual nature of Japanese poetry, but it is underlying most of my work in my attitudes to the materials, the calligraphic nature of my under-paintings, an approach to surfaces that is increasingly derived from certain styles of pottery and a quest for simplicity and nuance”
“From time to time I broaden my interests out. It’s a good thing as it forces me out of my comfort zone and painting provides a rigorous way of investigating things that matter to me. For example, I have spent the last two years working on and off on a substantial multi-panel piece looking at aspects of Islamic State. The work is almost finished and although events have rendered it less urgent now, it is still important as it looks at some of the universal themes of war; it explores how myths are made and why they matter for nation-building, it looks at the nature of creation and destruction and it even gave me new insight into the nature of life and death. Context is everything when it comes to creating meaning, so although I have tried to build all the context it needs into the work, when I release it it will be accompanied by an essay.”
Materials
Alan loves oils saying they suit his indecisiveness and he has developed ways of working which exploit their slow drying times. He only uses Artist and Professional grade paints from names like Michael Harding, Winsor & Newton and Pip Seymour. He increasingly makes his own paints from pure pigment, appreciating the fact that he knows exactly what is in them and how fresh made paint behaves differently to paint from a tube.
He paints on both canvas and different boards. His canvases are all hand stretched and hand primed. This allows him to control tension, springiness and texture very precisely. The three main types of board he paints on are plywood, MDF and aluminium. All these surfaces are primed with multiple coats of gesso or oil-based primer to control the surface and to ensure a long life for the paintings. Boards have a toughness that lets him really dig into and hack away at dried paint so they are ideal for paintings which need a certain violence.
Education:
Epsom School of Art
University of Creative Arts, Farnham
Exhibitions:
Currently working on a project in association with Little Van Gogh with he work due to be delivered in January 2018
Highlights:
Henley Festival
Runnymede Ghosts; a solo show at Royal Holloway, University of London within the festivities for the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.
Nocturnes; solo show at Guildford Library, Surrey
Artist in Residence, Sulgrave Manor, Northants
Group shows across London, Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Hampshire
Exhibited with No Naked Walls (Chertsey), Henley Studios (Henley on Thames), Islington Arts Factory, Creative Coverage, Obsidian Arts (Stoke Mandeville), The Art House (Wokingham), Exhibit Here (London)
