"RIDING THE TAILCOATS OF HISTORY" Painting

felix_ akulw biographical notes / cv Sept 2020

After completing a Foundation Course at Cardiff College of Art in 1972, Felix proceeded to Lanchester Poytechnic / Coventry University to study Fine Art gaining a First Class Honours Degree with Commendation. From here Felix progressed to the Royal College of Art in London and was Awarded his Masters Degree in 1978. During this period Felix presented a solo show of paintings and drawings at the Lanchester Polytechnic Gallery whilst also participating in group shows at the Conway Hall Gallery and the Courtauld Institute Gallery in London. At this time Felix was also awarded the Herbert Read Memorial Prize from the Royal College of Art.

From 1978 to 1986 Felix lived and worked as a professional artist in London with studios at Butlers Wharf, Beck Road and the Acme Robinson Road Studios whilst also spending periods of time in Cornwall, Pembrokshire and the Algarve painting and drawing from the land and seascapes. Many of these works were exhibited in Open Studio shows at Robinson Road, mixed exhibitions at The Mask Gallery, Bermondsey as well as significant exhibitions at the Showroom Gallery in Bethnal Green and the Advanced Graphics Gallery in Tooley Street, London.

On returning to Wales in 1986, Felix continued to paint whilst subsequently training as a teacher of Art, completing a PGSE in 1989 from Cardiff Institute of Education. There followed a long and productive career in a variety of schools, principally Pontardulais Comprehensive School where Felix worked as Head of Art for over twenty years until his retirement.

During this period, Felix continued to produce a range of work in a variety of media and exhibited at the 1991 Wales Open Art Exhibition at Aberystwyth University whilst also exhibiting at the Bro Delyn National Eisteddfod in the same year. Significant mixed-media work under the rubric of “Did you know Lawrence of Arabia was a Welshman” was developed in response to the military conflicts in the Gulf and later in Iraq.

It was at this time that Felix developed an interest in the possibilities offered by the rapidly developing computer digital technologies and he began researching how electronic printing systems developed languages for describing variations in tonal values.