Brian Pike

I live and work in North Yorkshire, UK. My main focus is on painting, but I’m also involved in printmaking, photography and sound-manipulation projects.

Over the years I have developed and refined my own eccentric mixed-media techniques, using them to create lustrous surfaces reminiscent of the rich glazes of studio ceramics. The tones shift according to the play of the light, making my paintings difficult to reproduce accurately in print or photographs.

I am unusual (maybe unique?) amongst professional artists in having a doctorate in philosophy . Despite this, my art is intuitive rather than academic. I paint images that pop up from some dark and shadowy part of my mind, as surprising to me as to anyone else.

What does a particular picture ‘mean’? That’s for you to decide. The kind of art I’m interested in is about understating rather than stating; creating mysteries, not resolving them. My best paintings are, I hope, both naive and sophisticated – finely balanced between funny and sad, bitter and sweet, day and night, toast and marmalade.

As for influences, I prefer to read, listen to music and travel rather than visiting art galleries. That said, discovering the work of Paul Klee as a teenager was a liberat...

Selected qualifications and appointments:
Cambridge University: Tutor, Aesthetics & Philosophy
The Open University: Tutor, Philosophy of the Arts
Richmond Adult Education Centre: Tutor, ‘Understanding Art’

Cambridge University: PhD, research topic: colour perception

Here's a selection:
Blackheath Gallery, London
Glasgow Art Fair, Glasgow
Gallerina, Darlington
Manchester Art Show, Urbis, Manchester
The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle
City Art Gallery, Durham
The Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London
Morningside Gallery, Edinburgh
Castlegate House Gallery, Cockermouth
Leeds Art Show, Leeds
Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal
Nunnington Hall, York
McGuinness Gallery, BATH, Bishop Auckland
'On The Wall', Olympia, London
North Yorkshire Open Studios 2005-2012
...and so on.