Ian Rayer-Smith

In a world preoccupied with technology, there is something remarkable about painting. It connects us back to man’s earliest and most elemental forms of self expression.

I am not interested in painting something that already exists. My pressing urge is to use paint to explore new forms which will ultimately carry emotional weight. I try not to recreate an image. Instead, I may use it as a reference point by which to move from one painting to the next.

I am influenced by the Abstract Expressionists - for their emotional rawness and mark making, and also by the Renaissance - for composition, light and movement. Onto these I layer influences from contemporary culture and my own personal experience. I aim to instil a classical feel into my work whilst finding new visual paths, with the result hopefully being an exploration of the purpose of painting itself.

I think of my paintings as posing a series of questions rather than providing overt statements or narrative pointers towards any clear kind of answer. There would be no joy or satisfaction in doing that. Instead, the process is more about showing my search for something which, maybe, I hope I’ll never find.

University of Salford. Visual Art. BA Hons. 2013

Forthcoming: Cadogan Contemporary, London 10-28 June


Previous:

2019 Apr. Artis Magna, Paris

2019 Mar. ArtUp, LILLE, Artis Magna

2018 Oct Manchester Art Fair, Manchester Stand 504

2018 Oct The Other Art Fair, London Stand 38

2018 Jun. Chelsea Cross, solo Art Safari, London

2018 March Talented Art Fair, London

2018 March The Other Art Fair, London

2018 June Solo show, Fulham Road, Chelsea, London

2018 Feb-Sept Solo show at Candy Capital Headquarters, Mayfair, London UK

2018 Jan Art Palm Beach Art Fair, USA

2017 Oct Buy Art Fair, Manchester

2017 Aug/Sept D-Contemporary, Mayfair, London. Solo exhibition

2017 April Zari Gallery, Fitzrovia, London. Solo Exhibition

2016 October WCAF, Warrington Museum, Warrington. Group show

2016 September Manchester Buy Art Fair 2016

2016 June/July GM Arts Prize, Shortlisted Award 2016, Manchester

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